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in reply to: Pondering TT #1182399

Thanks for your input, Shirley and De! And I did have a chance to read AZGravesGuy’s post. It does help to hear people’s perspectives. I’m curious, too, if there’s a connection with TED and TT. What happens to the antibodies with TT? Are they just gone? I can’t quite figure out if they’re attached to the thyroid so they would just be gone, or if they’re still out there and could still attack the eye muscles. The effect on TED, if there is one, is something I’m pretty curious about as I ponder this.

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in reply to: Hyper…sigh… #1182361

Thanks Kimberly! So far, a week at the new dose with no detectable change in symptoms. I follow up with the endo on Friday.

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in reply to: Eye symptoms #1182308

This Nexcare tape seems to work well. It’s soft and comfortable, can be repositioned and reused, and didn’t leave residue or a mark. It’s blue, but that doesn’t matter for what I’m using it for. (And it’s less than $6 for 4 yards.)

So my eye is happier in the morning from a moisture standpoint, but I can’t move my eye without “discomfort” (I mean, it just doesn’t want to move.) Is that just the muscles getting stiff during the night? It seems to get better as the day goes on, but it takes longer in the morning to be able to focus well enough to drive. Is that stiffness a normal result of taping? I think I’m doing it right. Just needing reassurance.

Thanks.

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in reply to: Eye symptoms #1182305

I woke up wimpering last night from eye pain. (I usually have a pretty high pain tolerance.) Not the first time this has happened, though, but one of the worst. I’ll try taping my eye. Mepitac tape sounds great, but I’ll have to wait for it to come. In the meantime, perusing the local drugstore, I saw some Nexcare sensitive skin low trauma tape. Have any of you tried this? At this point, I’m not sure pain from tape removal could be much worse than the eye pain from my exposed eye in the short term? Or am I wrong about that?

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in reply to: Eye symptoms #1182302

Thanks Nancy! That makes sense. I hadn’t realized dry eye could cause that extreme of a reaction. I have a small humidifier on my desk (IT doesn’t know about it), I can turn off the overhead light and use a lamp when I need to (they’ve even taken a bulb out of the fluorescent light to accommodate me), and I’ll set the alarm to drop a little more frequently. (I was seriously scary-looking–a toddler I know was coming over to high-five. When he got close he looked at me, stopped, and ran back to his mom, crying.)

My eyes don’t close at night, one more so than the other. The eye doctor hadn’t mentioned taping, although he told me my eyes don’t close all the way. I put lubricating ointment in at night, as he suggested, but in spite of that I’ve been waking up with scratchy eyes in the night lately. Guess I’ll be looking up Mepitac tape, and how to tape an eye shut.

Thanks again! This group is a wonderful resource!

Christy

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in reply to: Eye symptoms #1182300

Thanks for that reminder about stress. In reflection, my work days have crept back into the 10-12 hour range again over the past several weeks. Hardly seems fair, since some of that job stress is from working through the eye disease, and the stress could be making the eye disease, and the Graves in general, worse. Sigh…

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in reply to: TED treatment? #1182167

Thanks Shirley! I had a chance to go back and look up past posts as you suggested. It was very helpful.
It’s also helpful to know that the others that have “gone before” know where I’m coming from, and can understand when I get frustrated, (and maybe even a little depressed), or even just need a little help understanding what’s happening, (like I just did.) I might not be very happy about the reason I needed to find you all, but I am sure glad I found you!

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in reply to: TED treatment? #1182165

Thank you for the reassurance! That makes sense. He said there was a big increase in pressure with looking up; direct gaze is high/normal. He said something about being prepared for surgery as an inevitability sooner rather than later at this point. I think I need to start asking for more explanations, since I didn’t really think any surgery could be considered until the hot phase settles (pending threat to the optic nerve), and it sure hasn’t settled down yet.
The prism works well for distance and general vision. Close up work remains a challenge with the double vision. Today I’m trying readers with transluscent tape on one lens for occlusion. I like the effect of a patch better for acuity, but cosmetically, the tape might be better. Actually, either one is funny looking. I just need to get over it. After all, my uncovered eyes look pretty odd, too. Mostly, I want what I can’t have right now–my old eyes back. (This last part is just venting.) Thanks again!

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in reply to: Double vision help? #1182008

Thanks for answering. I do understand that TED and GD run two separate courses, although the eye doctor did indicate that becoming hypothyroid while being treated for hyperthyroidism could worsen symptoms. It gets a little confusing for me when the endo said my last labs indicated I was becoming hyper again, and this would explain my worsening TED. But, my FT4 wasn’t even back up to midrange yet, and my FT3 had crept up a bit, but still was in the reference range. But no doubt, the TED had worsened in this time frame, connected or not.

I’ve had the prism 2 1/2 weeks, and already notice some subtle changes and have to tilt my chin higher now to stay in single vision with the prism. I guess my vision is sort of a moving target at this point. And I also understand it will be some time (maybe years?) before we know for sure if I’ll need corrective surgery or not. It sounds as if they were just trying to have me thinking about the possibility. More than one person have commented on the position of my eyes. (They were trying to be helpful, in some weird way, by pointing out to me that it looked like something was wrong with my eyes–I looked a little “cross-eyed.”)

The patch works, but it’s awkward at work. And we’ve had a lot of snow and black ice here this winter, so to have impaired depth perception while driving isn’t good, although on dry pavement, during the day, I think I do just fine. The eye doctor differs, although it is legal in our state to drive with only one eye. I also miss wearing my contacts. I feel as if I’m missing a protective layer from my eye, or something, and they’re even more exposed to air. (I have lid retraction, too.) But except for switching from distance to close-up, the prism still seems to be working for me for the most part. I’m trying to make the best of it–but some days it’s a little tough, to be honest. And some days, my eyes just hurt. And I hope I can figure out how to hit a golf ball come spring with this crazy vision.

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