September 14, 2020 - EyeClarity Blog
So how do we diagnose glaucoma? Well, there are four basic tests. One is measuring eye pressure, the second is examining the eyes drainage system to see what the flow is like, the third is evaluating the optic nerve, and the fourth is measuring the visual fields.
When I was in school, one of the rotations I did was at a glaucoma clinic. I am very grateful for this time because I was able to learn a lot about eye disease and eye pathology, which would allow me to later on apply my holistic principales to diagnosing the disease. Typically, glaucoma is treated using eye drops. If that doesn’t work, then the eye doctors will use a laser and remove tissue to try to open up the circulation structurally. To avoid having to endure either one of these treatments, I would suggest staying up on your yearly eye exams where you’ll get your eye pressure, optic nerve, and visual field evaluated. You should also be aware of your family’s health history, because glaucoma can be genetic.
One question I receive a lot is how you can protect your nerve, reduce the effects of the pressure going up, and maybe even reverse glaucoma. The first strategy to consider is increasing eye circulation, which means increasing the oxygen and hydration levels in the eye tissue. This starts with how you eat. Food can help us heal and improve many conditions, and the more organic foods you eat the better so focusing on eating more vegetables and less meat is a great place to start. You should also consider your toxicity levels in your body, because I have found a correlation between people having problems with their optic nerve and heavy metal toxicity somewhere in the body. If you can, get tested to see if you have any heavy metals that you need to remove from your body. This will also help your liver health, and as I’ve said before, in Chinese medicine the liver rules the eyes. Getting rid of the heavy metals will also help your body carry more oxygen and hydration to the eye tissue.
Another thing to look out for is whether or not you are getting all of the necessary trace minerals. One test I often perform for clients is hair mineral analysis. Some doctors think it’s an inaccurate assessment, but when coupled with other tests such as urine and blood testing you can learn some interesting things. Minerals are present on a cellular level, and a lot of times we have a deficiency and we don’t know. Deficiencies in trace minerals such as chromium, zinc, copper, and manganese all increase your chances of developing glaucoma. Minerals act as catalysts for cellular absorption and detoxification and allow for our immune systems to work more efficiently. Because of soil depletion from farming GMO products, I have found that people are very deficient in many trace minerals. So increasing trace minerals can help increase the flow to your eyes.
If you’ve had any head trauma I recommend getting some biodynamic osteopathic craniosacral therapy done to open up the circulation in the skull, brain, optic nerve, and bones around the eyes and the face. The key to healing glaucoma is improving your lymph function and overall fluid circulation and Craniosacral therapy is a great way to do that. When you’ve experienced head trauma, part of the circulation in the head shuts down and eventually causes damage in the brain and the eyes. So craniosacral treatment can have a secondary effect on your eyes and eye pressure.
Finally, there is a lot of research about using cannabis to help bring your eye pressures down. When you use marijuana, it can lower your eye pressure and also balance your autonomic nervous system and act as an anti inflammatory agent. There are many different forms you can get marijuana in where the THC levels are very low and you get the benefits without the side effects. So, this is something you could ask your doctor about.
Of course, generally speaking, the healthier your gut is the better your dietary absorption is and the more enhanced your eye circulation will be. Fats and oils protect the optic nerve and antioxidant vitamins and probiotics are great for gut health. I also recommend eating lots of leafy green vegetables. You should consider adopting the rainbow diet where you eat vegetables and fruits across the entire color wheel. For example, red beets, orange bell peppers, green avocados, goji berries, etc. All of these are good superfoods for your eyes and eye health.
The last piece of the puzzle is understanding, functionally, how to use your eyes. If the lens prescription that you got from your doctor is a multifocal progressive lens, you need consider switching to single focus so that you are not tunneling your vision. When you have to look through a tiny hole in your bifocals, that’s doing the exact same thing that glaucoma is doing, which is narrowing the peripheral vision you have access to. We know that our eyes originate from our brain tissue, and since the eyes, optic nerve, retina, cornea, lens, aqueous, regular mesh work, vitreous, and all of the eye tissues stem from the brain originally, our eyes have the same neuroplasticity capabilities as our brain. That means that our eyes are capable of regeneration and creating new pathways to stimulate your eyes and vision in ways that improve your visual system.
Pharmaceuticals and surgery keep things from getting worse, but they often only treat the symptoms instead of the root cause of the problem and take your further away from your body’s natural ability to heal. When you start healing yourself with natural remedies, herbs, vitamins, foods, etc, these agents connect you more deeply to your healing potential. Now, I am not recommending you immediately stop taking your eye drops. I am suggesting that you get a current baseline about what’s going on with your visual field, peripheral vision, eye pressure, and optic nerve health. Then you can start adding some of these natural remedies to your routine. Continue checking in with your doctor on a regular basis and you may find that your visual field begins to improve, that you’re able to self regulate a bit easier, and that your eye pressure stays at a normal level. I have helped many, many patients over the years by imploring them to start following this more natural, holistic approach to become more balanced, not only in their eyes, but also in their bodies.