Thank you. I will finally take is easier on my eyes. I know I should have a long time ago by taking breaks in front of the screen.
United Nations adopted a resolution this year about global eye health.
2019: https://news.un.org/en/story/2019/10/1048762
2021: https://www.iapb.org/news/un-resolution-vision
I do need to eat better. I didn't over the holidays, but I am going to start eating better.
I do use the Mayo Clinic's (https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/) website for a lot. If I send information to someone I like to use them usually. Sometimes WebMD too (https://www.webmd.com/a-to-z-guides/health-topics ), but I like to verify with other things too. Even Wikipedia might have the information you want in an easy to find way, but of course then you absolutely have to make sure you check the source of the information (with the little numbered citation) or you shouldn't use it at all. Someone asked me to look up something tonight about an unrelated health related issue and other sites I am looking at include National Institutes of Health (NIH, https://www.nih.gov/health-information ), Cleveland Clinic (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health) and Johns Hopkins Medicine (https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health). Sometimes Google also takes me to the National Health Service (https://www.nhs.uk/conditions/) in the UK which I have also used in the past.
I do keep the brightness low on my computer monitor. I bought a little smart TV around Black Friday and I adjust the settings depending on what I am watching so that the light isn't bright. Not a great idea perhaps to go from one screen to another, but at the very least it's good to not focus so intently on typing lines of code too much. I am going to start taking breaks when I do write code. I am taking breaks while writing this post too.
I've worn glasses for as long as I can remember. The sphere on my prescription is -3.00 for my right eye and -3.25 on left. I see something that says -3 might be 20/250 vision. But it corrects to 20/20 still. I went today to try to get them to fix the glasses that are off in the left lens (when the second eye exam had -3.5 in that eye) but need to go back on January 7th when the same doctor is there to look at them again. I guess they have independent contractors doing the exams and they can't have another doctor look at it or they would have to pay them the exam fee. Have to go back to same person I did before. Maybe then the eye glass place will fix it free, but I don't know. They indicated that, but we'll see. Part of the issue will be that for the first time ever I got one of the more expensive options. It was $90 for two pairs of the glasses I want, plus $40 originally for the eye exam. But I decided to get one pair with a special anti-glare coating and that was like $90 more for the one pair I added it too. I have a feeling I will hate it, but I figured that might be better for driving, especially if I ever drive at night since my eyes are sensitive to light. I guess it's also better for something like a computer, but I don't really have issues with glare. I have four sets of overhead fluorescent lights in my room where the computer is. I only ever use one of them so that the light doesn't bother me. One switch turns on two and the other switch two. I permanently screwed the bulbs in the other slightly so they are never on. I have done that for probably a decade or more.
I did have an option for the polycarbonate lenses rather than plastic, but at first I thought it was more about appearance. I don't care that they look super thick in the frame if looking at them sideways. The lenses are a little over twice as thick as the frames. But I guess it might possibly reduce some distortion with the thinner lenses. But there is also some information online that says that for some people there is enough of a difference that the polycarbonate lenses will not appear as clear and it might bother them. So for some people it's good and for others not. Maybe at some point in the future I might get a pair to try it, but I might not like it. I do like having clear lenses at the computer screen, but we'll see. I guess with an astigmatism, which I have, an anti-glare coating can help some people, but I just don't usually have a glare issue. I'll have to see what that looks like when I get the pair I bought with that. (which will then need to be corrected because the left lens will be blurry) Not sure about if the polycarbonate helps with astigmatism. I'm back to my old glasses for now. The other ones I got a month ago are clear, but I just don't like how heavy they are. It's the frames, not just the lenses. The old glasses I am wearing have thick lenses too, but it's a lightweight frame. Hard to tell how heavy something will be by spending just a minute or two looking at it in the store. Also, the old ones are a little wider around the nose and a little longer too around my ears which I like better. I guess it depends what you get used to. But if you get some with the lighter lenses, and if you have deals around you like around here that are buy 1 get 1 free for the cheaper glasses, and then pay the difference if you want more expensive frames, maybe get 1 pair to try it out. I don't think the price difference around here was as much as the anti-glare coating, but at the time I thought it was just about appearance. Here it was 2 two pairs of glasses for $59.95 for frames up to $85. (which was on a very small subset of glasses) The frames I wanted were about $100, so I paid $30 extra for those frames. Then the coating on one pair made it a total of about $220. But it pays to shop around, because earlier on I went to the same eyeglass place to see how much it was, just at a different location that was closer to where I am, and they quote a price of $388 I think it was for the same thing.
I tried not taking the eye pressure medication for two days before I went to try to get the glasses fixed today and it was 33 and 25 in my eyes today, so I started taking the medication again. It may not be related to the iron, but it does seem from some of the information I see online that it takes iron a long time to leave your system. I totally forgot how much my ferritin level rebounded when I took iron for awhile during the pandemic. (after giving blood for 20 years I stopped in January 2020) My ferritin level went from 14 a year and a half before (in February 2020) to 118 in July. (on the lab work the reference range is 38-380) I think that's why I stopped taking further iron. I like being able to get copies of my lab work with the places I usually go. I can keep track of things. If doing it through Quest, they have a chart of what my previous values were for each and every thing tested. Even the eye glass place gave me copies of my full eye exams as well as my ophthalmologist.
I had been talking to Jim by email about my eyes and I had told him about, and he had already knew, about a site called GoodRX. (https://www.goodrx.com/) I haven't tried actually using it for prices. (my insurance turned out to be cheaper for the medication I was getting) It has drug prices and some other information that can help you compare drugs. Everything about drugs should be verified with other sources and ultimately with a doctor, but it helps to look at various things and compare prices. I also found that the insurance I have also has a price checker that tells you the exact cost to the dollar that I will pay at various pharmacies with my insurance. But why I wanted to mention it was because originally the ophthalmologist prescribed bimatoprost to reduce my eye pressure. I went to the local pharmacy to pick it up and I was just a little bit shocked when the cost was going to be $209 per month. (I think $290 if without insurance) After asking about whether there was a generic version, there wasn't, and asked some other things they hinted that there were other types of medication that may also work that were cheaper. But the ophthalmologist would have to prescribe it. So I went Googling that night, because I was not paying that much and didn't get it. That's when I found that latanoprost works as well. It's not quite as good in research studies that I found online, but I was definitely willing to try it. It was $8 per month. And I know now that it works well for me. So rather than a potential of $2,500 a year, it's only $96 per year. Pays to look around. I called the ophthalmologist the next morning and by that afternoon I had the cheaper version. And like I said, it worked very well with just that first dose. The difference in the $8 one is that it of course is a generic version. It's been around longer. The expensive medication has a patent that lasts at least until 2025. So no generic of that until at least then.
I don't recall if this is still the case, but I think in some places the pharmacist is not allowed to tell you if there is a version unless you ask. (And maybe inquire about alternatives you could ask your doctor about, or maybe if they know if there are any to kind of get you started on researching yourself) I asked about the generic and then the person working at the pharmacy talked about how that was really expensive.
And speaking of the technicians that work at pharmacies, there was story on the national news tonight about the pressure they face:
https://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/technicians-under-pressure-as-retail-pharmacies-short-on-staff-and-capacity-129643077928
A shortage of staff, in part because they don't pay them enough.
Just another quick note. People should really understand the insurance they have if they have it. They should really look into the options with the Affordable Care Act if they don't have insurance. (https://www.healthcare.gov/) I didn't even realize that open enrollment this year ends January 15th, 2022 until I just visited their site again. But you can get a free physical each year and some other things, like some screenings at no cost. I have a family member in another state that didn't realize they get some of that with their insurance.
While I was out today I saw a line for free coronavirus testing at a location I passed by. There might have been like 5 cars waiting. The local news in the past few days has really ramped up their coronavirus coverage, especially regarding testing. Some people are waiting hours for a test. I guess it pays to look around to see if there are sites that may not be as busy. Some of those huge lines in which people are in, sometimes just people in line, not cars, have people very close together. Even outside, not a great idea. Some person they interviewed was talking about how they felt sick and had to drive a long way to get there. Maybe there aren't many sites around, I've never tried to look, but it's worth doing some checking for those that need one.
Testing sites page from U.S. Department of Health & Human Services:
https://www.hhs.gov/coronavirus/community-based-testing-sites/index.html
Out of curiosity I looked up the place I saw and even though they have over 250 sites across the country it seems, I don't know if they are that reputable. I won't include their website, but it's not that great looking and they have only 50 followers on Twitter. So maybe that is why the line wasn't very long. |