Severe Eye pain and Blood Vessels

[Mike12188]

NOTE: My mom is the one with the problem so I wont really know anything else about it then what i am posting here.

My mom recently had problems with her left eye, she had sever diabetes and her eye had like a stroke and lose some vision. She went in to have it corrected and they noticed she has large blood vessels behind her eye and they tried to give her a new treatment where they place a shot in her eye, i believe it was some kind of chemotherapy? Well, she had the shot about 3 times and it was not working, her eye was fine, but she was blind, she had no pain. Since then, we have lost our insurance so we can no longer bring her in to continue the shots to correct the blood vessels, since then her eye has become a different color then her good one, like the white part looks slightly gray and her pupil is severely dilated. Her eye is in so much pain that now all she does is sleep, she cant even do the dishes because is hurts so much. We cant really do anything about it because we have no insurance and the treatment would cost thousands of dollars of which we don't have.

She is currently taking 2 eye drops twice daily: Cosopt and Prednisolone AC 1% OPHTC SUSP 10ML (a steroid to remove pain)

They help the pain and they were both prescribed by the doctor while we had the insurance. Recently her eye has become such a problem it is affecting the family and we really need some help/answers.

So my questions are:
1) Is there anything we can do to ease the pain other than taking asprin?
2) Is there anything we can do to help remove/shrink the blood vessels?
3) If nothing will help and we must seek professional treatment, what can they do for her and how much will it roughly cost. (we live in Las Vegas, NV if that helps.)

I recently saw online that that taking Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Zinc, and Carotene will help. Is this true?

I would like to personally thank you for taking the time to read this and ANYTHING that you think might help would be a great help to us, so please do not be afraid to post what you think.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[acme]

I have an idea that you may reject, but here goes:  I think contacting a newspaper in your area may be a way of getting help quickly.  I am suggesting that you go to lvrj.com and send an email to Jane Ann Morrison who does human interest stories. If you click her name you will get her email address.  I don't know her or anything about the Review Journal -- I just used Google to find a Las Vegas paper.  You are a very intelligent and persuasive young man.  Tell her your story and point out that given the diabetes epidemic, it would be very timely and helpful to you and to others, to print an article about the  services  available to diabetics who are financially needy.  You could also point out that many people do not know they are diabetic and/or do not realize the terrible consequences if they let the disease go undiagnosed or untreated.  If Ms. Morrisson is not interested, write a letter to the editor to be printed on the opinion page. I am sure the paper will print it.  Hopefully, the public will respond and help you in some way.  At least your letter  will raise public awareness and will help someone out there when they read it.  Remember to say that you are fifteen.  Good Luck.  

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[Mike12188]

Your case is so close to mine its scary. My mom knew she had diabetes but never went to the doctors until her eye became like this. She used to take pills before meals to help her diabetes but just stopped. Then she woke up and her eye was like this and went to the doctors for a full check up. Her Blood Sugar Level was at like 385, and she was borderline stroke, heart attack, liver and kidney failure and many other things, ever since then shes been taking insulin and P-r-icking- her fingers, I've also been filling the syringes because she cant see them, since then her Blood Sugar has gone down to about 100 and we've been eating healthy. The same day i made this topic, i went down to the store and bought a pirate costume eye patch and forced her to wear it, ever since then she has described the pain as a "2" compared to a  "9" before the patch. Sometimes I just wish my mom would listen to me instead of not taking any action and just dealing with the pain. Thanks for all of your help acme, and now only if I could get my mom to read this so she would know how other people have had the same problems with positive results, but like I said, she is too stubborn and just doesn't want to hear it.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[acme]

You know I just read my post and I see asterisks where I said "p-r-i-c-k".  
About the doctor posting the dashes "---------", I think that it is his way of marking the point to which he has read the thread.
Good Luck,  Mike.  You're a smart and very nice young man.  I'm wishing you and your mother the best.

[acme]

You are a wonderful son because you're trying to help your mother.  
I think I know a little about how she feels.  When this happened to me I was devastated and distraught, sometimes angry, but most of all, I felt guilty.  I thought that if I went ahead with treatment that I was robbing my children of their future because of the cost.  On top of the eye pain, I just felt so sick because the extremely high blood sugar was not just affecting my eyes, it was affecting my whole body.  Before this happened, I didn't know I was diabetic because I never went to doctors.  Losing my vision forced me to go.  I was told that I had "hospitalization numbers"  but I begged not to be  hospitalized.  So instead I was shown how to inject insulin and how to ***** my finger in order to get my blood sugar down and under control.  My daughter had to fill syringes for me because I could not see well enough to do it.  We all worked on this at home. We changed our diet to eliminate most prepared convenience foods and other high carbohydrate foods like pasta, bread, potatoes.  It was a drastic approach but i went from a measure of blood sugar (Ha1c) of over 13 to 5 now.  I can read and drive again, and I feel good.  I felt doomed and hopeless two years ago.  Tell your mother not to give up, there is hope, but she has to work on this, and tell her you'll help her.  Believe me that means so much.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

_________________  means I've read the thread and don't need to respond anymore.


JCH III MD

[Mike12188]

Thanks, i'm definetly going to try to ask people for help. I'm only 15 and my mom is one of the most stubborn people i know. Whenever I try to mention ANYTHING about something like charity or help she just starts going "No No No I don't wanna hear it." and doesnt let me finish my sentence and just waves me off.

Thanks for your help, and AAO-MD-JH, whats with the "------------------"

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

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[acme]

It sounds like your mother has proliferative diabetic retinopathy.  I have that too.  It has been more than two years now that I woke up one morning with loss of my central vision in one eye and aching on that side of my face and in the eye.  A retinal specialist gave me a steroid injection that immediately relieved the pain.  Subsequently I have had more steroid injections and laser treatments in both eyes.  Today, two years later,I have good vision although there is a slight scar and slight visual distortion in the eye that lost central vision.  Through all this I have not had insurance.  However, the retinal specialist has been very kind and has discounted my treatment because I was not able to qualify for a local program that helps the needy with the cost of eye care.  Don't let your mother suffer and lose her vision.  Contact every charitable organization and every retinal specialist in your town to see who will help.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

With out being under the care of a physician her options are limited to over the counter tylenol, aspririn and ibuprofen and folk medicine like accupuncture.

JCH III MD

[Mike12188]

Well, can you maybe answer the questions, the pain is really the worst thing, the treatment can wait.

[John C Hagan III, MD, FACS, FAAO]

Vitamin C, E, Zinc Carotene are part of the AREDS formula for age related macular degeneration. Not her problem.

Most medical schools provide indigent medical care, the University of Neveda School of Medicine is located in Reno.

Most municipalities also provide for indigent medical care. Call the social service department of the state of Nevada or call a local hospital and ask for social service. They can review your options.

Most states provide a Medicaid type of program for indigents, they should also be able to give you a list of physicians that accept medicaid.

Frankly from what you've posted it's not likely that traveling anywhere would affect the outcome of her eye over what can be arranged locally. Diabetes remains a leading cause of bad vision and blindness.

JCH III MD