How I spent the weekend - corneal/epithelial erosion
 

Some folks say that God only gives you trials you can handle. If that's true, then God thinks I'm a friggen hero. Not one, but two incurable illnesses. In addition to having Crohn's disease, I also have Cogan's dystrophy - also known as Map Dot Fingerprint dystrophy (for what the cornea ends up looking like).

Descriptions of Cogan's say, "In some cases, epithelial erosion may occur. Epithelial erosion can expose the nerves lining the cornea, causing severe pain."

Let me tell you "severe pain" does not cover it.

I know I'm whining. Neither of these diseases is likely to kill me. Though for both diseases doctors have told me, "There will be times when you might wish it would."

Ouch - sorry Dar. Hope the pain subsides for you.

Wow Dar. I'm really sorry. So now that the weekend is over, does that mean you are feeling better?

Sorry, Dar. Try to score some medicinal marijuana for the pain.:joint:

God Dar, that's horrible.

Saturday was the day of "get these f*** razorblades out of my eyeball". God bless modern medicine.

Today is still no fun, but doable. Major sensitivity to light and a minor burning sensation is all.

I'm not Bill Clinton, but "I feel your pain". I've had recurrent erosions for about 10 years. The only thing I can do is use opthalmic ointment every night in that eye. Not too much though, or I'll be looking through a hazy windshield the next day. Probably should get to a really good ophthmologist and check into any laser fixes. It's NOT fun...

:(

Did the Dr. give you anything to relieve the pain in your eye?

My sister has a nerve dystrophy so I understand how painful this could become.

Is the Epithelial erosion far advanced? or was that the Dr's prognosis that it will in fact erode that far? or has it?

I suppose asking so many questions isn't going to help much but I do have heartfelt sympathy for it.

ouch :( will it affect your vision? I hear there's a lot of money being put into Crohn's research, I hope they come up with something that helps.

In Cogan's dystrophy, the bottom layer of epithelium cells are thick and uneven. This means all the layers above don't attach properly. When it goes, everything above tears off in hunks. The doctor I saw in the ER recommends a corneal scrape. This does not sound like a whole lotta fun. We'll see what the regular specialist says next week.

It has somewhat, but I think the corneal scrape is supposed to help with that. I'll ask the corneal specialist next week.

The corneal scrape? Ow! Even I'm flinching. ow....:(

There's a woman doing her residency at Will's Eye in Philly, that writes a column in the Inquirer. The shit they are doing with eyes is fucking awesome. Most of the columns I read cause me to squirm, like when I listened to the description of Ronald Reagan's catheterization.:eek6:

It sounds terrible dar, sorry.

I've got my fingers crossed for you dar :fingerx:

Sounds just awful Dar, I'm sorry you're suffering. Hope you get some relief.

:grouphug:

Dar, when I had laser surgery there was still the option to have something done that had a longer time and involved more pain than the current surgery.
It could only be done if your eyesight was better than a certain level (-4.00 I seem to remember) but it cost less. I went for it.

I thought I experienced excruciating pain in my eyes.
In the end I'm pretty sure most of the pain was bruising, from the clamps (which I would have experienced regardless of treatment - I bruise like a peach).

So you have my full and sincere sympathy - I'm sure you're suffering far worse than I did, but I have an appreciation of eye-pain that runs deep into my pschye.

Here's to this being just an extremely unpleasant memory.

Dar - that's just , ugh! Awful! What about narcotic pain relief? Is that a possibility?

Hang in there dar. Eye pain can be some of the worse. Wishing you more better times than worst.

Sorry you've had such a bad experience, I hope you get relief soon.

Thanks everyone. The pain is now gone. Vision in my left eye is the pits, but I think that will improve over time. I have an appointment with a cornea specialist on Thursday to talk about long-term treatment.

Or get a patch, parrot and hook. :D

...And try not to scratch your nose.

Seriously, best of luck in the search for treatment, dar. You certainly hit the jackpot in the chronic conditions you got. :(