Lucentis Side Effects

[wombat1900]

My mother just had her 1st shot of Lucentis. She has a small leak.  She is also on Glaucoma eye drops.  She is experiencing extreme fatigue and she said her thoughts/memory seem fuzzy.   How long do these side effects last?  My mother is a small person who doesn't take any other medications except for the eyes.  She works out everyday. She isn't up to that either. Does she have to get these every 4 weeks or can they space them out more or lesser dose?  

[wombat1900]

She just started with the fatigue and cough when she got the injection She has been on the the glaucoma drops for years.  Those made her tired when she started them, she seems to have been ok until she got the Lucentis. Medicines do affect her hard since she is small in stature and doesn't take meds.  I am worried about her. How long should these side effects last? One post I read said he was tired like that for 3 weeks then he had to go for another shot.  

[Doreen Fazio, M.D.]

Lucentis and other intravitreal injections for macular degeneration or edema are usually administered monthly for 3 months, and then may be spaced out a bit if the macula is dry and there is no fluid seen on OCT.  The new drug Eylea is administered every 2 months.  I would have your mother see her internist to be sure that her fatigue is not due to something unrelated to the injections.  Also, some glaucoma drops are associated with fatigue, such as beta blockers (Timolol) and Alphagan (Brimonidine).  To minimize the systemic effect of the glaucoma drops, she should close her eyes for 2 minutes after she instills the drops, and press with her finger tips on the inside corner of eyes by the nose, where the glasses pads would rest.  This closes off the tear drainage duct, to prevent the drops from going down into the nose and throat and being absorbed into the blood stream.