March 17, 2021 - EyeClarity Blog
Did you know your eyes indicate underlying medical problems, particularly related to your heart health?
The blood vessel arrangement at the back of your eyes, referred to as “retina vasculature,” connects ocular health and heart diseases. Studying eye-related issues can help you understand health problems with your blood vessels and heart.
In this regard, the article includes everything you need to know about underlying pathogenesis, connection, and benefits from the same treatments for heart and eye diseases.
Let’s begin with a woman’s case history to highlight the connection between heart disease and ocular health.
Case History
I recently treated a woman who suffered a cardiac arrest six months ago. The patient develops balance issues and double vision after recovery. She was having difficulty in reading and walking. Before she came to me, three ophthalmologists studied the symptoms and said she would recover over time.
In my visual assessment, both her eyes were not tracking together. The right eye was focusing in the distance, while the left eye was focusing up close. There was a split between her brain and eyes, which was causing an imbalance and other symptoms.
I recommended three months of vision therapy to help her reduce the symptoms. The physical therapy program focused on helping the patient balance her two eyes. She did some whole body exercises like the Moro Primitive Reflex Integration. This exercise helps integrate the two sides of the body, soften the survival response in the brain, and teaches the person to feel the middle (midline) of the front and back body.
Then, I offered some vestibular exercises that help connected the eyes to the inner ear. I also recommended she should work on visual coordination exercises like the brock string, the circle relaxation, and the Yin Yang Peripheral Vision Exercise. By doing these exercises, she was able to learn how to use her two eyes together.
Finally, the therapy worked, and my patient regained her visual coordination. Soon, her symptoms disappeared, and she was able to participate in her daily activities.
The case study highlights the fact that a heart attack can affect the functional skill of using the two eyes together. Also, there are other considerations to take into account related to people suffering a heart attack and its effects on the eyes.
Your Heart and the Eyes – Seeing the Link
As mentioned above, some eye diseases and cardiovascular diseases share primary mechanisms. A bulk of evidence links systematic conditions and ophthalmic diseases, notably heart problems. That makes identifying and responding to this interlinking “root system” and its far-reaching implications on patients critical.
It is not the eye-specific mechanism and its treatment that ophthalmologists need to focus on. They must see the broader picture to track the after-treatment symptoms. Many studies have shown some specific fundamental mechanisms causing cardiovascular diseases and eye disorders.
Most health conditions are related to chronic and aging, such as glaucoma, diabetic retinopathy, and age-related macular degeneration.
As many eye diseases and diseases share strong core pathogenesis and risk factors, they can benefit from the same treatments.
Shared Pathways of Other Diseases
Many scientific studies show a link between eye disease and carotid diseases. Medical experts observed that patients with atherosclerosis in carotid vessels also develop diabetic retinopathy and AMD. Atherosclerosis often causes cholesterol buildup in the retina, which leads to AMD symptoms in the patients.
When aging macrophages produce fat deposit under the retina, it becomes bloated with increased cholesterol. This is one of the main factors of inflammation and swelling in the retina, forming new blood vessels that may lead to vision loss.
Note that inflammation is the main pathway of several eye conditions and cardiovascular diseases. In fact, medical professionals associate C-reactive protein- one of the inflammatory markers with retinal venules and heart diseases.
Although the small retinal vessels can be the indicators of some heart changes, they are premature to undergo a clinical screening to evaluate a heart attack risk.
Several physiological factors, including oxygenation and blood flow, and structural changes, can transiently cause vessels to narrow or widen. Emerging medical technologies will enable health professionals to evaluate these changes.
Some shared risk factors may include;
Obesity and Heart Diseases
Obesity is just a small part of the story. That means your increasing body weight is only an indication of more significant problems. The alteration or change in lipid metabolism, genetic predisposition, fatty deposits, and inactivity may contribute to chronic cardiovascular and eye diseases.
Lipids
Although Lipids and ocular health have gained more prominence, they need additional research. Looking at the cholesterol levels to determine the underlying pathway of eye and heart diseases is not enough. The enzymes and proteins controlling lipids levels have more to do with these diseases’ contributing factors. Doctors measure these markers in the blood and associate them with cholesterol changes.
Metabolic Syndrome
Risk factors rarely come in isolation. For instance, if you suffer from a metabolic syndrome, it may increase cardiovascular diseases. The diagnosis also accompanies features like high blood glucose, central obesity, dyslipidemia, hypertriglyceridemia, and hypertension.
In addition to this, there is an association between retinopathy and metabolic syndrome. The prevalence and increase of metabolic syndrome put a sufferer at higher risk of alteration in the eyes.
Cigarette Smoking
There is no denying that smoking has a deleterious effect on your blood vessels. Diminishing inflammatory injury can help you cure the symptoms of atherosclerosis. Medical professionals also associate smoking with syndromes like a dry eyes that may deteriorate with age.
What Diseases Does Your Eye Can Help Diagnose
There are a plethora of risk factors that contribute to underlying pathways of eye and heart diseases. Factors like smoking, high blood lipid levels, and hypertension can also cause several ischemic conditions of the eyes. Learn the parts of the eye that indicate underlying health issues such as;
Diabetes and its Effects on Eye Health
Diabetes is a common ailment that medical professionals can diagnose through a comprehensive eye exam. Keep in mind that diabetes has a slow onset; you might overlook its significant clues. Diabetes primarily has a strong effect on the small blood vessels in the eye.
In most cases, diabetic patients develop the risk of retinopathy that may lead to blindness or vision loss and kidney and heart issues. Medical professionals know that diabetic patients are at a high risk of developing heart, cardiovascular diseases.
You can prevent the symptoms of blindness or cardiac issues by undergoing an eye exam. Once diagnosed with the symptoms, your doctors can put you on the path to the right treatment.
Blocked Arteries
High blood pressure is just the one heart-related medical condition that a proper eye condition can detect. Small emboli in your eye can be a telltale of increased arteriosclerotic plaque in your carotid artery.
The carotid artery is vitally important for heart functions as it supplies blood to the neck and head. An arterial embolism is a common condition that happens when an embolus travels through the arteries and causes blockage in organs like the retina or the brain.
It may also trap in small vessels, restricting blood circulation. The blockage may result in blindness, severe tissue damage, and a stroke.
Arthritis
This might sound bizarre doctors detect systematic to you, but an eye exam, not only can reveal heart problems. A thorough eye exam can help with inflammatory disorders causing inflammation and arthritis. The conditions contributing to the arthritis-related eye can cause pain, vision loss, redness, and inflammation.
Moreover, studies also link these conditions to severe dry eyes. If left untreated, it may deteriorate and damage the cornea- a dome-shaped transparent covering of your eye that refracts light.
Hypertension
Another name for high blood pressure is hypertension. This is when your artery walls face excessive amounts of force when blood passes through them. Most people develop the symptoms of retinopathy in the eye due to high blood pressure. The condition may damage the blood supply to the eye.
If severe, the condition can lead to blurred vision, bleeding in the eyes, blood clots, and swelling. It may also damage the nerve or cause retina stroke following the permanent vision loss. Ophthalmologists evaluate the state of blood vessels in the eye to determine the evidence of hypertension or diabetes without using any blood pressure cuff.
Typically, the ratio or size between veins to arteries is not more than 2:3. However, if the arteries’ size is smaller than veins or bigger than the average ratio, it is evidence that a person is at high risk of cardiovascular diseases or high blood pressure.
In fact, there are many cases in which patients didn’t know they had diabetes or high blood pressure until they underwent an eye exam. Hypertension typically has no physical symptoms and may lead to stroke and heart diseases.
Changes in shape and ratio of retinal vessels or the presence of small blood clots in the eye are the typical indication of high cholesterol and high blood pressure.
Are There Any Shared Treatments?
As mentioned above, there are shared treatment methods for heart diseases that also go along well with ocular health. Holistic methods and lifestyle changes to alleviate heart disease can help prevent conditions related to ocular and heart health.
· Lifestyle Medicine Program
When it comes to incorporating holistic programs, a lifestyle medicine program from Dean Ornish, MD is a potential solution. It is a scientifically proven program that can help patients reverse heart disease by focusing on four key areas of life.
These areas include stress management, nutrition, fitness, love, and support. The program teaches participants to make delicious and heart-healthy meals, techniques to manage stress, and moderate activities to stay fit. The participants also receive a significant amount of emotional support to make it through their journey towards holistic health.
· Alternative Medicines and Therapies
This holistic approach comprises two elements; stress management and a balanced diet. The studies showed how switching to a vegetarian diet can offer cardiac benefits. Combining stress management techniques and a plant-based diet can reduce the risk of cardiac arrest by 32 percent.
· Herbal Remedies
Incorporating herbs into your diet can also provide several health benefits and help patients maintain a healthy life.
Hawthorn berries, for instance, optimize blood pressure by expanding coronary arteries. Ginger is excellent for reducing cholesterol and reducing blood clotting. You can start drinking green tea to improve antioxidant epigallocatechin gallat in the blood, an essential component that helps protect your heart.
As herbal medicines require more scientific evidence, it is better to consult your doctor before using the remedies.
· Magnesium
Taking 300 mg of this essential and powerful mineral can reduce its deficiency, leading to heart arrhythmias. Magnesium can promote heart function.
· Acupuncture
You might not have heard this before, but acupuncture can be an alternative treatment for cardiovascular diseases. The traditional treatment realigns the body’s energy flow, relaxes the nervous system, and reduces stress. These benefits contribute to maintaining high blood pressure.
· Herbs and Supplements
As mentioned above, lifestyle and diet changes can be a game-changer for your heart health. They can reverse and prevent heart diseases. Some herbal supplements such as coenzyme Q10 and omega-3 fatty acids can help people fight atherosclerosis, build up plaque in the arteries, and block oxygen-rich blood flow to reach the heart.
Conclusion
In a nutshell, eye health and heart diseases are connected, and identifying early signs of any systematic conditions is essential to promote overall health. Lowering blood pressure, cholesterol level, and glucose can potentially decrease the risks of the eye and cardiovascular diseases.
Thus, the article includes valuable details to understand how both eye and heart health shared the pathways and how you can prevent heart diseases using holistic methods.
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