Re: I-131 RAI Treatment- THANK YOU NICOLE

[Guest guest]

> The eye exercises Fay mentions are located on the Files page of

Graves_support (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/graves_support). They

are also included here as an attachment, but I know some people can't

download these. (One day I'll be really computer literate and figure

out how to send them as a post rather than attached!)

>

> Best wishes,

>

>

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>

> EYE EXERCISES

>

> I do my eye exercises 3/4 times a day now, but when I first started

them

> and for about 4 months I did them 5/7 times a day. I would

usually do

> my first set as soon as I could focus in the morning. They dont'

take

> long at all. I always do them in the car too...when hubby is

driving of

> course! I had to give up driving last June 25th because of double

vision,

> blurred vision, no depth preception and extreme light sensitivity.

I

> started driving again on Thanksgiving Day, but only during daylight

hours

> as my night vision has not yet returned <sigh>.

>

> I am also on a non-traditional treatment for my eyes. My Ophtho

ran a

> TSI antibodies test before definitely diagnosing me with the graves

eye

> disease. My TSI ab's were quite elevated...he was pushing eye

radiation

> (which can atrophy the eye muscles and cause cataracts) and/or

steroids.

> I told him I would consider the steroids only in a very very small

dose

> *IF* he would let me try one of the ATD's first to see if lowering

my TSI

> ab's would lessen my eye disease. He agreed on 2 conditions, 1)

that it

> would be PTU and 2)that my endo would prescribe and monitor me. I

had

> already discussed this with my endo and she told me, if my ophtho

agreed

> she would prescribe and monitor me. I have been on 75 mg. (3 half

tablets)

> a day, taken religiously every 8 hours. Within a week, my eyeballs

had

> gone down, were not rock hard most of my waking hours and the pain

was

> going away! The rest of my vision began to also clear up. My endo

asked

> me my goal, which is to see my TSI ab's register at <.0001 meaning

they no

> longer exists so I will be on them for as long as it takes, with

her

> co-operation. The TSI ab's of graves, that attack the thyroid also

attack

> the eyes.

>

> No one knows if this will work for others, no one knows if this

will work

> long term, this will remain to be seen after I have weaned off of

them...but

> for me, this was a much better way to try and get my eye disease on

the

> control and it is working for me, at least for now and I have no

regrets

> with doing it. I do know 2 other people who have gone to their

endos and

> ask to try this and have been given the green light. I do not know

how it

> is going for them as the group I posted with them on is no longer

in

> existence. But there are doctors out there who are willing to let

us try this.

>

>

>

> The Eye Exercises

>

> 1. Find a focal point on the wall or somewhere in front of you.

> Look up HARD and hold for 5 seconds do a set of 5 of these.

> Do the same thing to the left, to the right and down, always

> hold for 5 seconds and sets of 5. In the beginning it is going

> to make your eyes ache, but that is a GOOD thing, it means you are

> stretching the eye muscles, and that needs to be done to limber

> them up and get them working together again.

>

> 2. Roll your eyes SLOWLY, all the way around, trying hard to make

> them work together. This may not be easy in the beginning, but

> it gets easier as the muscles limber up. I roll them one

direction,

> rest for a few seconds then roll in the other direction.

> I do this one 2/3 times a day also.

>

> 3. This one is one I work on, but have not yet accomplished yet ;-)

> I use a pen, for me it is easier to have a white pen with a red

> colored cap, hold it out in front of me at arms length, then

> slowly bring it back towards the nose trying to cross the eyes.

> As soon as you feel the eyes split or separate, start over. Do

> this in sets of 5, several times a day.

>

> I know it sounds like a lot of time, but it really isn't long at

all and is

> so essential to getting the eyes to work together again. The

reason we have

> the double vision is because our eyes no longer work in tandem.

One of the

> eyes can have a muscle that has *shortened* up because of the eye

disease.

> The TSI antibodies of graves attack our eyes muscles

especially...just as

> they attacked our thyroid and body muscles when we were hyper.

>

> I hope these will help you. I started seeing a difference on my

8th day in

> a lessening of the double vision.

>

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