<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>
Thanks to all of you who have shared with me your experience that you
had when you had your cataract surgery.
Nine listmates have said that they had no problems and some said that
they never thought about asking whether the medicine would be gluten
free.
One said her Dr. gave her an antibiotic drops and steroid drops.
Another person had three different drops.
Two said gluten is not an active ingredient in meds. Any gluten
containing products would have it as in inert ingredient, added as a
binder or coating in a formed pill or rarely as a flavor in a chewable
or liquid. Gluten is not added to injectable or eye drops.
Another one said you don't have to worry about the medication as that
is not ingested, and you are only under a few minutes.
One listmate informed everyone who was going to be involved from the
office record to calling and speaking with the hospital prior and during
preparation for the procedure. It was made clear that she could not
have gluten medication coming from wheat, barley, and oats. Key
here is gluten will damage her intestine. This will get their attention.
You might suggest they contact the doctor that diagnosed you if they
need information. Inform them that the meds should be cleared before
you go in.
One whose mother has severe cataracts - smoking makes them worse
and boy does she smoke. She grew up in her house, and also did work
for many years on the older higher radiation computer CRT screens
which are known to cause cataracts. Macular degeneration is related
to impaired blood flow to the retina. Apparently it is possible cataracts
are similar. There are some articles on www.mercola.com medical
website about cataracts They have a lot of info in their database with
the journal references. You can go search for the article if you want
the whole thing.
One listmate had cataract surgery two years ago and her dr. gave her
erythromycin and restasis drops and it never bothered her. Sadly, her
surgery did not take and her eyesight was always blurry so she is back
wearing bifocals.
Another listmate just had knee surgery and even though that's a far cry
from cataract surgery, she would recommend for you to take gluten-free
crackers with you in case they want you to have some food in your
stomach for medications after surgery. Eye drops may minimally get to
your stomach (tear ducts to nasal passages to back of throat), but she
would be very surprised if any of those medications ever contained
wheat!
One list mate's mom had cataract. surgery. She said they will either
put you out for just a minute, or do it with you awake, your choice (at
least that's how her doctor did it). They give you IV's to sedate you and
relax you. She says I shouldn't have any trouble with IV's - they don't
contain gluten, and they aren't going through the digestive system.
After it was over she was allowed to drink - soft drinks or fruit juice were
available, so that should be fine. They will give you drops for your eyes
- a sulfa derivative to keep the pressure in the eye down, and then
drops to keep the eye moist. She says I should go back to see the dr.
the next day. As she recalls, she read the ingredients on the eye drops
and they didn't have any suspicious or gluten-containing ingredients.
The only thing she thinks I might have trouble with is if they give you
painkillers. Lortab (brand name) is gf.
Another listmate is scheduled for cataract surgery July 26th. Her pre-op
appt. is July 6 where she will get all the particulars. She had cataract
surgery in the other eye last July. She is type 1diabetic on an insulin
pump and also has diabetic retinopathy. She has had much laser
surgery in both eyes and also a vitrectomy in the left eye. She had a
hole in her retina. She currently has scar tissue on that retina and the
only way to remove it is to do another vitrectomy but she is holding off.
With her glasses she currently see 20/70 in the eye with the cataract
and 20/60 in the eye with the scar tissue. She can barely see at night
and has poor peripheral vision from all the laser treatments. She had
some complications in her last surgery but not due to celiac.
She told me I will not be able to lift any weight greater than 10 pounds
for a few weeks and not to bend forward. She was told to hold off on
the exercise for about 6 weeks. She says I will need to keep the eye
covered, so good if I wear glasses. At night there is a shield that is
applied with adhesive tape to protect the eye during sleep. She slept
with her head elevated but she thinks that was from the other surgery.
With the vitrectomy she had a gas bubble in her eye. She didn't
appreciate good vision when she had it until it was taken away from
her. Her whole life has changed. She hopes the vision in the eye will
improve with the cataract removed and hopes for no complications.
One listmate had successful cataract surgery last Dec. at age 61. She
was diagnosed 8 years ago and has been very careful to stay on the
GF diet, including medications and cosmetics (also has an eczema-like
skin reaction to wheat-based products)
None of the drops or medications given to her during exams, surgery,
or after surgery had any gluten. The nurses and doctors where she was
treated were quite knowledgeable about CD and knew why she was
worried. As flavor and texture are not important for eye drops (as
opposed to oral medications), the makers basically have no reason to
spend money adding gluten-ingredients to the drops, lucky for us!
However, many of the drops for surgery stung badly, but they told her
this is normal. The discomfort was quickly over and did not cause any
real problems. Anesthesia for surgery was topical, with a mild
tranquilizer-type medication intravenously, and she was not put to sleep.
A mask and some sort of eyelid brace helped to hold her still during
the operation.They played very nice music during surgery. The eyes
were operated on two weeks apart.
The worst problem she had was the drops to dilate her eyes for exams.
She would be essentially blurry-eyed blind for 6-9 hours afterward and
very light-sensitive. Then she found out that they give different strength
of dilating drops for blue-eyed and brown-eyed people! Her husband got
the milder blue-eyed drops for an eye exam and could see fine again
within an hour or so. She had been getting the stronger brown-eyed
drops (she has hazel eyes) all her life without knowing it. The next exam
she demanded the blue-eyed drops and could see again by the time she
got home. This is nothing to do with gluten, but it is good to know. The
artificial lenses her surgeon implanted were made to her prescription,
and she now has 20-20 vision without glasses for distance vision, for the
first time in her nearsighted life. She can see the stars at night without
being painfully blinded by headlights. She can see to walk downstairs
without guessing. Downside, she needs reading glasses now, but they
are cheap and come in lots of cute designer styles.
* Visit the Celiac Web Page at www.enabling.org/ia/celiac/index.html *
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