This series of articles is about my personal experience with glaucoma, how it started, how I found out that I had it, what was done about it, and where it has gone over this last nearly 40 years.
I have had the experience of suffering from glaucoma. Well, that is a misnomer to say it like that. My basic condition is that I have frequent attacks of very high Intraocular Pressure, or occular hypertension. This can be brought about by different triggers, and unfortunately, in my experience, there is not much research done into exactly what is the cause of these attacks, but a big breakthroughs in the treatment.
Originally, it was thought that my problem was a thing called psudeo exfoliation syndrome which causes elevated IOP with accompanying symptoms. There recently has been some conjecture that I have suffered from Glaucomatocyclitic Crisis or sometimes referred to with the name of the two researchers who identified it as Posner-Schlossman Syndrome. In all the years of my discussions with specialist doctors in the very best hospitals, I had not until recently heard of the PS Syndrome. But now that I have done a lot of reading it seems to describe my condition perfectly.
No matter what you call it, if untreated long enouth, you go blind and there is no cure and damage done is irreversible. Like every medical condition, there are many types of glaucoma. I am not an expert and in fact, had never even heard the word until it was used in the sentence by my doctor when he said “You have glaucoma”. It all started there, and the next page is the story only of the year or so of my experience with the disease when I had my second surgery to try to relieve the dangerously high intraocular pressure I suffered from chronically.
The texts on here are in no way intended to teach people about glaucoma or what to do about it if they ever found out that they have it. I put the account of that time and whole experience up here for my own record first, and secondly it just may help another sufferer out there to read this story and know that they are not alone. Please read the disclaimer carefully before launching into the Trabeculectomony story. It is a long story, so if you have an interest, get comfortable, and read on.
DISCLAIMER
[ATTENTION READER: This and all the following posts in this category contain my personal story, my personal observations and my personal interpretations. It is not intended that the reader should use this to make any decisions based on symptoms that they or anyone else may have. I am not a medical practitioner nor am I qualified in any way to give medical advice to anyone. Should anyone feel that they have similar symptoms to what I have described, then the only advice I can offer is to get it checked by a professional ophthalmologist and it is critical that this be done immediately. You MUST NOT PUT IT OFF just because there is no pain! If nothing else, my story will tell you this true this is.]