After 8+ years...going to try serum drops

[Lucy]

I've seen only a few people take this route. Diana being the "most famous." lol. My local lasik doctor who did my RS in early 2000 apparently doesn't do it locally. I called the office and said I wanted to do the autologous drops. The receptionist asked me if this was "something they called in for me." I asked someone to call me back with the information.

I got a call back today and this will be arranged through the U of Mich. This is a 200 mile round trip for me, so I'm not thrilled about going there. I need to do this, though, to see if it will help my left eye. I'm spending most of my time lying down with my eyes shut, "listening" to tv. I'm not getting my hopes up because I know this is no panacea. Will report my experiences later. Lucy

[kimby2007]

Best of Luck

Best of luck Lucy! Please report back your experiences.

[Silverlady]

Aww

Lucy,
I'm so sorry you are having such a rough time. I can't remember. Is the tear duct cauterized on that eye?

I'm interested in the drops also.

I know that drive will be rough. Take one of those canisters of the Tears Again with you. I always carry one with me when I'm driving. It's saved me many times from having to pull over and put drops in my eyes.

Good luck, I'll be following this with lots of interest.

Billye

[Lucy]

I can't get in until June 13th, but that's ok. I won't have to drive, thankfully. "That eye" is cauterized and the other eye is one plug and one scarred shut. I have no idea if they'll do the serum drops, but I'm hoping to try. In any event, it's a new doctor seeing me. I've been to the U hospital before, but not to this dr. Will post when I have news. Lucy

[liz56]

Thanks for keeping us updated, Lucy!

I hope that the drops will help!

--Liz

[Lucy]

Have serum drops!

I got the autologous drops yesterday and will use them 4 x day. All I can say is they feel good upon installation (they're kept in the frig.) But everyone says that about the serum drops. Also, almost anything feels good when put in my eye as long as it's wet.

The eye doc, who was more interested in how many pregnancies I'd had and what my hobbies were than my dry eyes. I was getting really mad because all this had nothing to do with dry eyes. Besides I had been to U Hospital before and they had all my pertinent info from before. If I'd had my wits about me, I'd have told them to shut up and never mind the personal stuff. Wanted to know if I was "married." I've been married longer than any of those youngsters examining me have been alive, including the doctor. This might help others who find themselves in this predicament to stop it in the tracks. 90% of my time was spent with the tech girls.

Getting the drops is no east thing. I had to give 12 vials of blood. YES, 12. They then spun the plasma from the blood and gave me an ice pack with the balance of the plasma (or whatever). We had to take it to a compounding pharmacy 20 miles away. This is near Detroit and traffic isn't a good thing. We got there just enough before closing so they could do whatever it is they needed to do. I was given another icepack and we started on the 2+ hour drive home.

This eye doctor gave me a Schirmers test (with anesthesia) and it came out after 5 minutes at o for both eyes. I thought one might be o, but was surprised both were. He said they couldn't do anything for me other than what I was there for (drops). He wanted to know if my local eye butcher recommended the drops to me. I said I was the one who recommended the drops to myself.

I'll post in a couple of weeks about how these are doing. The doc was an absolute idiot about Sjogrens Syndrome. I'll let it go at that, but I had to teach him a thing or two. Lucy

[liz56]

Best Wishes, Lucy!

Thanks for the information, Lucy. I imagined that serum drops would be a hassle, but 12 vials. That is a lot! How many bottles of serum eye drops will that produce?

I hope that these do something for you!

--Liz

[dianat]

That's a lot of blood donated, Luc. How long will the supply last? At least through your next pregnancy, I hope.

D

[Lucy]

At least through your next pregnancy, I hope.

Diana, that's the best laugh I've had in a while. Pregnancy excluded, I have 3 vials on hand here which could/should do me 2-3 months. He has enough to make another 3 month batch after that. After 6 months, the blood is no good so I have a good 6 months worth. (I know they took extra blood, though.) Maybe the nurse was a werewolf. Lucy

[MyDryEyes]

Lucy,

You have a great sense of humor!! Good luck with the serum drops!! I hope they bring you relief!! Please keep us posted. This is a route I have been contemplating taking if some of these conventional treatments don't work.

Best,

MDE

[shells]

Hey Lucy,

I'm glad to hear you finally got your drops, although sounds like it was quite a pain. Glad you will be set for 6 months. I really hope they help control your left eye better, you certainly deserve it. Good luck and keep us posted!

-Shells

[mary kenny badami]

Well, Lucy, I would say that twelve vials (or as I tend to think of them, "viles") of blood represent a pretty strong commitment to improving the health of your eyes.

I think of myself as a reasonably well-educated person, but I have to say that participating in this post-refractive surgery world has definitely improved my vocabulary: AUTOLOGOUS is defined in Wikipedia as follows: "in biology, autologous refers to cells, tissues or even proteins that are reimplanted in the same individual as they come from. Bone marrow, skin biopsy, cartilage, and bone can be used as autografts. In contrast, cells or tissues transplanted from a different individual are referred to as allogeneic, homologous, or as an allograft."

Best of luck, dear friend Lucy. Knowing how much you love gambling, I hope that this new project will allow you to hit the jackpot.

best, mary / gloomsssssssssssssss

p.s. to dianat -- " . . . through your next pregnancy, I hope" -- Sheesh, dianat, I was drinking my morning quota of Diet Pepsi as I read your post; consider yourself lucky that I am not charging you for the cost of replacing my keyboard!

[dianat]

consider yourself lucky that I am not charging you for the cost of replacing my keyboard!

I consider myself lucky that Lucy has a good sense of humor!

[Natalie06]

Lucy...

Please post a birth announcement for when the "baby" is born or you see any improvement in your eyes, both joyous occasions. And I will be praying for the latter. You've had enough.

I am just curious though and quite probably ignorant to boot but the guy at the lab here told me that the drops might last a couple of weeks and I'd have to go 2X per month. Meaning that each session, he'd draw only enough to get me through 2 weeks, roughly two vials. The implication being that that's the shelf life. But if I understand correctly, you can keep them for up to 3 months?

Perhaps I should have my guy call your guy. My guy is all very new at this and the last time we spoke, he was making them for only one patient.

And all joking aside, I hope they help. Please let us know. We are all rooting for you.

[dianat]

Natalie,

I haven't noticed how Lucy's serum is prepared, but I can tell you that my serum drops are put into a bottle that contains an OTC drop...Systane actually.

I buy the bottle and bring it to the office where my doc squirts out a certain amount of it and adds in my serum. The result is my serum eyedrop that is preserved in with OTC drops and kept in the fridge for good measure and good feeling.

I've never been told when to throw them away...normally a bottle lasts a couple of months. I've never gotten an infection from them. I keep additional bottles in the freezer and see my doc for a "re-draw" every four to six months.

Funny thing was that the first time I had serum drops made I was pregnant and didn't know it. I later teased my eye doctor that if he'd tested my blood for HCG (which he obviously had no need to do) he could have given me the news first.

D