Macularr degeneration

[Flute56]

i saw another thread on this but it has not been upate since May so I started a new one. I have dry macular degeneration. Reading the few posts on the other thread is a bit alarming. The reasonn why I say this is because one person said they were tol by an optician not to worry about it. Sorry but however you dress it up it i a progressive disease whether slow or fast growing. To say nothing to worry about it a little concerning and I woulld not go back to an optician who said that to me. You have to be realistic.

I was diagosed in 2009 and now we are in 2022. I now have to read with a magnifying glass and turn my computer on to enlarge the letters so I turn on windows magnifyer.

I wa given new glasses which were far too strong for me so I could not wear them and I tried to tell the optiian but he woul not listen to me and said oh I do not make mistakes so I left. I have gone back to wearing an old pair of reading glasses which are less strong and better for my eyes.

I have been going through a very stressful time lately and four days ago my macular degeneration suddely got worse. I find bright light hurt my eyes and my distance vision is more cloudy than it was However I find that when I am at home I see perfectly well so do not notice any diference but when I go out in daylight or go round a supermarket I notice things are more blurred and distorted.

Strange is that becaue as I am typing this I am looing round my room and because it is dark it is fine. I have not deliberately made it dark I have always had my hoe darker with main lights off for comfort. It is something I have always done long beore I had macular degeneration.

I am going to see a new optician. I had an appointment three weeks ago but caught covid and could not go. I hope thi is stress related and nothing serious but for an optician to say to a patient with a diagnosis of macular degeneration nothing to worry about gives them a false sence of hope. Macular Degeertion lies dormant for 10 years and then it progreses

I cauht it from my dads side of my family. He had it and two of his sisters I do not know if any of my ousins have inherited it becaue I am not in contact with them all. The two cousins I am in touch with on my dads side have not got it yet but thats nor to say they wont ever get it. My dad got it at age 80. I got it at age 47

Please see an optician as soon as possible they will instill dilating drops so that they can do s fundus examination . This way if there is anything that needs emergency ophthalmogical treatment they can refer you . If not I would ask for a referral into a low vision clinic to see what aids might be available to maximise the vision you have

I have Dry Macular Degeneration too & it seriously sucks.

You need to go to this website if you haven't already.
If you are new to it, they let you have the first 6 months of membership trial for free (if you want to keep up the membership it's £22 a year but I think it's worth it)
www.macularsociety.org/

Full of useful advice, information and phone numbers for support groups etc..

They cover all kinds of Macular Degeneration, for all ages (because it's not just old people who get it).

My mam has this and has to have regular injections in her eyes.
They can slow the process down but worrying that there is no cure.

That is Wet Macular Degeneration.

There is no treatment or cure for Dry.

Thanks My vision issue was due to tiredness and stress Yes I have drry macular but when my vision suddenly deteriorated it was nothing more than stress because it has rectiied itself . I am one of these people that panick. One day my macular degeneration will deteriorate but what I thought was MG deterioration was just stress. Long before I was diagnose with MG I wore glasses and my vision was blurrred. I was tol it was just tiredess and it was. My mum had the same and so when these things happen you have to wait a while beore realising it is not just stres. I do not need to go to a low vision clinic. I live my life exactly as I did beore I was ever diagnosed with Macular Degneratio. I go to work I travel I run my own home I socialise

Someone on here said they have dry macular and it sucks. I would say it is inconvenient tha anything. Yes lines look wonky and I am sorry that anyone who has we or dry are struggling / One day I might really struggle who knows.

I also have sciatica which is mild and again I can do everything I used to do. I would not attept to run a marathon but my physiotherapist said to me You are not as bad as you think you are. I know someone who is going to havee back surgerey to cut off some of his lower back bone to top it hitting his sciatic nere and he is currently having injections to ease the pain.

I have never needed injections and my flare ups when they do occur last a few days and die down. My physio has taught me what to do and what not to do. I had a flare up which lasted over a week which does not usually happen with me so I booked to see the physio because I thought I had done some lasting damage which would not recover. . It has inally died down.

I should stop worrying about nothing and I hae been doing that most of my adult lie.

As ar as macular degeneration and low ision is concerned I need larger print so when I m at wor I turn on windows magnifyer and it is perfect for my needs and I can see fine to do a days job.

It is really strange becaue looking through a magnifying glass at small print make the lines of type on a page look extremely straight and very clear. I asked the optician if there were any glasses that matched that strength of magnification and was told no you annot use the same magniication in a magnifyer and mae lenses for glasses. I find that strange that you cannot do that.

I am changing my opticians becaue my last one gave me the wrong glasses and refused to admit they had given me readding glases that were too strong. I need both istance and reading glasses and just cannot get on with bi focals. I have tried and trie and hate them. I do not wear distance glasses all the time o when I am walking down the street I do not need them, its only when I am somewhere like the theatre. My reading glasses that the optician gave me were so strong that I had to hold the book right up close to my eyes to read and I never see anyone else doing this. They put the book at a distance and can still read so I have reverted to my previous prescription reading glasses which are less strong where I do not have to hold whatever I am reading almost up to my eyeball in orer for it to be ok to read with the glasses. That is not right and the opticians refused to admit they were wrong.

I play the piano and the distance betwee your eyes and the music that goes up on the piano stand is uite far ad with those new reading glasses I had to almost touch the page and go so close which pianists do not do. So i hae paid a lot for the glaes and have not worn them.

I did have an opticians appointment somewhere else recently but caught covid and ha to cancel. I must rebook it

By the way I ue to wor with someone who had macular degeneration and he was only in his 30s an he aid he had since age 11 an d tol me it was called juvinillee macular which kids get and he was almost copletely blind in his 30s and eventually got medically retired. Actress Judi Dench has wet macular and now cannot see much at all

My mum has it, in one eye, and was diagnosed by the optician last year. She is still ok to drive etc, and doesn’t wear glasses, except for reading.

Are not under the optometrist at hospital?