Eyesight affected by chemo / different meds?

[jojo]

I have had the typical A/C dose dense & 12 weekly Taxols, along with Herceptin (been on that for over 2 years). Since newest recurrence to lung mets, I have been put on Xeloda. This is my 3rd cycle now (2 weeks on, 1 week off).

I notice that my eyesight has gotten a bit worse (things look a little blurry to me), just about the same time as I started Xeloda. I asked my onc & NP about it; they simply said that it was all the meds that I have been on for the past 2 years.

If you have experienced the similar situation with your eyesight, have you come to the point that you would have to get more than 1 Rx glasses in a year?

I am trying to figure out as to whether I should be more frugal on purchasing new glasses, or I should just splurge.... Any thoughts?

Thanks in advance.

[al from Canada]

Hi JOJO,

Yes! Pre-chemo Linda needed glasses to read and now, things have gone really wierd! We both started getting worried when Linda could no longer make out faces on the TV or even across the room. She went for eye tests and the results were:
no glasses needed to read anymore and...huge problems with distance vision.. to the point where we ere both getting concerned about her going blind. I think she is into 3x and 3.5x lenses but; she doesn't need glasses to read (go figure). So, we got a bigger TV and she now wears glasses when she's not reading.
I find this very scarey stuff but, what are the options?

Take care,
Al

[RhondaH]

JoJo,


I TOO have notice a change in my vision (blurry, fuzzy etc) and am planning on having my vision checked, I currently wear no glasses. I finished 6 rounds of dose dense TEC on 8/1/05 and am on Herceptin since 8/18/05 for 1 year. By no means all that YOU have gone through. Good luck.

Rhonda Hoffman

[sarah]

I also had vision problems and an eye exam showed that I have cataracts starting. When the doctor heard I was on chemo, she mentioned she had several patients on chemo who started to have cataracts. When I mentioned this to my LA oncologist he said that's it does happen quite often. Funny, I'd never and still have never read of it as a side effect but it seems it is. My vision is getting blurrier and blurrier. However I need glasses more for reading and less for distance! but I do have the sense of a growing cloudiness over my eyes.

Here in France, they told me to get some "cataract" drops at the pharmacy - some people have luck in stopping the progression but you have to religiously use them morning and night. I've been doing it but I'm not sure I'm winning the fight! but give it a try.
Sarah

jojo...... at dx age 50 I needed no glasses. This past spring I had cataract surgery on both eyes...

My vision began degrading over the past four yrs or so (am 56 now). I needed new glasses every five months. And that was even a bit of a stretch, as I would wait until vision was really bad again.

Both near and far would change. After cat surgery, I could see so much better. For about a month. Now I wear bifocals again, but not the 'coke bottle' thickness I had pre-cat surgery. Vision seems to be stable.

I've had A/C (no T)
Navelbine/Herceptin
Decadron/decadron/decadron/decadron.....!!!!!
Rads x five
Temodar
most recently Xeloda/Temodar (after surgery)

my eye doc told me that as distance degrades, close up "improves" and I have noticed this over the yrs with different glasses.

that's my imput! I'm SURE that my vision probs have been caused by SOMETHING to do my tx's. The research I've done has backed up my thinking.
hugs,
patty

[Sandy H]

I have worn bifocals for the past 20 years. I keep getting blurry vision and I know some of it is from my fibromyalgia. It seems to be getting worse because some days I can hardly read with my glasses. I can not go and just get magnifing glasses because each eye is different. I had a vision test last April and did not need new lens. I do have a cataract started in my right eye and it was not there two years ago. Because of that I now have to have an eye test every year! The specialist said he could not tell if itf was my age (58) or from the chemo. I keep telling the oncologist and the nurses and they keep saying I may need an eye exam. Its not the same every day some days I can see fine but for those I can't it is very frustrating. Al is right it does get scary when it is our sight. I did not know about the cataracts until the eye specialist told me!! I have had mostly Taxol. hugs, Sandy

[Val Pfeiffer]

How funny--I had the opposite occur when I started Herceptin, Taxol & Carboplatin--I couldn't see WITH my glasses--I had to go out and purchase cheap non-prescription sunglasses from Target because I couldn't use my prescription sunglasses!! Now I am back to normal and have been using my regular glasses. I am farsighted.

Val

[Lisa]

I probably should get another eye exam (I got new glasses in January). Only wore glasses to drive before mets. Now I can't read scores on TV from the couch without my bifocal glasses, which I've recently lost. Most definitely an increase in blurring from distances. Still read without glasses.

The cataract comments are disturbing. Both my mother and brother have them. I've never heard anything about them as a side effect. But I'll certainly check with the opthamologist next time.

Love and light,

Lisa

[uma]

Sarahdalton,
I have heard that the "cataract" drops reverse cataracts. I want to try, and can you tell me the name so that I can also get them ?.

Funny, I went through the blurry vision phase also. The optometrist said Cataract had started. It was after Taxol and during the later part of the 52 week Herceptin phase when it happened. Now my eye seems fairly stable. However, no doctor or Onc was sure whether it was due to all that chemo, radiation, Herceptin etc., or natural ageing. From hindsight, now personally I feel it must be because while the drugs kill Her2/Neu, they may also kill some good cells such as in hair or Cornea or even the lens. Hence the blurriness. However, I am thinking of using the cataract reversing drops available, I am told in Switzerland.

Uma

[Kim in CA]

Several years ago I noticed that once in a while I would have a small spot in my field of vision where there was just a blank hole. Being the stubborn sort that I am somtimes, I chose to ignore it. I finally mentioned it to my sister in law who is a nurse, and she said it sounded like the beginnings of maccular degeneration. I was so busy dealing with my BC that I didn't want to be bothered with eye problems!

Then one day I was reading an article in Parade magazine written by Jean Carper (I think she is a nutritionist) about how Lutein helped prevent breast cancer in lab mice and also killed breast cancer cells in the test tube. Lutein is found in all the dark green veggies, so I figured it certainly couldn't hurt to take it. I take Jarrow brand because it has one of the highest levels of lutein that I have found, 20mg. per cap as compared to some of the other eye health formulas out there that only have about 6mg. I have been taking it now for about 3 years and I no longer get those blackhole spots in my vision, so maybe it is helping me. My husband started taking it too because his night vision wasn't very good after his laser eye surgery and he seems to think it helps.

Anyway, another pill to take, but I don't think it could hurt anything!

Love, Kim

[sarah]

Dear Uma,
Let me know the name of the reversing cataract drops. In the meantime, here are the ones I'm taking here in France which the ophto told me might "stop" the cataracts: (reading the tiny words is tough and I sort anglosized a bit)
Catarstat: made by Lab. Chauvin: chlorhydrate of pyridoxine, acid L-glutamic, L-biapartate with magnesium, potassium dihydrate, chlorure de benzalkonium, and some other stuff
Catacol (which supposedly is more popular) made by Alcon: inosine phoshate disodic dhydrate, gluconate of chlorhexedine,
both also have sterilized water.
I think the docs or pharmacists will have some suggestions/
good luck
Sarah

[uma]

Sarah,
Thanks.
Here are two links to reversing cataracts, I am thinking of using:

http://www.bionational.com/index.htm
http://www.ethos.ag/intro.php?PHPSESSID=944ed2424f95124df526e96b67635e b9

Uma