cc: [log in to unmask]
Betti Adams said ---
BA" You told the story about using Betagan(sp?) drops in your eyes for
" glaucoma, and that when you discontinued them your Parkinson
symptoms
" improved greatly.
BA" My question is, did you find another drug to substitute for the Betagan?
" If so, what is it. If not, how has your glaucoma been affected by
" discontinuing the drops? What, if anything does your opthalmologist
" recommend to treat the glaucoma.
Edwin Partridge (72/4) replies ---
My ophthalmologist found first that the presssure in my eyes did not
increase when I stopped taking the Betagan. It appeared that they were
no longer effective anyway. Next we tried Timoptic, which I had used for
awhile at some time before, but they were not effective now either.
Then he gave me laser treatments, first in one eye and then the other.
He hit about ninety tiny spots all around the iris with laser pulses.
This reduced the pressure in my eyes dramatically. He explained that
that the healing process improves the blood circulation right there. He
said that is where the fluid drains from the eye. It all seems very
mysterious to me.
Unfortunately, these things never seem to last forever. My pressure
began to creep up again --- I have some ocular nerve damage in my right
eye. In fact, I think that is when they stop calling it hypertension and
begin to call it glaucoma.
Just recently, my ophthalmologist has prescribed Trusopt drops, which
is a relatively new product by Merck. I put them in just one eye, but
the pressure in both eyes is down to 20-22. That is as low as it has
ever been in the last 20-25 years. Many people have suffered severe
damage from pressures that high --- they tell me that I am pretty tough
--- and lucky.
BA" My father (79/6) uses a beta blocker for glaucoma and some of the
family
" now wonder if this could be the reason his Parkinson symptoms have
" worsened. His opthalmologist knows he has Parkinsons. Is the beta
" blocker-Parkinson connection something new?
This effect that betagan had on me is not generally known. Three
neurologists that I have told just dismiss the idea that a few tiny
drops of anything applied topically to the eyes would have any such
effect. Another, very senior and experienced neuro-ophthalmologist (the
more letters in their title, the more they charge) said that he had
never heard of such a thing, and when he asked the others in his group,
no one else had either. All that I can relate is my own experience,
which was very definite and dramatic.
I later asked my ophthalmologist how he knew to tell me immediately to
stop taking a beta blocker, because I would like some authority to
quote. He said that it just made sense to him. His mother-in-law with
Parkinson's lives with them.
Unfortunately, as I said before, these things never seem to last --- my
symptoms have progressed gradually --- last week my left foot and lower
leg pretty much stopped working right and I have to use a cane. My
neurologist has increased my sinemet and parlodel --- it seems to be
helping some.
From: [log in to unmask]
* SLMR 2.1a * McLean Virginia USA Wed 04-24-96 1:03 am
---
* KMail 3.00y
