macular degeneration, macular, diagnosis Diffy Cults – My Macular Degeneration Journey/Journal

Diffy Cults

Just getting a quick page or two written before I am off. That is ‘off; as in ‘off on vacation’ not as in “she is a little bit off.” That happened quite a while ago.

Still hoping to get my loaner CCTV before we leave but I doubt it will happened. A friend of my husband’s is watching the house. He promised to take delivery and pack up my machine to send for repairs.

I am still hoping against logic that this will all be settled by the time we get back. Cockeyed optimist; so shoot me.

Of course, I have found several interesting web articles now I don’t have a lot of time to go over them and no CCTV. Since I don’t have my machine to put them on to read, I put one on NaturalReader. Let the iPad read to me. [Lin/Linda: to read all about NaturalReader, go to Sue’s page Let Me Read to You.]

Some of the pronunciations are a bit ‘off’ as well. D.O., doctor of optometry, comes out as ‘odd’. I guess she calls them as she sees ’em!? She? It is a female voice on my machine. Not sure if I could change it if I wanted. Never tried.

Found something called Practical Guidelines for Treatment of AMD. The pamphlet says with all of the rapid advances in potential treatments for AMD it makes it “diffy cult” for practitioners to know what will be “Benny Fish All” to their patients.? Gotta watch those “diffy cults”. Not to mention that Benny Fish All. OK, OK, so I am easily entertained.

The article suggests doctors are not proactive enough in the early stages of the disease. It suggested something like 78% of AMD patients have substantial, irreversible vision loss already at the time of the first treatment. This includes 37% who have become legally blind by the first treatment. Yikes! It goes on to state not all drusen are a result of AMD and doctors may hesitate to make the diagnosis on the criteria of drusen alone. There is also the patient variable involved. Will the patient believe she is losing her sight and do something if there is no acuity loss? Will she freak? Stay tuned….

The article suggests using dark adaptation problems to emphasize there is a real problem even when acuity seems just fine. It quotes statistics dark adaptation is an excellent predictor of age-related macular degeneration and is, indeed, 90% accurate!

In other words, if you know someone who has a lot of problems with dark adaptation, suggest they be checked for AMD. There is evidence problems with dark adaptation can be detected up to three years before the disease can be detected through clinical measures.

Later….There is a lot more in that article, but I have to sign off here. Too much over 500 words and I turn into a pumpkin. Watch out for those “Diffy Cults” and if you run into “Benny Fish All” say hello for me. After all, he is the kind sort. Me, I’m going to crank up my loaner CCTV. It came today!

Written October 27th, 2017

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