Pills

[Floaters]

I’ve developed an intolerance to drops. Has anyone had experience with long term use of oral meds to replace Drops?

[muddledme]

Hello Floaters,

Sorry to hear of your intolerance to drops. I also had either intolerance or ineffective drops and eventually had two micro shunts implanted, so no more drops to irritate.

Strangely tonight we had an excellent webinar organised by Glaucoma UK which should be available on social media in a few weeks. It was about research and mentioned a Bimatoprost SR implant that can last about 4 months with very good results . It is apparently available in the U.S.A. It is, I think, a sustained release drug in a punctal plug.

If you are intolerant to drops then I would worry that oral drugs may be more likely to cause problems.Do ask your opthalmologist in U.S.A and as new drugs are approved they may find something suitable.

I assume that you are given preservative free drops ? Always worth double checking in the drug patient leaflet.

Best wishes

[SpaceBend]

I’ve been on pills this last years. They were quite brutal with side effects. Loss of appetite, loss of thirst, some mental effects as well. They are also very harmful for your kidneys. Eventually I sort of got used to them. But was very happy when I didn’t need to take them anymore (this was on top of 4 other drops I took around 8 times a day ).

They’re reluctantly prescribed by doctors as they are a last course of action as I understand it.

I’m sure more qualified people on here would be better suited to answer as the person above my reply definitly go preservatives free if you can

This is only -my- experience

I’ve since stopped using them and am very happy for it

[Efabear]

Likewise. I can only tolerate monopost. I was on acetazolamide for a few months until surgery. As it can damage the kidneys i asked my GP to do monthly blood tests to monitor. There are slso lots of side effects. Good luck

[Trish_GlaucomaUK Partner]

Hello Floaters,

There is no ongoing oral treatment for glaucoma. The pills mentioned on another post will be a short term solution only. Long term use is not recommended. If you have an allergic rection to all drops, including preservative free varieties, your consultant will have to discuss other option with you, such as laser of surgery.

[Hidden]

I'm intolerant to all drops that actually work well, and, as Trish says above, oral treatment is only used in the short term because of serious side effects. The next step is laser surgery and if that's unsuccessful some form of minimally invasive surgery before getting on to trabeculectomy or a shunt.

[Floaters]

Thanks very much for everyone’s replies. I see my opthomologist in three weeks to see if my pressures improved with my previous SLT’s. I wanted to be ready with options in case they are not lowered enough.

The oral route is not an option based on the replies. My drops do not have a preservative free version but are offered with Purite instead of BAK. This is worth trying. I am also asking about ab internal Canaloplasty per a separate thread on this site.

I am not a good candidate for a trab since I have severe dry eye so that is a last resort.

I don’t know what I would do without this group!