okay ad'ers. ask me anything (but be nice! :))

Giulia said:
SOS Doctors can send someone to the ER if necessary, but generally speaking, you call them for flu, bronchitis.... The minor things that can become serious.
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that would be nice if we had doctors like that here. ER doctors are overworked and as a result, it's not uncommon for patients to wait 2-3 hours to be seen.
 
Hear Again said:
how far away from the ER are you? could you take a cab/taxi?

i can understand that you don't want to worry your mother. if that's the case, call your ENT in the morning. (sorry to sound like a "mother hen," but i've had many instances of ear pain, so i know what you are going through. :()
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I'll call my ENT doc (he told me to call him in case of emergency) tomorrow morning. In case he can't take me, I'll go to another GP....
 
Nika said:
<laugh> Same. I didn't mean to diminish your eye pain... I just want to consider all the possibilities! Is it still the same now? Why don't you see if laying down vs. sitting up makes it feel better? Maybe it's a cluster headache?
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i know you weren't diminishing my pain. <smile> i know i'm not experiencing a cluster headache because i don't feel any throbbing pain around my eyes or soreness in my neck. i've read that the pain of a cluster headache is worse than a migraine, so that's another reason i know that's not what this is. whenever i have a migraine, i can't do anything and definitely wouldn't be on the computer. thanks for suggesting it though because it's helping me think about what could be wrong.
 
Nika said:
I don't think we have anything like that here in the U.S. In general, France is a bit ahead of us in terms of providing health care. For example in France they provide nursing women with a free nurse that comes every day. We definitely don't have that in the U.S.
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It depends of what kind of health care. For ADHD, we are very behind !!
 
Giulia,
Here in the US we call them Urgent Care centers. We docs call them "doc in the box" because they are often free-standing facilities reminiscent of fast food places. Hear Again, I would consider the otc eye drops first, as your symptioms sound allergic. If that's not successful, and it's not an emergency, you might try to hold off until the morning and see your own doctor. I'm afraid ERs in the US are overused/abused and sometimes that compromises the care of people with truly life-threatening problems. If the simple OTC solutions don't help, medical attention should be sought.
 
Giulia said:
I'll call my ENT doc (he told me to call him in case of emergency) tomorrow morning. In case he can't take me, I'll go to another GP....
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let us know how your appointment with your ENT (or another GP) goes. good luck!
 
Giulia said:
It depends of what kind of health care. For ADHD, we are very behind !!
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That's true in some areas France is definitely behind. I think more in terms of providing health care to the population at large, France is ahead of us. In the U.S., if you're not rich, you can't afford to get sick.
 
DeafDoc1 said:
Giulia,
Here in the US we call them Urgent Care centers. We docs call them "doc in the box" because they are often free-standing facilities reminiscent of fast food places. Hear Again, I would consider the otc eye drops first, as your symptioms sound allergic. If that's not successful, and it's not an emergency, you might try to hold off until the morning and see your own doctor. I'm afraid ERs in the US are overused/abused and sometimes that compromises the care of people with truly life-threatening problems. If the simple OTC solutions don't help, medical attention should be sought.
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thanks for your reply, deafdoc. after thinking about it, i've reconsidered going to the ER because the last thing i want to do is make someone else wait who really *does* need to see a doctor. my eyes really do hurt, but i can wait until morning. i was planning on going to walgreen's tonight, but it's too dark outside to travel safely. i'll wait until morning to call my opthalmologist. in the meantime, perhaps some hot compresses will help.
 
Hear Again said:
thanks for your reply, deafdoc. after thinking about it, i've reconsidered going to the ER because the last thing i want to do is make someone else wait who really *does* need to see a doctor. my eyes really do hurt, but i can wait until morning. i was planning on going to walgreen's tonight, but it's too dark outside to travel safely. i'll wait until morning to call my opthalmologist. in the meantime, perhaps some hot compresses will help.
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Hear Again, Wish I was close by and could run to Walgreen's for you. Warm compresses should help. Feel better soon.
 
DeafDoc1 said:
Hear Again, Wish I was close by and could run to Walgreen's for you. Warm compresses should help. Feel better soon.
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awww, thanks deafdoc! i'll try the warm compresses and call my opthalmologist in the morning. since i've already been diagnosed with dry eye in the past, i'm thinking about taking prescription eye drops to see if that helps. it could very well be my allergies too, but my allergy med controls my symptoms 95% of the time. of course, it could also be a cold too. if the eye drops that my opthalmologist prescribes don't help, then i'll talk to my doctor about increasing my allergy med or diagnosing me to tell me whether or not this is a cold or allergies.
 
Hear Again, be careful with your eyes !! Don't put anything without the ok from your ophtalmologist, it may worse things (like putting something in the ear if the eardrum is open).
 
Giulia said:
Hear Again, be careful with your eyes !! Don't put anything without the ok from your ophtalmologist, it may worse things (like putting something in the ear if the eardrum is open).
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thanks for the good advice. that's part of the reason why i'm reluctant to try visine. i've always seen an opthalmologist ever since i was a child and every single one of them has told me to only put prescribed eye drops in my eyes. i'm not sure why, but perhaps it has something to do with my retinopathy of prematurity or dry eye. as for not putting anything else in my eyes, i'm really having a hard time resisting the urge to rub my eyes, so i think i'll use kleenex instead.
 
I think it's because OTC eye drops tend to be of bad quality. My eye doctors always told me the same too.
 
Hear Again said:
thanks for the good advice. that's part of the reason why i'm reluctant to try visine. i've always seen an opthalmologist ever since i was a child and every single one of them has told me to only put prescribed eye drops in my eyes. i'm not sure why, but perhaps it has something to do with my retinopathy of prematurity or dry eye. as for not putting anything else in my eyes, i'm really having a hard time resisting the urge to rub my eyes, so i think i'll use kleenex instead.
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So please, call yor ophalmologist tomorrow morning !! It's the best piece of advice I can give you ;)
 
Nika said:
I think it's because OTC eye drops tend to be of bad quality. My eye doctors always told me the same too.
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that makes sense. now that i think about it, one of my othalmologists i had a long time ago (in my teens) told me that prescription eye drops are more potent than otc eye drops.
 
Giulia said:
So please, call yor ophalmologist tomorrow morning !! It's the best piece of advice I can give you ;)
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i will, believe me! i'm going to call her at 9 a.m. on the dot. i want to get rid of this watering and pain yesterday.
 
That too, prescription eye drops are more potent. That's why they're by prescription only. Also I think they are more custom made or tayiored to the condition, for example with glaucoma, there are about five different eye drop options (that I've heard of), all slightly different, whereas with OTC drops for dry eye or eye allergies, there are usually two options (which are often the same with different names). With OTC I think they try to make them "one size fits all" so to speak, which sacrifices the quality of the eye drops.
 
Nika said:
That too, prescription eye drops are more potent. That's why they're by prescription only. Also I think they are more custom made or tayiored to the condition, for example with glaucoma, there are about five different eye drop options (that I've heard of), all slightly different, whereas with OTC drops for dry eye or eye allergies, there are usually two options (which are often the same with different names). With OTC I think they try to make them "one size fits all" so to speak, which sacrifices the quality of the eye drops.
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the only thing i hate about eye drops is trying to insert them into my eyes. i have very small eyes that i have difficulty opening which makes eye drops hard to use. i could also try an ointment, but i'd prefer eye drops given how messy and unsanitary ointment can be.
 
Same here. I shake and have to be pinned down to get eye drops into my eyes. Lots of traumatic memories as a child. Ointments are even worse, and then you get that oily feeling in your eye. <yuck>
 
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