Vision & CPAP

BlackSpinner wrote: I found when I switched to the Hybrid from the quatro that the problem reduced a lot.

I thought they deleted all the car related off topic bits..... oh your talking masks.
Since I've started cpap in Oct my near vision has gone very wobbly up close and I often take off my glasses now so I'm thinking its bi-focal time soon.

That being said, a VW Quatro dashboard seems more readable than a Toyota Hybrid one.

I'm a glaucoma suspect with high and uneven eye pressures and minor "cupping" at the optical nerve in my left eye. I just had my eye pressures checked after about 3.5 months on APAP. There is no change. Not worse, not better. Same-o, same-o. I will recheck in a year. It is hard to draw a conclusion about the effect of APAP on IOP, but in my case I would venture to guess it has neither a positive or negative effect.

Well, I suppose if I were adventuresome, and positive thinking, with no proof and insufficient data, I could say it stopped the progression.

Some discussion here on whether cpap raises pressure by interthoracic pressure, over non-cpap use or whether the rise is because it normalizes sleep stages. IOP with OSA and cpap is higher than non-osa patients but follows the same basic curve.
http://richardtrevino.net/sleepapnea/

My dry eye symptoms are somewhat improved when I wear nasal pillows vs. a full-face mask.
I also have good results with the swim goggles, which I can't wear all the time. (Need to get Quartz eye shield)
I believe that it is also better since I've been using Travatan Z drops instead of Lumigan--
but that is something I will discuss with my eye doc next Tuesday at my appointment.

Thanks, Liz. I see that the treatment of OSA may stabilize glaucoma, that glaucoma patients have a much higher incidence of OSA and that CPAP raises IOP during the night temporarily, the clinical meaning / impact is not known by the author. Since pressure and glaucoma are weakly correlated, that higher IOP may cause more "cupping" in the eye and thus retina / optical nerve junction damage, I would think that the effect of CPAP on glaucoma to be attenuated / weak, as I see in my case: there is no significant effect nor any conclusion drawn other than I didn't get better or worse.

RipVW wrote:

Lizistired wrote: ... share an interesting site I found today: http://fiteyes.com/
For the data geeks here, one of the things they do is monitor their own eye pressure and what affects it, water, stress, caffeine, exercise(which types), alcohol(which actually reduces the pressure), posture.....
I thought some here might find it interesting.

This is so cool! Looks like for now, one may purchase a home Self-Tonometry unit only through their opthomologist. Still haven't been able to find what these units cost.

Home Eye Pressure Monitoring Recommended
http://fiteyes.com/home-eye-pressure-mo ... ecommended

Check out the microcomputer on the right side sitting on the penny!
It seems that checking your IOP in the dr's office is like checking for OSA while you are awake.
I made an appt for a eye exam this morning. (Thank you TriCare and the VA for making that a PITA.) I was considering an early morning appt but after looking at the graphs, the drop off is so rapid that I don't think it would make a difference. So I just went to the soonest appt.

Just when I thought I was informed about OSA!

Lizistired wrote:I was considering an early morning appt but after looking at the graphs, the drop off is so rapid that I don't think it would make a difference. So I just went to the soonest appt.

When my Dr. was intensely curious about my ocular pressure, way before OSA diagnosis, he wanted me to come in 1st thing in the AM, like in his office before 7:30, before the office was actually open I think because your ocular pressures are typically higher then, maybe (I forget his rationale at the moment, but I think that was it). So I made today's appt at 8 AM, about the same time. Your IOPs do vary naturally during the day I guess. Best to be consistent I suppose.

It just didn't look like an appt would be early enough unless I slept in their parking lot!

Leading Medical Specialists From Around the World Coalesce Around Self-Tonometry

Ultimately, I think we'll need to be able to monitor this at home, as we do with xPAP data and with pulse/oximeters. This organization, International Society for Self-Tonometry (ISST), seems to be working toward this end--

As part of an effort to expand self-tonometry, ISST will:

Educate eye care professionals and patients on the benefits of self-tonometry.
Help glaucoma patients find the right tonometer and learn how to use it to accurately observe their own eye pressure.
Design and administer self-tonometry-based research studies.
Provide assistance and support groups over the phone and Internet for patients practicing self-tonometry.
Perform statistical analysis and other proprietary IOP data analysis for ophthalmologists to find patterns in the eye-pressure data of patients under their care in order to help them better manage their patient's condition. The analysis will be based on the eye pressure data collected by the patient using self-tonometry.
Encourage and conduct formal research studies using robust self-tonometry data.
Support the development by manufacturers of lower-cost tonometers designed for patient-use.

“Self-monitoring is a core tenet of management of numerous medical conditions. For instance, most physicians treating diabetes want to know details of how a patient's blood sugar responds to diet and activities throughout the normal course of daily life.”

http://fiteyes.com/blog/dave/leading-me ... -tonometry