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Has anyone used this with any success?
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Yes, I love mine. There's a bunch of posts, I'd link to, on serum drops but, the search function seems not to be working. I'll keep trying and post some of the good ones if I can get the search function to work again.
In the meantime, do you have any specific questions about them? -
Is there any side effects? Can you only use them short term? Are they very expensive? Do you use your own blood and if so does it need to be free from anything?Comment
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I haven't had any side effects. Theoretically there shouldn't be as they contain only serum from your body and saline.
I suppose you could use them short term but since they won't fix your dry eye disease, only the symptoms, the benefits would fade without use.
Expense. It depends what you call expensive. They are not inexpensive but IMO, when you consider the cost of preservative-free artificial tear vials and the long term costs of damage caused by dry eye, they are worth it.
Yes, serum drops are made from your own blood; you would not want to use someone else's blood.
When you say, "does it need to be free from anything?" what do you mean? Are you referring to free of medications or ?? My doctor and the lab that does my serum drops have not told me to discontinue doing or taking anything although I suppose there could be things they'd want your blood free of (I can't imagine what though).
Couple of things... Before you have a blood draw, make sure you are well-hydrated. I try to give myself a full 3 days of making sure I am drinking enough water since I sometimes don't drink enough on a regular basis; I actually record how much I am consuming to make sure I have enough. Being well-hydrated does a couple of things. It makes the draw less painful and easier. It also will give you more serum than if you are not hydrated. To give you an example, when I had my first draw, 10 vials gave me 10 bottles of serum drops at 50%; after the nurse gave me the tip about being well-hydrated, my future draws of 10 vials gave me up to 14 bottles of serum drops at 50%. I was getting so many that I decided to increase my serum percentage to 75% because I wasn't using my drops fast enough that they were at peak efficacy. Now, even at 75%, I'm getting about 8-10 bottles of drops from a 10 vial draw, which I attribute entirely to being well-hydrated.
I'm still getting "500 Internal Server Error" when I try to do a search. )=Comment
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Hello
I have not actually used these as yet, long story but my local PCT or rather Drugs and Theraputics committee at the hospital have refused to fund them. I have paid literally thousands of pounds myself in the past so dont feel too guilty asking them to help out on the NHS but they say no!
However that is not your worry. I did an awful lot of research the moment my opthalmologist said he would like to use them for me and the blood service is very specific about certain diseases they will not go near. I guess it is the same in the US? HIV, Hepatitis, Syphillis and some tropical disease I cannot remember the name of now! If you test positive for any of these they are unlikely to use the blood. The screening service is rigourous here in the UK but most people hopefully do not fall into those catergories. I have Anti phospholipid syndrome which sometimes can create a false positive on the viper venom test for syphillis but I think that the labs have updated the identifying tests as it is known to be a problem with the old style testing.
I would not worry too much, you will be screened thouroughly anyhow and if you have anti phospholipid syndrome you can discuss this with them in advance.
Good luck
luluComment
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Thanks - I think that I can get them under my health cover...Comment
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Lulu, Are you in East of England PCT? I'm wondering if you could access Addenbrooke's. They are more likely to get their biochemistry right.Paediatric ocular rosacea ~ primum non nocereComment
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