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I have recently started consulting with Alan Tillotson, R.H., Ph.D., at the CHRYSALIS NATURAL MEDICINE CLINIC. I'm impressed with his knowledge of Ayurvedic and Chinese herbs (as well as Western herbs). I had a one hour consultation with Alan yesterday and I will definitely be following up with him. (Later in this post, I will share something he has written on glaucoma.)
Glaucoma is an optic neuropathy in which retinal ganglion cells die probably through an apoptotic process. Apoptosis is known to involve free radicals in several systems including the retina. In this context, the aim of the present work was to analyze retinal oxidative damage in rats with glaucoma induced by the chronic injection of hyaluronic acid in the eye anterior chamber. The results showed a significant decrease in total retinal superoxide dismutase and catalase activities after 6 and 3 weeks of treatment with hyaluronic acid, respectively.
One of my [update: former] ophthalmologists is a homeopath. He initially prescribed homeopathic phosphorus for my glaucoma. Unfortunately, that had side effects, so he switch me to homeopathic mercurius aceticus.
Mr. Bill Sardi, who has collected and studied a great deal of research on our eyes, spoke at a NOHA program on "Nutrition and the Eyes," October 15, 1997. He pointed out that our eyes are subject to radiation from light and that in the act of seeing they use a great deal of energy. As we know, in order to live we produce energy by using oxygen; this process produces many harmful free radicals, which then need to be quenched.
I was asking about glaucoma and Ayurveda on a newsgroup recently. I explained that glaucoma is no longer viewed simply as an eye disease defined by increased intraocular pressure.
I received some nice feedback about yesterday's blog article on how nasal conditions affect eye pressure. Thank you for your emails (and I would appreciate it if more readers will leave comments on my blog too).
Sinus conditions affect one's eye pressure. This is particularly important for glaucoma patients. Nasal blockage can have a strong effect on eye pressure and there are subtle effects as well. In addition, I speculate that the nose may offer an effective way for glaucoma patients to improve the long-term health of their optic nerve. The nose can be the doorway to the optic nerve as well as being intimately connected with eye pressure. In this blog post I'll touch on both areas.
This is my plan for overcoming glaucoma: embrace, evolve and exceed.
I had to start embracing my glaucoma because to do otherwise implied aversion. Aversion is defined as "antipathy: a feeling of intense dislike." Obviously, we resist that which we dislike. And that which we resist persists - this is a law of health. This law is the basis for the radical acceptance paradox: radical acceptance is the first step toward change.
In my first true 24-hour eye pressure monitoring period (back in 2007), where supine eye pressure measurements were taken, I found out that my eye pressure is much higher at night than expected. I also found out that my blood pressure is much lower. That's a bad combination of pressures for the health of the optic nerve.
It's Good to be Suspicious
This unusual case stresses the importance of glaucoma screening.
by Jerry Sherman, O.D., F.A.A.O. with Jeffrey Roth, O.D. and Herminder Boparai, O.D.
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