Glaucoma: Why Does Eye Pressure Fluctuate? | Dr. Sam Berne

July 26, 2018 - Eye Health

Hey folks, it’s Dr. Sam and I’m on my morning walk today.

I received a question on why does our intraocular eye pressure fluctuate. This is a really good question.

So when you dig into the literature, the researchers that have done clinical trials have not come up with definitive reasons for why our eye pressure fluctuates up and down throughout the day. But this is important to note if you are worried about glaucoma because it is important to test eye pressure at different times of the day over the span of a few days. This is a much more reliable reading of your eye pressure than just one test.

So in terms of diagnosing glaucoma, we also want to take a look at the health of the optic nerve in your visual fields. But in terms of this pressure going up and down, I’m going to pose some questions on why it might be happening because we know problems in the eye have their systemic and metabolic roots.

It could be due to stress, trauma, toxicity, inflammation, and even things like blood pressure issues, diabetes, and other vascular diseases. These are some of the questions that researchers have asked. And again there’s no definitive answer but these are definitely things that I would look at.

Diagnosed with glaucoma?

But let’s say you’ve been diagnosed with glaucoma and you want to try some of my holistic and alternative therapies. There are three aspects that I would recommend you consider.

Keep working with your doctor, even if you’re doing these complementary therapies. That means going to see them when the doctor says to, getting the tests done, and using prescription eye drops if your doctor recommends this. So number one, keep working with your doctor. This is very important.
Remember that improving glaucoma is a process. Commit to 3-6 months of holistic therapies minimum before you start seeing changes. Don’t get discouraged by lack of quick progress – this is normal – it takes time.
Don’t stop going to the doctor just because your readings get better and the visual field improves. It’s so important to keep checking in with your healthcare provider regularly.

So remember that glaucoma has its metabolic and systemic roots. To improve glaucoma it requires looking at the whole person and addressing overall health.

So that’s my message for today. Thank you so much for tuning in and until next time, take good care.