[cathycnm November 6, 2008 at 11:05 am Post count: 284]

#1075574

Jeanette – Are you seeing an opthamologist (an MD) for your eye exams or an optometrist? I shifted to an opthamologist who is watching the "big picture" of Graves eye disease as well as fitting for glasses.

My own eyes have had slightly puffy lids (periorbital edema) since summer and some redness and watering. My right eye, especially, has changed a good deal this year (for the worse) – both distance and close-up. My opthamologist was not surprised by that. I am also color blind (genetically since birth though mild – without testing, I would have never known). Since color vision is often the first thing to go in Graves (and mine was already gone), he wants me to return for visual field testing and to see me every 6 months to be sure my baselines are not changing. Eyes usually settle down in a year or two from first symptoms. I do not know for sure if visual acuity settles down then, too. It is time for my annual insurance eye exam so I will get a new pair. I am tempted to go with less expensive frames until this all settles a bit because I usually buy frames of endurance and only need a new RX every 3 years or so. That does not seem the case currently. I also got an inexpensive pair of computer glare glasses as the screen glare is causing eye strain much easier than before.

[Ski November 6, 2008 at 12:04 pm Post count: 1569]

#1075575

It’s possible that the vision changes could come from symptoms of the eye disease ~ when our eyes change position, the focal point can change. The very definition of active eye disease is frequent changes (for the worse and for the better), but as Cathy says, the typical "run" of the active phase is about a year. I would advise that you see an opthalmologist, because this certainly isn’t the only condition that could be causing radical shifts in your prescription. Best examined by a professional ~ your sight is valuable and should be protected by all possible means, and you should know with certainty what is behind these shifts.

[jlw November 6, 2008 at 1:07 pm Post count: 22]

#1075576

I am seeing an opthamologist. He is very knowledgeable on the whole Graves thing. He is feeling as frustrated as I am. He did keep my previous lenses from August in case my eyes get worse again.
Thanks.

[jlw November 6, 2008 at 2:18 pm Post count: 22]

#1020001

I was diagnosed with Graves in August. I am on tapazole – now 30mgs 1x a day – and atenolol 25mgs/day. I have had good results with my levels – starting out at TSH <0.004 (unrecognizable) and FT4 of 2.10 and now a TSH 0.014 and a FT4 1.0.

I had to get prescription glasses last summer, but have never had anything but great vision. Both parents have glasses, so I just assumed that the need was there because I am mid 30s and my eyes are getting older. This summer my prescription changed drastically, enough for the doctor to ask if my blood sugar and heart were okay. It had gotten so much worse. About four days later, I was diagnosed with Graves.

The problem is, that my new prescription in August drastically changed within the last two months. I was still within the warranty window, so went to get my eyes rechecked. Again, my prescription changed drastically in two months, this time for the better.

The problem – in the week that it took to get the (yet again) new prescription, my eyes have changed again! I don’t have much choice now because the insurance is done for the year, but I am not wearing them because life is clearer without them. I did go get some reading glasses though.

Is it normal to have this drastic and frequent changes with eye prescription? The only other Graves eye symptoms I have had are severe watering and darker and larger dark circles.

Thank you for your thoughts.
Jeanette

[Ski November 6, 2008 at 3:16 pm Post count: 1569]

#1075577

It’s good you have a doctor you can trust. I know I had small changes (back & forth) for a while, I can’t really say how long because they started before I was diagnosed, so no one knew why. My optometrist said he was "surprised" I noticed such small changes. Interesting.

In any event, the changes stopped. Keep in mind also that your eyes can change one full prescription point just by being chronically dry. That messed me up with my contacts for quite a while ~ I kept accusing them of giving me faulty lenses, and it was just that I wasn’t keeping my eyes moist enough.

The eye thing is THE worst part of this whole syndrome, no question.

[jlw November 8, 2008 at 9:43 am Post count: 22]

#1075578

So how do you get all of this help with your insurance? I have the standard insurance, new lenses each year, new frames every two years. Is there anything that can excuse the need for more appointments/lense changes?

[Ski November 8, 2008 at 11:23 am Post count: 1569]

#1075579

Oh, I sure wish there were. With my contact lenses, my doctor could give me a sample of the new prescription when I complained, so it’s a little different than glasses, but I would have to buy the rest of the year’s worth to replace the old one. I ended up going month by month, because it was changing almost that rapidly, back and forth. Since that first year, I haven’t experienced the same kind of vision changes, so I haven’t had to worry about it. About the only thing I can think of is to sign up for a medical expenses savings plan, if you have access to one, where you can have money set aside pre-tax for these types of expenses. With medical expense accounts, they allow access to all the money before you have put in your share, so at least you could give an educated guess at the beginning of the year about how many replacements you may need, and set that amount for your account. At least hopefully you can have replacement lenses done, instead of also using new frames.

[Author]

Posts