Sup y'all, someone sent me a message asking me about my condition so I figured I'd update everyone if anyone else was interested.
Previous threadSo I stopped posting in the thread because nothing was really changing. Got diagnosed at 15 which sucked, but I haven't really lost any vision since then either which is nice. So Glaucoma is mostly caused by a build up of Intra-Ocular Pressure (IOP) due to a fluid called "aqueous humor" that naturally flows through the eye or other causes. The medicine was annoying for a while. I originally had a bunch of eye-drops which I'll list the effects of, starting with "Dorzolamide" which stung like lemon juice to apply, but I never really learned how it helped. "Brimonidine" didn't hurt to apply, but it made me really sleepy as a side-effect, and worked by getting my brain to produce less aqueous humor. "Latanoprost" didn't have any noticeable side-effects, but it barely worked on me. It was supposed to improve drainage. "Pilocarpine" was the one I hated the most by far, but it was the most effective at reducing pressure. It improved drainage, and contracted my pupils. The pupilary contraction was meant to make it easier for surgery, but I only ever went through one. It sucked because it made me really near-sighted for a few hours after use, and I had to use it 4 times a day, and the new eyesight was never stable, so I couldn't get glasses that would reliably help either. I also had a pill called "Diamox" that was supposed to help, but didn't really and made things taste different.
Anyway, there was a new medicine called "Rocklatan" which works a lot like Latanoprost but actually works really well for me to the point where I dropped every other medication besides Brimonidine and now the eye pressure is pretty stable. Only problem is that it makes my eyes red as if I've constantly been smoking weed, and it costs so much that I'm still paying $60 per bottle even after insurance covers most of it. By comparison, the co-pay for everything else was like $2 per medication.
I did at one point get a surgery that was supposed to improve natural drainage, but it didn't work somehow. There were no complications, it just didn't improve what it needed to by any good amount after a week of healing. At least I
got a video out of it! (Warning, it's a surgery video) I got stitches in my eye, and it felt real weird when they took them out. They had to press on my eye to "break" the stitching, and then pull them out with tweezers. Best way I could say to replicate the feeling is to take a single hair and pinch it between your thumb and pointer finger, then pull it through with your other hand. It wasn't painful at all, just a strange sensation.
Now the plan is to just check the pressure every-so-often and hope the medicine keeps working. Or for future research to yield promising results for ocular regeneration, which there are a few things being tested already. My left eye can barely see anything, and my right eye is mostly fine, so besides the occasional pressure headache or poor depth perception things are okay.
I think I covered nearly everything, I'll be happy to answer any questions!
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