I pulled a ‘dumb, blind’ chick trick yesterday. I read the time on my phone wrong and was waiting for my ride an hour ahead of time. That was bad enough but when I thought she was late, I got worried about her and started texting her. Pretty sure she was not the one with the problem!
Moral of the story would appear to be you should double-check what you think you know before acting on the ‘information’. Fortunately she thought it was amusing. I decided to laugh, too. Rule 62.
I have finally found time to go to the vision support group run by my low vision specialist. That is tomorrow afternoon. Work is in a temporary (I hope) lull and I could rearrange things a bit.
Not sure how that is going to go. My low vision person had said she wanted me to attend so some people could see you can survive and adapt with vision loss. Not sure I want to be exhibit A. I would like to help but some people get resentful when you try. See how it goes.
We all know the support of others is so important when you lose your sight. I find it sort of amusing – but sad – the medical community is just awakening to that reality. Literally yesterday in real-time, April 10, 2017 they published an article entitled Communication from Doctors Could Reduce Anxiety for Macular Degeneration Patients. Excuse me, but “no shit”. Do you think they joined our Facebook group and figured that one out?
The good folks at Manchester Eye did a study that found large levels of depression and anxiety in people getting shots for wet AMD. No…ahhhh. Never mind.
But don’t you think having a needle stuck in your eye would be a really good reason to be anxious????? Just saying, ya know.
Manchester went on to say there is “value in human interactions between clinician and patient” in offering reassurance about the treatments…..I’ll just bite my tongue and be quiet now.
Better yet, Hugo Senra, clinical psychologist, suggested there is value in specialized counseling with certain patients. All rightee, then. Cognitive behavioral therapy, dialectic behavioral therapy? How about trauma therapy? Not like they are not available most places yet the study indicated 89% of the patients showing anxiety and 91% of the ones showing depression were getting no therapy at all! Someone – actually a large number of someones – appears to be dropping the ball here.
So, yes, it does appear the anxiety and depression you are feeling about your AMD and the treatments really do exist. And yes, we are a grossly underserved population. And yes, we might actually benefit from treatment.
If you are one of those thousands and thousands of underserved folks and want psychological treatment, turn your insurance card over and call the customer service number. They should be able to provide you with a list of therapists who take your insurance. If you have no insurance, call your local mental health agency. In Pennsylvania they are called base service units. Elsewhere I have no clue about the nomenclature but if you search for public mental health providers, they should come up.
In short?……..
AMD? Depressed? Anxious? There is help. No shit.
Next: A Life Worth Living
Home