I can't believe this doctor!!!

[marykate]

I just went to the optometrist today and told him my complaints, about how I can no longer drive, have no social life anymore, and am taking some time off from work because I cannot keep my eyes open at work. And this is what he said:

"Well my TBUT time is 2 seconds, which is less than half of your TBUT, and yet I feel perfectly fine. I just cannot wear contacts. So I'm not sure why you're complaining about feel miserable."

Then he just shooed me out and didn't give me any recommendations on what I should do, except to maybe use eyedrops every so often (which is what I already do!!!)


GAHHHH

[acarol]

Thats terrible treatment but the more i'm coming into contact with the 'medical profession' (which is a lot since this eye thing started!) the less i trust them.

[Rebecca Petris]

Time for a new eye doctor, definitely.

You'd think that the discrepancy between "signs & symptoms" of dry eye (test results and how we feel) would be well known and understood in optometry and ophthalmology - especially considering this is a key factor in the difficulty with getting drugs approved for dry eye. However, from the experiences here, clearly it is not.

As annoying as this kind of thing is, I think that as a general rule we'll have our best experiences with eye doctors when we make a conscious effort to focus discussions on the objective items doctors are most comfortable with, and try to keep expectations of sympathy/support for the "quality of life" issues as much as possible out of the equation because in most cases, it's just not what they're good at.

Sympathy and support can always be had here and hopefully from family and/or some close friends.

[kimby2007]

MD's

I've seen over 35 doctors (somewhere I lost count) for my Sjogrens. Of that I can say most of them didn't really care about how my dry eyes/dry mouth were impacting my life. Only a select few of them, including Dr. Latanky, actually listened to what I was telling them. So unfortunately your doctor's reaction doesn't surprise me. Keep looking though and your bound to find a good one out there and like Rebecca said this board is great for support.

[rubyslippers]

I got lucky on the first try. My doctor said he did not care what he saw, but rather what I was feeling. He said a patient's comfort and visible symptoms can be 2 very different things. He said he would ONLY go by my comfort and promised me that within 4-5 months he would have me comfortable again and back to wearing contacts at least during my work day. The result? I rarely have symptoms--maybe need drops once or twice a day now and today I have used none! I am wearing contacts 15-16 hours a day and have no compelling feeling that I need to remove them at the end of the day until I am actually ready for bed. I have resumed my jogging, reading on the breezy deck in the evenings, and can be in buildings with moving air without horrible discomfort. I did not believe he could really do this. He has now pronounced me as much in a "remission" as dry eye patients well treated can expect. Honestly, I don't even thing about it more than a couple of times a day anymore. He did say I was an unusually cooperative patient who follows things to the letter (humidifiers, drops, night care, lid scrub care, flaxseed, etc.) as well as willing to try new things such as tear plugs (I have 3) and innovative new things (yes, I have Synergeyes and they are the best thing I could have imagined). There is nothing I cannot do in comfort now, including spending a day at the lake out in the sun and water.

[Lucy]

Rubyslippers, you are just doing fine I say! May this continue and your problem(s) be solved.

Your doctor is doing his job and you are doing yours by following instructions which I know is not always the case for patients (including me). Lucy

[bernmee]

Marykate,

I am sorry that you have had this experince, we all have horrer stories to tell about our doctures, but good for you for not accepting it as good enough and gettting yourself on this site.

You are already on the right track.

[NYer]

It's not just ophthalmologists - I had a a gastroenterologist say to me, "Well, all of the medications I've given you have given you side-effects. I don't know what to tell you. You're just going to have to choose your poison and take one of them." And then he walked out of the room and the appointment was over.

Doctors are human, therefore they have an equal percentage of idiots to the percentage of idiots that we find in regular human life.

Unfortunately, there seems to be a high percentage of those idiots concentrated in certain medical fields and you found one of them. Keep looking and don't go back to him!

[rhad]

well if you look around you, almost everyone looks to doctors as if they were gods, that they know the very best for you, even better than you, yourself. They are just ordinary men that were trained on how to prescribe you medicines to lessen your symptoms. Do you know how much they have studied nutrition? in their whole 8 yrs of school they only study less than 5 hours of nutrition, they don't really know what's going on inside you. all they have studied is drugs, and prescribing them to you...

rhad

[clairvoyant]

dry eye as a top model and fashion designer must be tough *joking* nice name though, I don't have much room to talk, if you are watching rebecca can I change my username lol?

Anyway... you gotta find a real doctor sadly I had a DO for my first doc and I am sensitive to bak now because of it. If you have a university near by or live near a big city I would try to find the best doctor around cause a good doc can make a world of difference.

[marykate]

Thank you everyone for your posts. I wouldn't know how to react if I hadn't found this site and realized that I will run into these kinds of doctors in search to feel better. The thing is, i wasn't lookin for sympathy from the doc, I was just trying to explain to him how my symptoms have affected my life, so he would know the severity of it. The sad thing is that he's not the first we've run into that frankly disregards our pain.

Again, thank goodness for this site!!!

[bernmee]

Marykate,

I understand what you men about telling a Dr. about your personal life in order to get him to understand the severity of the symtoms.

I asked my Lasik surgeon two months post Lasik if I would be able to go through with my wedding that was booked for the start of July, or if I would have to postpone....and this was the end of June and I was in agony.

That questions combined with all my bag containing drops, rice baggy, nightime googles, eye patch, seemed to convince him that I was in pain. He started to look a little worried himself and even asked about the "postponed wedding" at my next appoimtent.

I didn't tell him that the wedding was July 2009.....

I think God will forgive me my lie of ommission!

[acarol]

I was planning my wedding for July 2009 too but then the 'eye' problem kicked in - i just don't have the energy or enthusiam for planning it anymore. I want to try and get this under control first (IF this is possible).

[marykate]

Speaking of weddings, my boyfriend just asked me when I want to get hitched with him, and my response was "When my eyes feel better."

probably not the romantic response he was looking for...

And speaking of being romantic, he was absolutely delighted that I had bought tranquileyes to use at night....until he realized it was for my dry eyes

[acarol]

I know its awful isn't it. We got engaged this time last year and there was great excitement at the time - i was beginnning to make plans this year then but my eye problems started in Feb so its been all downhill since then, its like as if the life is sucked out of me - my waking thoughts are all preoccupied with 'eyes' and how they feel. Sometimes when they don't burn and sting i think maybe this is turning point but it ALWAYS returns.

I know exactly how you feel when you told your boyfriend you'll think about marriage when your eyes are better. Its terrible that this effects us to this extent, dry eyes is something we should have to worry about when we're 80...