What should my friend do about her eye problems?

She needs to see an ophthalmologist right away. That is an eye doctor. Especially with all of the symptoms she is experiencing.

She should not just go to an optometrist.

She needs to schedule an appt. with her doctor ASAP. If the doctor thinks that it is something eye related, he/she will recommend an Ophthalmologist.

Tell her to get to a doctor ASAP. Eyes are not something you want to procrastinate about. You only get one pair and you need to take care of them.

Yes, doctor, specialist, opthamologist, right away. Regular doctor like her GP, pediatrician, or internist is not good enough. They should not only look at her eyes, but also do a blood test for thyroid, and possibly a CAT scan if they don’t find anything with her eye exam.

Thanks for the responses you guys, but she just told me that she doesn’t have money for a doctor, what should she do? :/

She should go to the doctor, anyway. There are ways of paying, and if you go to the ER, you can get a case manager who will help get her signed up for any program she is eligible for. But take care of the eyes first. Even if you go into debt.

If it’s something very serious, do you want her to go blind? Get to the doctor.

I’m not a doctor, but these symptoms sound serious to me.

Man, I lived for 7 years with no health insurance, and not a penny to spare in my wallet… but something like this? You can be damn sure I was at the doctor. Common cold, stomachache, weird aches and pains, broken digits? Bah. I can live without a doctor. When I start having pain and bizarre sensation in my eyes? Time to go to the doctor. @Sunny2 is dead on. You only get one pair of eyes, and you need to take care of them.
I have worn glasses and contacts all of my life, and I have never experienced anything like what your friend is describing.

Definitely she needs to go to a doctor. This sounds like an emergency and there are ways of getting emergency treatment even without any insurance or money.

I agree with all other responses here. I’ve been wearing glasses and contacts for several years now and never experienced anything that you’ve described. So from my experience, I’d say these are not normal symptoms of needing simple vision correction. It sounds serious and like something you do not want to ignore.

Does she have a credit card? This is something worth charging, or talk to the doctor and pay over time directly with them. Skip the regular doctor if she doesn’t habe insurance, because then she might wind up paying for a GP and a specialist. Even if the GP can handle it (which would mean it is not the eye, but god forbid something that will show on CAT scan, I would bank on paying a little more now for the specialist, then paying for two doctors later.

However, if she cannot get into an opthamoligist fast (and it must be an opthamologist not an optometrist) she can go to a GP or urgent care. If you can avoid the emergency room she should.

This is probably unconventional advice, but sometimes you’ve gotta do what you’ve gotta do.

Make the appointment, go in to see the doctor, when they ask you to pay.. ask them to bill you. Don’t warn them ahead of time that you don’t have the money to pay the bill up front. They definitely won’t be happy about it, but not much they can do about it after you’ve already seen the doctor. Once you have the bill, pay whatever you can. If that’s $20 a month, then so be it. It isn’t exactly ideal, by any stretch, but sometimes you have to do the best you can with what you’ve got.
Frankly, this is cheaper than charging to a credit card. Perhaps not the most noble way to do it, but desperate times…

It’s a sad situation when something like this is so difficult to have taken care of. Something seriously wrong with the world.

I agree with @ANef_is_Enuf. As long as you pay in the end, I don’t see it lacking in integrity at all, even if it is $20 a month.

GO, GO, GO! Specialist, now.

I’ve gone blind once, I don’t recommend it.