Geographic Atrophy
I am one of the not so lucky MD clients. For 10 years no ophthalmologist ever bothered to educate me about MD, and having no symptoms I happily lived my normal life.
I had a reasonable diet, daily glass of red wine, exercise with my dogs but no attention to the importance of greens, no alcohol and daily vigorous exercise, so I decide to move from East in the country to West in the big city hoping to be able to visit concerts, good doctors etc.
With lots of stress I suddenly developed vision problems, and again the retinal specialist just confirmed I have dry MD, even though I told him my vision seems to get worse by the day. Eventually, a year later, I asked him what stage I am in, and was told it is GA, no explanation, and I had to find out via the net, that this is the last stage of MD.
I now am at the stage where I will have to give up driving, which will be an enormous adjustment and I wonder whether I should move into a retirement home, but the stress of moving is just not advisable. So here I am, stuck in a new place, no friends or family, except for my little chihuahua, and all this thanks to the disinterested attitude of the ophthalmologists.
It scares me immensely and I wish somebody would have told me before it is too late. I now have my celery juice every day, which is apparently very good for the eyes and try to have a healthy diet, but cooking is becoming a problem too!! I now have found the Australian MD Association and have spoken to them and they have given me all the info I should have had 13 years ago, so hopefully the MD Association, will contact retinal specialist and tell them to inform people as to what to do when they get this diagnosis.
Cheers,
Inge
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