[SharonS111 August 16, 2019 at 4:06 am Post count: 2]

#1060978

After being in remission for quite a few years by eating clean and walking, I went back to my old ways of eating including sugary foods. My vision started going so I went to an optometrist to see if glasses would help. Of course he sold me some but also suggested I go to an ophthalmologist too. So I have to go to an Ophthalmologist I don’t know since mine has retired. And I find a holistic GP that’s also a regular dr. that runs tests and says my TSH is really low (0.01) and my T3 and T4 were normal. She says it has to do with my pituitary gland, so it involves stress. I have just early-retired, so I don’t have the stress of my work any longer. But I also have read it can take 6 months-2 years to lower it. Anyway, I’ve been seeing a regular ophthalmologist and he seems sure I have glaucoma, and not TED (thyroid eye disease). The two have such closely related symptoms that I worry that I’m using this Latanoprost and it may be causing more damage to my eyes since they don’t seem to be getting better. I’ve read where that can happen, especially if the wrong diagnosis is made. Even he said there’s not much info out on TED vs glaucoma. Just wondered if anyone else has my weird issues.

[KimberlyOnline Facilitator August 16, 2019 at 4:48 pm Post count: 4288]

#1185630

Hello – The distinction between TED & glaucoma can be tricky…a second opinion might be helpful if you aren’t sure about the diagnosis. ASOPRS is a good place to start…these docs are surgeons, but they also tend to have good expertise on Graves’.

https://www.asoprs.org/index.php?option=com_mcdirectorysearch&view=search&id=12029#/

Also, this is an older piece from the GDATF, but might be of interest: https://www.gdatf.org/about/about-graves-disease/patient-education/glaucoma-and-graves-disease/

[Liz1967 August 16, 2019 at 5:44 pm Post count: 305]

#1185631

Your intraocular pressures can rise due to increased size of eye muscles from TED. As muscles thicken, they take up more space in the orbits causing pressure on the eyeballs. If this is the reason for the increased pressure, it will return to normal after more space is created in the orbit via orbital decompressions. People with TED whose eyes do not bulge forward very much (thus also creating space) tend to have elevated pressures. Your ophthalmologist can determine if your glaucoma is from this increased pressure from TED or from the usual causes of glaucoma like narrow angles, etc. If you have doubts, see an oculoplastic surgeon who can check for muscle enlargement and/or a glaucoma specialist. Latanoprost has the great side effect of making your eyelashes grow!

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