The IOP Querent

FitEyes Needs Your Input Now!

2008-11-22T17:45:00Z

We need to make some big decisions. And soon. I would like the FitEyes community -- you -- to get intimately involved in making these decisions. The issues before us are partly financial and technical, but they also extend to the core of what this community is about. So let me dive right in to the discussion and I look forward to your feedback and your support.

Please tell me what you think is the right future direction for FitEyes.

What does the FitEyes community mean to you?

What does FitEyes provide that you cannot obtain anywhere else?

Would you be willing to make a small donation to help us continue offering all this knowledge for free? You can donate immediately via PayPal using the email address in this link: donate to support FitEyes.com

What value do you personally receive from the community here? What do you contribute back?

What more would you like FitEyes to provide? In what ways could the website be improved?

How can we grow the community?

How can you help us create the kind of community that would fully meet your highest needs?

I have a vision for a much larger community with users taking much greater advantage of the website's technology. And I see self-tonometry growing exponentially until all ophthalmologists are educating every patient who is a a candidate for self-tonometry about its benefits and how to get started. Self-tonometry revolutionizes a glaucoma patient's health and vision care. I want to see everyone who currently practices self-tonometry speaking out more on this website, educating other glaucoma patients, and blogging about their own experiences.

Unlike any other patient-created community I know of, the FitEyes community has conducted valuable original research and has discovered important knowledge. I continuously receive emails from readers who have read information available only on FitEyes and have already received benefits in their lives from applying this knowledge. However, I would love to see more of those people become active in the community. When someone sends me an email, I learn from it and I appreciate it, but no one else in the community sees it. In contrast, when someone makes a blog post or a forum post, the entire community benefits. I want to see us spread our knowledge and help everyone.

This website currently represents about 1% of the knowledge we have accumulated. We have one member here who has invested over $50,000 of his own money in advanced medical equipment to conduct vision research. This person is an unbelievable resource. Are you aware of this? Do you realize how unique this is? We have many members who own their own tonometers (at significant investments) and conduct daily intraocular pressure measurements. We have many extremely dedicated, smart and motivated people here. There is no patient community in the world that can rival what we have here. The knowledge and resources are truly astounding. Yet I am disappointed that so little of that knowledge gets shared with the whole community. How can we do more? One idea is that I would like to see the FitEyes website take a more active role in the publication of new medical research. With a modest amount of funding, we could create truly profound results. I know because much of the foundational work has already been done.

Together with two other authors, I have recently published an article about self-tonometry in a leading medical journal. That's something we could do more of, but it isn't my highest priority. Sure, it is prestigious to have articles published in medical journals, but I am more motivated to publish truly leading-edge knowledge that is more advanced than what the typicallly conservative medical journals will (at this time) consider publishing. And I want to fast-track that knowledge right to the people who can benefit from it immediately -- to you. My self-tonometry journal article is already about a year old -- and it hasn't even hit the presses yet. And the article doesn't even include the most advanced self-tonometry knowledge that I have written about here on FitEyes. I want to move faster that that system allows. And I want to remain focused on the safe, natural, non-invasive and non-drug areas of medical care that over underserved by the mainstream. Would you support FitEyes to make more of this possible?

There are several ways you can support FitEyes and take this community in the direction we all decide we want it to go. If you can blog or otherwise contribute content, please do so right away. If you own a tonometer, your voice is important. Don't underestimate the importance of your voice if you are fortunate enough to be able to conduct rigorous self-tonometry research. However, I understand that not everyone has the time or the inclination to participate actively on the website or to be disciplined in their self-tonometry research. There are other options for supporting FitEyes, including making modest financial donations to help offset the expenses of operating this website.

Those of you who cannot afford tonometers could potentially sponsor small studies designed to answer specific questions of interest to you and to the community. Your contribution of just $25 to $100 could pave the way to original research involving medical equipment with a collective cost well in excess of $100,000. We could do amazing research on specific nutritional supplements and intraocular pressure, for example. I know this is a topic that interests a lot of people. Reliable research on certain supplements is completely non-existent. As a community, we are uniquely positioned to conduct research like this. If you do not own a tonometer, imagine how much value you could derive from being able to ask a group of people with tonometers to help find answers to the questions that main stream medicine refuses to pursue? We can do that here, but we need support from you to make it happen.

If the community want us to expand our research and to undertake direct publication of new knowledge here, we will need more substantial financial support. (And I don't expect this support will come from the industry. The support needs to come from the community, from you.) Over the years that this site has been running, one generous member has made a significant donation. I cannot expression my appreciation enough to this generous and supportive member. I am amazed by his generousity. But no successful community can reach its full potential and best serve all its members when only a single member provides financial support. In fact, as generous as that donation was, we have ongoing operating expenses that are not being covered.

The FitEyes website runs on a powerful technology platform, including both the software and the webserver. We made the decision to use this powerful platform in order to provide advanced technology to our user community -- to you. All these features have been made available to everyone in the FitEyes community for free. How is that possible? It is possible because I have been paying all these costs myself. Currently, web hosting costs well over $100/mo (for a VPS with 1GB RAM). The software license cost was almost $1000 (and the renewal/upgrade fee is $5000 now).

One immediate technology decision we need make relates to the webserver and software. I would like to see us convert to open source software. This eliminates the software licensing costs (although we should, in turn, donate something to the community supporting the open source software we choose). Furthermore, it allows us to scale back the hosting costs significantly. Monthly web hosting costs would drop by at least half. However, converting the existing FitEyes website to a new technology platform will cost several thousand dollars. (The current bids are as high as $4000, but we hope to find a competent team at a cost of not more than $2000. But first we need to raise $2000!)

The technology migration involves a complex database conversion and more. We need to start this right away because the current hosting agreement is paid only through January. Please consider making a donation now to help us hire the developers immediately so we can get the new open source version of FitEyes up and running before January. This is a big project and it has to be done with great care to avoid losing information from the current FitEyes website. Please help us ensure, through your donation, that we can transition to a more cost effective technology platform so that we can continue to provide everything we offer to the entire community for free.

Any donation amount will be very helpful. Please consider giving any amount you can afford. You can donate via PayPal using the email address in this link: donate now. And please jump into the conversation about the future of FitEyes! Thank you.

Visual Field Improvement Related to Diet and Acupuncture

2008-10-12T04:16:00Z

I just read a very informative report on Taran's blog about his visual field and visual accuity improvements. Taran posted three visual field test results in this blog post. I highly recommend everyone take a look at Taran's results. Here's the link to his blog post, "Octopus Visual Field Scans Before, During and After Micro-Acupuncture & Diet Discussion". It is a great post.

World Epidemic of Blindness to Reality Because of Myopic Perceptions

2008-09-28T02:35:00Z

Considering current events, including the health care crisis and the global financial crisis, I found Dr. Roberto Kaplan's talk from a few years ago to be very relevant. Here is a summary of his talk I found somewhere (and I have since lost the source). I love the quote because I think it says a lot about how many world leaders are approaching solutions to our current problems -- very short sighted.

"Dr. Roberto Kaplan was invited to talk about his integrated approach to vision therapy at the Vienna International Center at the U.N. in Vienna, Austria. Along with New York, Geneva and Nairobi, Vienna is one of the four Headquarters Duty Stations of the United Nations. More than 4,000 employees from over 100 countries work for the Vienna International Center (VIC) - based organizations.

Dr. Kaplan shared his ideas of the causes and development of nearsightedness and its implication on the consciousness of the citizens of the world. "We are fast approaching a world epidemic of blindness to reality because of myopic perceptions," Kaplan asserted, quoting the series of papers titled: Seeing Beyond the Obvious, published in the Journal of College of Optometrists in Vision Development."

"It is time for conventional medicine to recognize the power of vision therapy as being a vital part of complimentary medicine," urged Dr. Kaplan. The talk focused on his two books: "The Power Behind Your Eyes" and "Conscious Seeing." To be a conscious person, one needs a healthy visual system. Vision therapy is an established scientific discipline within Optometry that has a vital role to play in helping persons recognize when they are seeing accurately or misperceiving. Undetected vision problems, especially a lack of coordination of the two eyes, can cause persons of all ages to see inaccurately how they are behaving.

"Those who heard Dr. Kaplan applauded how the lecture illuminated a new dimension to the role of vision in being an instrument for enhancing consciousness. Kaplan sees his role in having vision therapy be more recognized as a powerful healing discipline in helping accomplish happier family relationships, less aggression and world peace."

As reader of FitEyes.com may recognize, the relationship between vision and consciousness goes two ways. Our state of consciousness influences our vision. A settled mind established in the state of inner peace reduces elevated intraocular pressure and helps expand the visual field. This is one example of how our state of consciousness influences our physiology.

Consiousness is the foundation of our physical body. Consciousness structures the physical body. Therefore, I believe it is of primary importance to address the influence of consciousness on vision.

In addition to physiology, we can see a psychological relationship. Expanding one's consciousness also helps one perceive reality more accurately. One way this occurs is through a reduction in the ego's influence over our thinking. The ego inserts itself between our sensory motor nervous system and our intellect. The ego filters everything we perceive through all our senses. The ego, as it normally operates in us, causes misperception, misunderstanding. A settled mind, where the ego is not in control, perceives more accurately.

New Experiments With Inverted Yoga Postures and Eye Pressure

2008-09-20T21:49:00Z

I stopped doing all inverted yoga postures a couple years ago. The plow (plough, halasana) posture used to be one of my favorites. When I first started self-tonometry some years ago I did the plow posture for just a few minutes, then sat up and took some intraocular pressure measurements. My intraocular pressure after the plow was significantly elevated compared to before the posture and the elevated pressure was high enough to be a concern (above 30). That was the last time I did any inverted yoga postures -- until just a couple days ago.

With the excellent results I'm getting from Serene Impulse (especially while lying in bed/sleeping), I got brave. I decided to see what would happen to my eye pressure with the plow posture.

And now that I have the iCare tonometer, I can test things like this more accurately. I do not have to stand up, walk to the tonometer, sit down and wait while the tonometer measures my eye pressure. With the iCare, I can remain lying on the floor and take an intraocular pressure measurement very quickly. I get measurements within seconds rather than minutes.

I cannot yet actually do self-tonometry in an inverted yoga posture, but I can do it within seconds of transitioning to a supine position. This is much, much better than my original testing situation. I should see higher values when testing in the supine position with this new testing procedure because IOP will drop as soon as one sits up and it will usually drop even more by the time one stands up and walks even a few steps.

I did a first brief test of the yoga plow posture a couple days ago. I stayed inverted for only about 2 minutes. Afterwards my IOP was 13 mmHg. (Each IOP test was the average of 6 individual readings with the iCare tonometer.)

I tested a few more times over the next few days and each time my eye pressure remained in a very good range after the inverted yoga postures.

Today I did a brutal test of a long series of inverted yoga postures that I was sure would elevate my intraocular pressure further. It did elevate my IOP all the way up to 18 mmHg. However, this is a far cry from the IOP values in the 30's that I used to see after inverted yoga postures. (And those old values in the 30's were less than the true peak because I had to sit up to take a measurement, as mentioned above.) Many normal people (non glaucoma patients) will see intraocular pressure values at 18 mmHg or higher after inverted yoga postures. I was extremely pleased with the results of todays tests. I know that my anticipated approach to inverted yoga postures will not elevate my IOP as much as this extreme test, so I should be well within the safe IOP zone.

Going forward, I believe I can resume limited amounts of inverted yoga postures on a regular basis. (My body will be happy about that!) My plan is to limit the inverted time and the postures I perform to things I can do without my IOP going above about 15 mmHg.

Here's one tip: I have found that if I do Serene Impulse followed by moderate exercise followed by yoga, the eye pressure elevation of inverted yoga postures is very, very mild. Based upon my tests so far, I can easily keep my IOP under my target after doing the plow posture if I take this approach.

I am reporting this for educational purposes only. My own curiosity motivated me to do the tests. I also feel I need to do more yoga to regain the flexibility I have lost since I stopped doing it. But I am not advising any glaucoma patients to start or resume inverted yoga postures. In short, my disclaimer is: "don't try this at home" unless you can take the same safety precautions I am taking.

Performer is risking glaucoma and circulatory failure in order to prepare for his next act

2008-09-16T00:45:00Z

I have enjoyed watching David Blaine perform. However, this story about his upcoming trick caught my attention because of the risk to his eyes.

"He has already spent a week in a glass coffin, 64 hours in a block of ice and fasted for 44 days in a box in London. For his next trick, he'll live on two burning high wires in Central Park for three days, followed by a mysterious 'Dive of Death'. Is there anything this seemingly fearless magician is afraid of? Yes, actually... By Michael Joseph Gross"

In this Central Park high wire trick, David Blaine will be haning upside down a lot. "When he sleeps, he will sleep hanging upside down - 'like a bat,' he says - at the convergence of those wires, which will be on fire, and there will also be a fire pit on the ground beneath him."

While practicing, evidence of the strain on his eyes was quickly apparent. "The magician's face is fat with blood. So much so, that the little scar between his eyes, from a failed attempt to do a flip from a park bench at age five, is momentarily invisible. His eyes are bulging. The whites are pink. 'Are blood vessels popping?' he asks."

The article acknowledges the risk of glaucoma, so I presume David Blaine is well aware of this risk. "The magician, whose idea of magic encompasses natural feats of endurance less redolent of Las Vegas than of Lives of the Saints, is risking glaucoma and circulatory failure in order to prepare for his next trick."

You can read the whole story at the following link: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/core/Content/displayPrintable.jhtml;jsessionid=BVBJPIUH3S0B5QFIQMFSFF4AVCBQ0IV0?xml=/arts/2008/09/14/sv_davidblaine.xml&site=6&page=0

Stop Thinking And Your Eye Pressure Will Decrease

2008-09-04T00:17:00Z

I'm copying part of a report from http://www.livescience.com/health/080902-zen-meditation.html. Please see the original link for the full article.

There is a very strong relationship between thoughts and intraocular pressure. I have been writing about it here on FitEyes.com for several years. One's state of mind is one of the most important factors in managing intraocular pressure. Serene Impulse is the best technique I have found for putting my mind and body into the state of restful alertness that promotes efficient activity and low eye pressure. Even a few seconds of Serene Impulse practice can often immediately reduce my eye pressure. However, it is most useful to me due to its ability to reduce my supine IOP at the peak time of day (early morning) when I practice Serene Impulse the prior day.

Serene Impulse is a mind-body skill that promotes health and inner peace. Serene Impulse works strongly at the level of the physical body, including the heart. Meditation is different in that it usually works more at the level of the mind (to make a generalization).

Although I have not tested all meditation techniques, of those I have tested, none were effective in reducing my intraocular pressure.

However, understanding Zen meditation is useful background for understanding the research I'm doing on consciousness and intraocular pressure. Therefore, I want to share part of the following article with readers of FitEyes.com. (I have edited this version.)

In particular I like the discussion of thoughts in this article. Anyone with POAG should be aware of the relationship between thoughts and IOP. Even without using any formal meditation technique, if one effortlessly allows thoughts to settle down or temporarily cease, one will have succeeded in reducing one's IOP in my experience. The catch is that most people without meditation training cannot allow thoughts to stop effortlessly. Most of us can't go for even 60 seconds without thinknig. And when we try, we strain. Such trying will only raise IOP. Without further comment, here is the article on Zen Meditation research.

Study: Zen Meditation Really Does Clear the Mind

By Charles Q. Choi, Special to LiveScience [Edited for FitEyes.com by David]

Zen meditation discourages mental withdrawal from the world and dreaminess, and instead asks one to keep fully aware with a [easy, watchful] attitude. Typically one focuses on breathing and posture and [witnesses thoughts as they arise without engaging in the thoughts]. Brain scans now show that Zen training leads to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds. [Image credit: Dreamstime] var related_images = new related_module();

The seemingly nonsensical Zen practice of "thinking about not thinking" could help free the mind of distractions, new brain scans reveal. [It might be more correct to say the practice involves allowing thoughts to occur without engaging in them. One witnesses thoughts. It is not an effort to stop thinking.]

This suggests Zen meditation could help treat attention deficit and hyperactivity disorder (so-called ADD or ADHD), obsessive-compulsive disorder, anxiety disorder, major depression and other disorders marked by distracting thoughts.

In the last decade, there has been a resurgence of scientific research into meditation, due in part to the wide availability and increasing sophistication of brain-scanning techniques. For instance, scientists recently found that months of intense training in meditation can sharpen a person's brain enough to help them notice details they might otherwise miss.

"It is important that this type of research be conducted with high scientific standards because it carries a long-standing stigma — perhaps well-deserved? — of being wishy-washy," said researcher Giuseppe Pagnoni, a neuroscientist at Emory University in Atlanta. "Constructive skepticism should always be welcomed as a great sparring partner."

Pagnoni and his colleagues investigated Zen meditation, which Pagnoni himself has practiced while studying for his doctorate in Italy.

The Zen of Zen

[Over time, with regular daily practice, the mind settles down and one] becomes aware of otherwise unconscious behaviors and preconceived notions and hopefully gain insights into oneself, others and the world.

To see what effects Zen meditation might have on the brain, scientists compared 12 people from the Atlanta area with more than three years of daily practice in Zen meditation with 12 novices who had never practiced meditation.

The researchers "had to screen — and discard — a number of colorful characters who during the interview declared that they were meditating regularly by screaming in a towel while stomping their feet on the ground, or that they were communicating frequently with beings of other planets," Pagnoni recalled. "Such are the unexpected joys of this research!"

As the volunteers had their brains scanned, they were asked to focus on their breathing. Every once in a while, they had to distinguish a real word from a nonsense word displayed at random times on a computer screen and, having done that, promptly try and focus on their breathing again.

Their scans revealed that Zen training led to different activity in a set of brain regions known as the "default network," which is linked with spontaneous bursts of thought and wandering minds. After volunteers experienced in Zen were distracted by the computer, their brains returned faster to how they were before the interruption than novice brains did. This effect was especially striking in the angular gyrus, a brain region important for processing language.

"The regular practice of meditation may enhance the capacity to limit the influence of distracting thoughts," Pagnoni said.

The research, funded by a National Institutes of Health grant, is detailed online Sept. 3 in the journal PLoS ONE.

Byron Katie on Oprah's Soul Series

2008-09-03T16:51:00Z

After the phenomenal succcess of Oprah's "A New Earth" webcasts with Eckhart Tolle, Oprah decided to continue the webcast series (Soul Series) with additional authors. I was excited to see Byron Katie featured recently on the Soul Series. At FitEyes.com we have mentioned Byron Katie several times. Learning and using Byron Katie's process ("The Work") has helped me better manage my intraocular pressure.

Where does Byron Katie's Work fit into my program of vision care? My daily program includes:

Serene Impulse twice a day (morning and evening)
One hour walk each evening (also using Serene Impulse)
Bryon Katie's Four Questions and Turnaround whenever I encounter stressful thoughts
General healthy lifestyle

On this program, my eye pressure is nearly perfect! And I feel extremely healthy and happy. I have gotten a lot of personal benefit from Byron Katie's Work, and I encourage you to learn about it and try it. Watch the webcasts on Oprah's site. Here's more info.

Author, speaker and spiritual teacher Byron Katie, known to most as Katie, was a mother and real estate broker in the 1980s who found herself spiraling into a severe depression. In 1986, after nearly a decade of struggling with depression, alcoholism, suicidal thoughts and eating disorders, Katie checked herself into a halfway house and rehabilitation center for women. It was there that Katie had an awakening and became filled with happiness, clarity and calmness that changed her life forever. She says she realized the cause of her intense suffering and depression "was not the world around her, but the beliefs she'd had about the world."

Soon, Katie started to share her realization with others and developed a process of self-inquiry called, "The Work." Through The Work—which includes answering and evaluating four key questions—Katie helps people transform their lives and end their suffering by changing their thoughts about themselves and the world around them.

Aside from workshops, public speaking events and audio tapes that share her method, Katie is the author of three best-selling books: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life (with Stephen Mitchell), I Need Your Love—Is That True? How to Stop Seeking Love, Approval, and Appreciation and Start Finding Them Instead (with Michael Katz) and A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are (with Stephen Mitchell).

Katie is married to poet and translator Stephen Mitchell, the co-author of two of her books.

Are you looking for a reply from me?

2008-08-15T01:15:00Z

Recently, I have been unable to reply to several people who have sent me emails through the contact form on my blog. The email addresses that these individuals supplied are reporting a permanent delivery failure.

If you have sent me an inquiry and you haven't heard back, please contact me again and make sure you provide a valid email address so I can respond. If you wish, contact me directly via email instead of using the contact form. My email address is my name at FitEyes.com. Thanks.

Beliefs And Intraocular Pressure

2008-08-04T20:56:00Z

This post is part of a series of articles intended to help you understand the relationship between your thoughts and your intraocular pressure. When I speak about the relationship between stress and eye pressure, many of us have a hard time making the connection -- because stress is a constant in most of our lives. This exercise will help make the connection between IOP and stress clearer.

First, sit quietly and reflect on the statements below. These are called "Universal Beliefs." (The list is taken from The Work of Byron Katie.) Which of these beliefs do you have?

I have to work hard.
My body should be healthy.
I am a failure.
I need more money.
Life is not fair.
I have to do it right.
I did it wrong.
There is something wrong with me.
Other people can hurt me.
People are judging me.
I am not fulfilling my purpose.
I need to understand.
I need to know what to do.
I don't know what to do.
I know what is best for others.
I know what they are thinking.
They should agree with me.
People should be grateful.
I know more than you do.
Something terrible is going to happen.
S/he rejected me.
S/he doesn't trust me.
There should not be war in this world.
I am not lovable.
The world is not a safe place.
People should keep their promises.
My boss should appreciate me.
I don't belong.
People should not be angry.
I can make a mistake.
People should not lie.
People should respect me.
Life should be fair.
I need to make a decision.
I can disappoint people.
I am worthless.
I need a partner to be happy.
It is my fault.
I missed my chance.
I need to be careful in life.
People should listen to me.
Children should love their parents.
I can't do anything right.

These are called universal beliefs because most of us have several of them. The list above is not complete, but it is enough to give you the idea. Which of these beliefs do you have? Do you have similar beliefs that are not on this list, but which cause you to feel stress (or subtle discomfort) when you think about them?

Step one is to become aware of your beliefs and step two is to observe how these beliefs relate to your intraocular pressure. If you are a typical primary open angle glaucoma patient, there is a direct link. You will need a tonometer (and a careful, scientific approach) to see the connection, but it is there and it is very, very powerful.

If you don't have a tonometer, it is no problem. Just proceed to directly go to work on your beliefs. (A good place to start, besides reading FitEyes.com, is to read this book: Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell.)

This exercise is about examining your beliefs. Become familiar with them and be able to notice when they are operating in you. Understand the power your beliefs have over you. Become aware of how they control your life. Notice that you may not even have chosen your beliefs -- often they were programmed into you. That programming process is explained in The Four Agreements: A Practical Guide to Personal Freedom, A Toltec Wisdom Book by Don Miguel Ruiz (Hardcover - Jan 15, 2001). That's another book I highly recommend.

If you begin examining your unexamined beliefs, you will be moving in the direction of gaining better control over your own intraocular pressure.

Oprah to Interview Bryon Katie August 04, 2008

2008-07-31T18:24:00Z

August 04, 2008
Katie and Oprah meet face-to-face* in Chicago to talk about The Work.

Join Katie and Oprah as they discuss The Work and “Loving What Is.” This conversation will air on Oprah’s “Soul Series” radio program on August 4th, and August 11th at 4am, 10am, 4pm and 10pm (all times Eastern).

For more information, see this link: http://www.thework.com/events.asp

My Eye Pressure Scare

2008-07-29T15:25:00Z

This story has a positive end, but I did have a stressful situation yesterday in regards to my intraocular pressure. In the early afternoon I used the Tiolat iCare tonometer to measure my intraocular pressure, as I have been doing every day for a long time. I obtained seven intraocular pressure measurements (each the average of 6 probe contacts, so this was a total of 42 individual measurements) in the range of 3mmHg to 5mmHg in my left eye. (My right eye was a bit higher, in the range of 8 mmHg.)

The low intraocular pressure reading shocked me! Obviously, this is too low!

I realized that similar measurements I had obtained on July 11th, which were in the range of 4 mmHg to 6 mmHg, and which I thought were simply erroneous readings, were most likely accurate readings too. Back on July 11th I dismissed the data because I had never seen readings that low. But I did not delete the data because I keep every single IOP measurement, even the one that look like errors, as part of my scientific approach to this research. In light of what has happened since then, it is becoming clear that my intraocular pressure has dramatically changed for the better in recent weeks. See my prior post: Eye Pressure Miracle from July 22nd. Something truly miraculous is happening to me, and it is clearly the result of Serene Impulse. Everything I'm doing is part of this too, but the dramatic change in my intraocular pressure clearly coincides with greater number of minutes per day of Serene Impulse practice.

It is also starting to look like I will not be able to continue using glaucoma medication in my left eye as this trend of lower IOP continues. Readings in the range of 3 to 5 mmHg are too low. Since I was diagnosed with glaucoma I have been using one drop of Xalatan in my left eye each night. My medication routine has virtually never changed. I am not sure what the next step is until I consult with my doctors, but I do see the day coming when I will no longer need any glaucoma medication for my left eye. My right eye isn't far behind, and it's IOP is dropping as well. I expect that I'll be down to medication in only one eye, then eventually no medication in either eye. I do not know how much longer that may take, but I am not planning to stop or reduce any of my glaucoma medications until my intraocular pressure becomes too low.

As yesterday's measurements show, I am probably at that critical point for my left eye. But as all of us who perform self-tonometry regularly can attest, intraocular pressure fluctuates a lot. Therefore, I'll be watching to see how consistently those really, really low intraocular pressure values start showing up in my data.

Obviously, it is a good thing to see how much my intraocular pressure has reduced over time as I have incorporated new practices (such as Serene Impulse) into my life. But the magnitude of the recent declines -- especially what I saw yesterday -- was almost too much of a surprise. Because it was so unexpected, it scared me for a few minutes. Then I realized that this is the sign I have been waiting for which indicates that I may soon be able to discontinue (or reduce) my glaucoma medications. And that is certainly not a stressful thought.

Eye Pressure Miracle

2008-07-22T05:03:00Z

Starting with my first true 24-hour period of intraocular pressure data collection I was shocked to see how high my eye pressure rose while I was lying in bed and sleeping at night. My eye pressure more than doubled while I was sleeping, going from around 12 to around 25 mmHg.

The diurnal intraocular pressure exam mentioned in this prior post was done in early 2007. In the Fall of 2007 I added another tonometer (the Tiolat iCare rebound tonometer) to my collection and I begain serious study of my supine intraocular pressure. The iCare allows me to more easily monitor my eye pressure while I am lying down in bed. Previously I did not have an easy solution for supine self-tonometry. Once I began using the iCare, my research into intraocular pressure in the horizontal posture really got serious.

It took me months of practice to learn to use the iCare well -- and even longer to master self-tonometry with it while lying down. And it does require a lot of effort to check my eye pressure in bed almost every day. I've been doing this since last year and it is starting to pay big dividends.

Careful study of my intraocular pressure while in bed at night or early in the morning proved that the initial results I saw underreported the maximal increase. I began seeing peak intraocular pressure values anywhere from 23 to 30 mmHg while lying down. This represents up to a tripling of my eye pressure from the low during the day to the high while sleeping.

In fact, during this period of time my daytime intraocular pressure continued declining and reached new records low -- but my nighttime eye pressure refused to coorperate and remained high. Never once -- not one single time in thousands of IOP exams -- did my eye pressure go below 22 mmHg in these conditions (in bed, supine, at time of day near peak IOP).

Since last Fall I have put all my attention on reducing my nighttime intraocular pressure. I can easily manage my eye pressure during the day now. It says in a very low-normal range all the time, so I began my search for new solutions that would be as effective for helping me manage my nighttime IOP.

I saw my first glimpse of positive results in January of this year. For the first time ever, I recorded supine eye pressure values consistently below 20 mmHg. I thought I had a solution I could begin using, but for months following that one good result, I could not repeat my accomplishment. Then in March, I started seeing small breakthroughs. However, each time I saw good results and tried to repeat what I had done to achieve those results, I could not reproduce them. Weeks would go by without seeing any indication that what I was doing was working. I kept trying different things and experimenting very carefully. Finally, I began to notice that I was getting more frequent success. I was clearly learning what works, but I was not able to implement it consistently.

Just in the last couple months, I really learned how to successfully -- and consistently -- manage my intraocular pressure while sleeping. I started seeing a nice downward trend in my IOP similar to what I saw in prior years for my daytime IOP.The IOP values below 20 (such as 18 mmHg) became an everyday thing with just minor exceptions.

And I gained the ability to create low IOP values in the supine position at will -- similar to what I learned to do during the daytime previous (by employing things like exercise, stress reduction, etc.). But these new methods are things that work while I'm sleeping or lying down and they are much more subtle skills.

My goals has been to consistently see intraocular pressure values below 20 mmHg in the supine position around the time of my peak IOP (early morning). As I said, I've been fairly successful in that and I've been feeling really good about my accomplishment. Then something incredible happened.

I had a visitor from across the country for a couple days. I was teaching him the mind-body skills I'm using to achieve the impressive results I'm getting with my eye pressure. The practice is called Serene Impulse. I spent about five hours a day teaching him the basics for two consecutive days.

My eye pressure miracle happened the next morning following this teaching -- I saw the lowest eye pressure values I have ever seen. And by a large margin. I have known that Serene Impulse is a real key to my success, but I generally use it for a limited amount of time per day. But while teaching Serene Impulse these two days, I did more Serene Impulse myself than I usually do -- by far. And that had a profound effect on my IOP the next morning.

My supine intraocular pressure the next morning (at the peak time of day) was 11 mmHg! Wow.

Previously, it was wonderful just to see a value below 20 mmHg. And suddenly I leapfrogged to a new range of low IOP. I measured this with the iCare tonometer I've been using for all prior supine IOP measurements. Each iCare measurement is the average of six individual IOP measurements. I repeated my measurements again and again to verify the results. In total, I took over 30 measurements and they all ranged from 9 mmHg to 12 mmHg, reflecting the normal variation seen as a result of the ocular pulse. So the result is real and it is backed up by good data that is part of a very large data set.

I call this a true eye pressure miracle!

New Glaucoma Eye Drops?

2008-07-04T03:08:00Z

What's in the bottle on the right in the photo below?

The bottle on the right contains ghee for topical ocular use. This is experimental.

Test Your Sight With This Eye Chart (For Geeks)

2008-07-03T18:20:00Z

You can purchase a T-Shirt with this design from http://paizo.com. Search for "1337 Eye Chart T-Shirt".

Anyone Have Experience With MicroAcupuncture?

2008-07-01T02:08:00Z

While at an out of town seminar, I learned a little about MicroAcupuncture. I have not tried it myself -- and I do not know if I will. I believe I can probably harness more power by directly using Qi (also spelled "chi") to heal myself. (Acupuncture works on the basis of Qi.) However, for those not presently able to tap into the power of Qi themselves, various forms of acupuncture might be of interest. The main purpose of this post is to solicit feedback from anyone out there that has personal experience with MicroAcupunture (or similar treatments) in the hope that we can all learn from those who have already tried it.

According to the website promoting MicroAcupuncture, it is "a new procedure involving 48 newly discovered acupuncture points located in the hands and feet only, and not associated with any other acupuncture system." MiroAcupuncture is a method for treating vision-related disorders.

MicroAcupuncture was discovered by Dr. Freddy Dahlgren, D.Ss., D.Ac., M.Ac.F., M.D. in Denmark in 1984. It was brought to the United States by Dr. Per G. Otte about 13 years ago. It is claimed that more than 5,000 people had been treated with this procedure throughout Europe prior to 1992.

The MicroAcupuncture website claims, "Per G. Otte and Dr. Ryan have successfully enhanced vision by as much as 80% for patients who have lost vision from macular degeneration and other eye diseases using his patented MicroAcupuncture procedure.

"MicroAcupuncture treatments can also reduce the rate of vision degeneration caused by diabetes, glaucoma and retinitis pigmatosa and other vision related disorders and is especially effective in treating the effects of macular degeneration."

Notice that they only speak about slowing the rate of degeneration caused by glaucoma. That doesn't excite me very much to tell you the truth. I want more. I want a reversal of all optic nerve damage! And that's what I am working on for myself.

If you are interested in MicroAcupuncture, as far as I know, there are only two places (one in Arkansas and one in South Carolina) offering the trademarked MicroAcupuncture.

However, for the past two years Dr. Pran Mumma, a doctor of oriental medicine, has been traveling to Copenhagen, Denmark to study Acupuncture for Eye Disorders with Dr. Freddy Dahlgren, the inventor of MicroAcupunture. "It is so amazing how this works on so many eye problems" said Dr. Mumma, "we are having an 89% success rate." Dr. Mumma, who is located in Dade City, Florida, claims to be the only doctor in the United States doing this therapy using Dr. Dahlgren's most recently developed techniques.

I am hoping to meet with Dr. Mumma soon. I will pass along what I learn. In the mean time please post comments here if you have any personal experience related to this topic. Thanks.