“Timolol eye drops for glaucoma?”
My wife has been diagnosed with a disease somewhere between primary lateral sclerosis and ALS. No one in her family has ever had this condition. She had taken timolol eyes drops for glaucoma for a little over 5 years and quit when she started tasting it in her throat after applying her prescribed dosage. Subsequently she has lost the use of her voice and has a terrible time swallowing. Bad things can happen to the body when timolol is absorbed into the blood stream and we feel this is the root of her problem. The doctors can't pin down her problem to PLS or ALS but somewhere in between. We strongly believe that timolol is the culprit for her problems but we can't get her doctors to even talk about timolol being a possible cause, consequently she could be being treated for a disease she doesn't have. Is there someone in this world that would listen to our arguments that timolol is the cause of her problems or at least tell us we're wrong in our beliefs?
Female | 79 years old
Complaint duration: about one year
Medications: none yet
Conditions: loss of speach and has hard time swallowing
2 Answers
Unlikely for timolol to cause that side effect
Timolol has diminished from the most widely used first line treatment to not used very much currently as there are many better meds, many of which are available in generic. As the prescriber to switch meds unless there is an overwhelming reason not to change. If this is the case, ask the prescriber to instruct the patient to do simple eyelid closure with nasolacrimal occlusion to decrease the systemic absorption of the timolol.
