Brimonidine / brinzolamide ophthalmic for Glaucoma, Open Angle User Reviews

• Shorty
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• April 6, 2018

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "I had a side effect reactions that went on for almost a year before the cause was determined -extremely tired- fell asleep suddenly daily (saw my general practioner) rapid heart rate ( saw a heart specialist), weakness in all my muscles, leg cramps (increased my potassium intake). I saw many doctors regarding my symptoms, including the opthamologist that prescribed it to no avail. My local cardiac specialist sent me to a neurophysiologist who assured me my symptoms were not related to my heart - I have a healthy heart. He recommended I either go back to my opthamologist (the only doctor that I had seen in the previous 8 months and only source of any medication. My opthamologist thought it “might be” the simbrinza, so ceased my using it. The symptoms lessened over time. I am not seeing an eye specialist. I still have weak muscles, back pain and stiffness /pain in all my joints. Before this experience I was a healthy, active athlete. My life has changed completely!!"

• Pokey
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 28, 2018

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "I've been on glaucoma drops for over 25 years. Without a doubt, Simbrinza is the most obnoxious med I've taken. Here's what I experience with every application: 1. Instantly clouds my vision - usually for a minute or so. 2. Blurs my vision next: this usually lasts about 10 minutes. 3. Burns, but this is the least of my complaints. 4. Dries my eyes out terribly; worse than other glaucoma meds. 5. Makes my eyes light sensitive. 6. With the bedtime application, I usually wake up the next morning with all manner of crusty stuff in the corners of my eyes. Sometimes that gets under the lid and because of dry eye, feels like a boulder in there. It does keep my pressure low, but I've never had issues with super-high pressure, anyway."

• Rudolf
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 28, 2018

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "SIMBRINZA is effective in a significant reduction to normal ocular pressure. But side effects are terrible. I have lost night vision outside and inside my home. I cannot drive at night because the glare from oncoming vehicles is blinding. I am very sensitive to sun light. I have blurred vision and loss of acuity. I have muscle pain in my legs and arms. I have dry mouth. Other side effects include low energy, head pain, eye itching, dizzy, eye comfort, and loss of appetite."

• Probl...
• January 1, 2021

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "The first night that I used Simbrinza I could hardly walk after about 30 minutes and shuffled off to bed. I use them in the morning and 8.45am and quite often have to lay down around 9.20am to have a sleep which can sometimes last for for two hours!!! I've only had the bad taste in the mouth a couple of times but do now struggle with dry mouth and I must take a bottle of water with me whenever I go out. My eyes are always bloodshot now and often also very red around the eye socket. I've only just learnt about the drop in blood pressure from remarks on here so will get checked by the doctor next week. Not looking forward to an increase in my girth as it is already much thicker than it should be!! I think my long distance sight is slightly worse but had to tell as I don't do much driving these days - and I certainly don't drive at night if I can help it."

• Georg...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• May 26, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "After one month's use have decided to stop these eye drops. I wake up with dry mouth during the night causing regular sleep interruption. Therefore I am already fatigued upon waking but following the morning drop applicationI feel even more tired and lethargic! The dry mouth continues during the day and I do not leave the house without a bottle of water. My appetite has increased and I have had a rapid weight gain."

• JPM
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• April 24, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "It was effective for lowering blood pressure (but I use it in conjunction with Lumigan. I take it twice daily in am and at bedtime. I have 4 strong side effects listed in increasing order of significance: 1. a strong bitter tase in mouth that goes away after about an hour. 2. Very dry mouth, especially waking in the AM ( I am a mouth breather). 3 Most importantly, I get EXTREMELY DROWSY after taking it in the AM. Am retired so I can take a deep nap but it usually lasts for 90 - 120 minutes so this has had a major impact on my lifestyle. 4. lower blood pressure, which I have verified with a BP cuff at home. Lower BP also manifests as light headedness after sleeping. I have had to cut back on my blood pressure meds as a result. Am switching to an alternative."

• Schoo...
• Taken for less than 1 month
• August 10, 2019

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "My eye pressures were higher than my ophthalmologist liked, so he prescribed Simbrinza 1 drop in each eye am & pm. The first time, I used the drop was in the evening. After a few minutes, my knees felt week & I felt a bit light headed. The next morning after using Simbrinza, I felt fatigued & light headed. BP dropped to 94/51 & pulse was 50. I called my ophthalmologist & he said to discontinue the Simbrinza & go back to the drop that I had been previously using. Had a very swift side effects after only using this drop twice."

• Barbara
• January 5, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Hope that all comments are in not only what pharma wants to see. Simbrinza is the worst eye drop since I’m taking for a glaucoma. My life change drastically, red eyes like tomato, people asking if I smoke marijuana ,imagine and this constant pain like sand in my eyes, dry mouth and coughing. I'm going to see my doc in March only,I only hope for different drops"

• MWM
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• February 21, 2019

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Medication works well in reducing pressures and doesn't have some of the side effects of other drops (skin darkening, eye color change, etc.). Sometimes it makes my eyes burn a little, sometimes a little red. Most troublesome side effect is that 2-3 hours after I instill the drops, I start to feel super fatigued. Vitals when this happens- HR 60-64, O2sats 100, and B/P is in the low 90's over high 50's. After an hour I will start to feel more alert and like myself- when I check my BP it's back to 100's over 70's and then gets back in the 110's over 70's where I like it. I also take Lisinopril, and was taking 40 mg/day. I've decreased that to 20mg/day, split dose, and am staggering it every 6 hours with the Simbrinza drops which I also use twice daily. Things seem to be stable with this approach. I tried dropping the Lisinopril altogether but my BP was creeping up to the 130s / 90's. Luckily, this normal tension glaucoma was caught early and I don't seem to have any peripheral vision changes yet."

• Barbara
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• January 5, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "My life is a bad since I’m taking those drops, red eyes , pain like got sand in my eyes, in March I’m going to see my doc, if I’m going to be blind is better than this suffering, if is not other alternative,I’m talking about Simbrinza drops"

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• October 11, 2017

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "I really liked that this medication did not burn, itch sting, etc. It did not feel like something was in my eye. My only concern was that some pale yellow gooey stuff would collect in the corners of my eyes. I couldn't feel it but I needed a Q-tip to get it out. Other than that it was perfect."

• Covei
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• January 27, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Used several Glaucoma meds before changed to Simbrenza. First 3 weeks on this, blood red eyes, crusty eyelids, drop in blood pressure and good eye pressure. Used warm compress per Doctors recommendation and red eyes returned to normal color. Low blood pressure and crusty eyes continued. Sent to a local doctor who changed my eye meds. Used the alternative drops for one week and eyes turned blood red again. Doctor changed drops back to Simbrinza and eyes would turn white for 10 minutes and then turn red again. Discontinued Simbrinza and eyes are slowly returning to normal color with the other meds."

• AnnieO
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• June 13, 2021

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Terrible side effects with this drug. I couldn't figure out why I have overwhelming fatigue every day until I read it's one of the side effects. My eyes are so red and watery people think I've been crying all the time, and it looks horrendous. Plus, it's now difficult to drive at night due to the blurriness and halos around lights. I wake up every morning with crusty eyes. I'm going to have to get off this drug as it's made it difficult to function normally. On top of all this, it's barely lowered my eye pressure at all."

• KCE
• Taken for 1 to 2 years
• February 19, 2022

"My eye doctor started me on Zioptan first and I immediately had groin pain and upper thigh numbness, my doctor then added Brinzolamide 1% along with Zioptan. My groin pain intensified along with upper thigh numbness, tingling, shooting pain with electric shock sensations. I stopped the Zioptan thinking it was the first side effects, but the systems did not stop but intensified with Brinzolamide. The electric shocks got so intense I could not sleep so I stopped both eye drops. The electric shocks have stopped, and the numbness went away. I still have some sourness in the upper thigh muscle but I can sleep again. I would like to find a natural remedy to lower my eye pressure and not put this poison in my eyes."

• Anonymous
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• August 28, 2013

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Simbrinza dropped eye pressure from 34 to 14 at 4 week check. I have experienced no side effects from this medication"

• calaya
• January 28, 2015

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "Ocular pressure down from 28 to 18 in 1 week."

• Babyb...
• February 4, 2020

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "I have terrible reactions in my eyes. They go blood red, itchy, painful and the eyelids get very red as well."

• Blinky
• Taken for 6 months to 1 year
• August 10, 2018

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "I take this for Glaucoma. Effective at lessening ocular pressure. Makes me drowsy, so I take it at bedtime."

• Rajesh...
• Taken for 1 to 6 months
• December 17, 2017

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "While I have a few side effects as mentioned here, I realised that I have a very high appetite on account of use of Simbrinza and have put on lots of weight @ 12 kgs in 3 months."

• Keecha
• Taken for 5 to 10 years
• January 24, 2021

Simbrinza (brimonidine / brinzolamide) "In combination with Zioptan, this is a superb formula for me. After trying five other meds to which I was allergic, this combination worked best for me with no side effects."