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All glaucomas have a final common pathway of retinal ganglion cell death involving low-grade inflammation, oxidative damage, mitochondrial dysfunction, and glial hyperactivation.

I am learning so much more about these patterns and their effect on my IOP all the time. Recently, I had a major emotional crises with my family of origin concerning a simple misunderstanding and lack of communication. As a result my only sibling (sister) said she wasn't speaking to me again, and we have generally been fairly close. Interestingly, my eye pressures did not rise in the first couple of days (though the stress was off the charts). However, after a couple of days, my eye pressures went crazy, and even with lumigan, I could hardly get them below 20s.

I have had my tonometer for almost 6 months.  It has answered a multitude of questions about how my daily routine affects my health.  I didn't know, for example, that just taking a walk outside for a half hour or so would reduce my eye pressure, sometimes by as much as 50%.  I also didn't know that I wasn't one of the people whose pressures are higher at night--in fact my lowest pressures are at night.  (That was good news.  I was tired of sleeping with my head elevated).  

I have found no supplements that had any effect on lowering my IOP, but I have found that some supplements will raise my IOP quite significantly.  I know that out of control thoughts and periods of stress significantly raise my IOP in spite of the two drops I am using or any other healthy lifestyle choices I am making. 

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I have been part of FitEyes since 2006 and I bought my tonometer in late 2006. I've been using it almost every day since then. I am very calm about measuring my IOP perhaps 2 or 4 times a day (or sometimes not at all if away from home).

While away from home I use drops 'just in case'; at home I might go for several days with no drops while I monitor my IOP with my tonometer .

Self-tonometry gives me freedom from medications that give me unwanted side effects. At the beginning of my 'career' (as a glaucoma patient) those medications nearly killed me. (I had some serious heart-related side effects.)

Self-tonometry is wonderfully liberating. With the reduction in my glaucoma medications I have no more dry eyes.

First of all, from the bottom of my heart, I have to thank Dave for leading me to my purchase of the Reichert 7CR; what a fantastic instrument!

Several years ago, my ophthalmologist said that I probably had what is called "normal pressure" glaucoma; my pressure was usually 15-16 whenever he checked me, and the highest he ever recorded was 19 on my right eye. He told me to find a glaucoma specialist, so I did.

I went to the specialist for a couple of years, but several things discouraged me from continuing to see him. I found another ophthalmologist; she was somewhat younger and, I thought, perhaps less apt to be running a Speede Oil Change type of service, to see how many people she could get through her clinic in a day. She was a bit better at the latter, but she refused to give me a prescription for a tonometer. I left her and quickly acquired a tonometer prescription; and by the way, the requirement for a prescription for a non-contact tonometer is as silly as the need for me to have a real estate broker's license to sell real estate, or for a city to have building inspectors.

by Robert Ritch, MD

Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy characterized by a specific pattern of optic nerve head and visual field damage. Damage to the visual system in glaucoma is due to the death of the retinal ganglion cells, the axons of which comprise the optic nerve and carry the visual impulses from the eye to the brain. Glaucoma represents a final common pathway resulting from a number of different conditions that can affect the eye, many of which are associated with elevated intraocular pressure (IOP). It is important to realize that elevated IOP is not synonymous with glaucoma, but rather is the most important risk factor we know of for the development and/or progression of glaucomatous damage.

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