Terra cortril

[patrick]

Hi all,

I was recently put on a three weeks course of this terra cortril prescribed by my opthalmologist in an attempt to treat my chronic mgd. Since all other options haven't proven very effective until now. I'm six years down the road with this mgd thing that first appeared a few years after i had my lasek eye surgery.
Terra cortril contains two different kinds of anti biotics (oxytetracycline,polymyxine b) and it also contains hydrocortison which is a steroid.
I have to say that it worked absolutely wonderful! After a few days of use i began noticing that my symptoms of dry eye were decresing significantly and i guess that after approximately one week i was completely symptom free.
Couldn't believe what was happening and it actually was kind of strange to be pain free. Couldn't really remember what it feels like to have no eye pain. Funny how you get used to pain. Well,it isn't funny at all of course.
I immediately felt i had a lot more energy during the day,had a much better mood and i felt i had to make up for lost time so i began visiting family and friends a lot more than i did before. I actually socialised a lot more in general. Which was nice.
But there unfortunately is a hughe downside to this story to. It was wonderful as long as it lasted,but my opthalmologist warned me i couldn't use the terra cortril any longer than 3 weeks because of the possible dangerous side effects it can have when it is used too long. I'm fully aware of these side effects,so i quit after 3 weeks although it was kind of tempting to use it a bit longer especially since the tube i got wasn't nearly empty at all.
The advise i got to maintain the effects of the terra cortril as long as possible was to do the warm compresses,lidscrubs and taking flaxeedoil as before and be as compliant with it as i possibly can.
Till this day i really do everything i can to be as compliant to the suggested treatment,but the effects of the anti biotics with a steroid have worn off quite fast after i stopped using them and now i feel i'm back at square one. The constant pain,headaches,and burning are back the way it was before.
I know i can be symptom free. I experienced it myself,but the medicine that can achieve this can only be used for a very short while. How frustrating is that!?
I just wanted to share this experience here and i'm curious if others here have had a similar experience.
What i'm curious about is how i could have prolonged the effects longer than i have now?
Maybe there is something i should have done above the things i've done as described above?
Any input welcome of course!

Patrick...

[spmcc]

Hi Patrick,

I have never heard of terra-cortril before. It's nice to learn something "new". Thank you.

My thought was that, because terra-cortril has three active ingredients, you could ask your doctor which ingredient isn't for long-term use (maybe just the steroid). Then you can get a product that contains the other ingredient(s) excluding the one(s) that is/are dangerous. Perhaps you'll get the same fantastic results minus the danger?

Good luck.
Sheila

[Andrey]

Had the exact same experience with Azithromycin not long ago. It's really hard to explain the feeling you got when all symptoms disappeared. Unfortunately it just had to come back..

I really doubt you could've done anything different, so don't blame yourself.

Sheila, can't you tell us a little how it is going for you? Because you have been using antibiotics (doxy) for 20 years, right? Is it still giving you anything? I'm really curious!

[littlemermaid]

We have cleared the MGs successfully on a standard topical antibacterial + steroid combination, and also on topical Azithromycin + steroid. We taper to minimum 2 steroid eyedrops/week, then flare-up again due to the skin problems.

I would like to taper the steroid using cyclosporine at the same time (standard eg Moorfields protocol, using cyclosporine at bedtime), and then use cyclosporine (formulated Restasis) ongoing - is this possible for you guys? I can't source the stuff from UK except in a paraffinum base, which she is sensitive to.

[spmcc]

Sheila, can't you tell us a little how it is going for you? Because you have been using antibiotics (doxy) for 20 years, right? Is it still giving you anything? I'm really curious!

Terra-cortril is an antibiotic/steroid eye ointment. I think this is very different from taking antibiotics by mouth (the ointment is probably a better idea - except that I have rosacea too which means that oral antibiotics are standard treatment)

There is another recent thread about oral antibiotics here (I posted as well): http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...ycline-for-MGD

[patrick]

Hi,

Thanks for reading and for your replies!
I guess its the steroid in the ointment that is making it unhealthy for longterm use.
Next step is long term low dose doxycycline. Hopefully this is equally effective and the results can be prolonged for a much longer period than with the terra cortril.
Thing is my optometrist doesn't want to prescribe me the doxycycline right at this moment,because it is almost summer and as we all know the doxycycline makes your skin very sensitive to sunlight. So she wants me to start with it somewhere in the fall of this year.
In the meantime i'm looking for an ointment or lidscrub based on herbs or based on whatever natural ingredients that has either strong anti biotic as well as anti inflammatory properties. Anyone has a suggestion what to use best for this?
There are so many natural/herbs based products on the market that claim to be the best anti inflammatory or anti biotic that i don't really know which to believe....