Optometrist or Therapist?

You know what sucks?! When something as miniscule as peas gives you the Big D. You know what's totally awesome? When something as simple as eating soluble fiber (i.e. bananas, applesauce) and peppermint oil makes it completely better. :) That's all I have to say about that.

I'm also still taking Tirosint, feeling better than I felt those last two weeks on my faulty batch of Thyroxal. I haven't heard any information about what may have been wrong with it (though I'm very curious since it was working fine for me until...recently), but the pills I have, have been sent back to the store they came from for testing. Signed, sealed, delivered.

Today I went to the optometrist. I also brought my DS (my dear, dear son, sarcasm intended) with me because I think he's going to need his eyes checked so I want him to be familiar with the office and procedure.

My optometrist is a wonderful woman with two teenage sons. At first my DS sat quietly in the provided chair. Then, the good doctor started to test my eyes, he started freaking out. First he threw his hat. Then my purse. Then the chair itself was knocked to the floor. My optometrist? These are the things she said to me:

"Just ignore him. He's trying to get your attention. It's best if we don't react."

"It's a cheap chair...don't worry. I don't care!"

"Let me just take it away from him....but we won't feed into it!"

"Ooo, he's stubborn."

But through the whole appointment, she was so nice and calm. She didn't judge me for having a 3 1/2 year old who was basically having a temper tantrum.

When I finally held him and talked to him, he said he was scared of all the machinery. Fair enough.

In any case, in addition to providing an adept therapist, my optomestrist was full of useful information, such as:

*Inflammation has been linked to diabetes and other diseases, she just read an article about it.

*The only things that will help protect me from glaucoma and cataracts are wearing sunglasses religiously and eating right.

*Macular degeneration has been linked to smoking and being overweight.

*That "eye pill" we keep hearing about on TV and in the advertisements isn't all it's cracked up to me. She said at a recent conference the agreement was that taking massive amounts of the stuff in the pill, Zinc, Lutein, and something else that starts with "Z" I can't pronounce, isn't good for a regular ol' person. It might be warranted for someone who always has eye degeneration, but it might do more harm than good for someone who hasn't had problems.

*She recommended the contact cleanse (Clear Care? Is that the one?) stuff that is actually acidic if you don't let the contacts sit in it for more than six hours. Gotta keep that away from the kids...

Anyway, she was very wonderful. Just thought you should know I'm a fan of certain doctors, just not the general 'way' doctors treat these days. My eye doc also has hypothyroidism, so that made for some good conversation too.