Multiple Medical Conditions

I am sure many who have Glaucoma have other medical considions. I am wondering how Glaucoma interacts with other conditions.Some may be more obvious such as those that interrupt blood flow to the optic nerve. I am curious though, especially from the self monitors, if Pain can raise the IOP. Today I am not walking due to pain. This is due to arthritis flair and very much pain. I had my heart checked and my pulse isnt raised. Has anyone found if pain levels raise IOP at all?

andrea - I'll offer you a thought. Are you aware of the consciousness-based concepts of attachment and aversion? I believe an emotional aversion to pain will raise IOP. So will fear of pain or mental resistance to pain. Have you read this book?

Loving What Is: Four Questions That Can Change Your Life by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell (Paperback - Dec 23, 2003)

It is on my recommended reading list. This book has the potential to change one's life. If you have already read this book, then her later book can be really powerful for anyone dealing with health problems:

A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell (Paperback - April 1, 2008) - read Loving What Is first.

Look up Byron Katie on YouTube.com and look for the videos of people dealing with cancer and other illnesses.

Eckhart Tolle also discusses related issues. He offers a story about emotional pain where the client gets a little irritated with him for suggesting that it is her resistance to pain, rather than the pain itself, that is the main issue. Of course that doesn't diminish the fact that the pain is real and no one is suggesting that the pain will not have an affect on you. However, there are two aspects: the actual pain and our "story" about the pain. They are separate.

Our "story" (our inner dialog, thoughts, state of consciousness) about our pain certainly does have the potential to dramatically affect our IOP. And this aspect of our consciousness is also something we can manage.

Do you have training in any formal meditation practice? For me, the mental skills that came from formal meditation training were helpful when I started applying everything I discuss here on FitEyes.com. Meditation itself wasn't the solution for me, but it did give me experiences of different states of consciousness and that understanding was a key to my intraocular pressure research.

Today I successfully utilize these approaches to manage my intraocular pressure very well:

• Serene Impulse is a mind-body skill (or you could say, a program of inner fitness) that is very healing. In my experience it is more powerful than any other self-help technique I have used. It is a complete technology of consciousness.
  
• The Work of Byron Katie. I am so impressed that I am learning to be a "facilitator" for The Work.
  
• Eckhart Tolle's program for "dissolving" the ego. I highly recommend reading A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life's Purpose (Oprah's Book Club, Selection 61) by Eckhart Tolle (Paperback - Jan 30, 2008).
• Present moment awareness, which comes naturally as part of my Serene Impulse practice.
  
• A willingness to let go of all strain that has habitually become part of me over the course of my life
• Intention and gratitude (as popularized in The Secret); caveat, intention only works when performed while in a serene and settled state of consciousness that is characterized by specific physiological patterns. I personally use the Serene Impulse program because it is a complete system for creating abundance in life, including abundant health.
  

The past weeks have been challenging. My husband had two DVT's(deep vein thrombosis) He was in the hospital, From the stress of the fear he would die, I got a huge flare of arthritis. I made the decision to take two weeks of high dose steriods.I know these make my eyes worse. When I could sit up I tried focusing on painting and my dog. My husband takes two shots at home. Heparin stopping preventing his blood from clotting. He needs me to remind him to get his shots or to give them to him. I am having a slow recovery from the flair. I also lost vision. It felt like a situation where I had no choice but to take the drugs but now it is sad because I can even tell I lost some sight. The good news is that Paul survived this long and I still can see.

andrea - you might find that this is a perfect time for you to read this highly recommended book:

A Thousand Names for Joy: Living in Harmony with the Way Things Are by Byron Katie and Stephen Mitchell (Paperback - April 1, 2008).

You might want to read Loving What Is, by the same author, first (or simultaneously).

These books are very powerful and can be life-changing. I wish you the best with all the challenges you are facing.

Suppose you are walking and step on a nail. That is kinda of how nerve inflammation goes. It can hurt other times but has those lovely peaks. So when you receive one of those, you eye pressures do not change?

I could only guess what that kind of pain would do to eye pressure. I don't have any data on it. But my guess is that one's emotional reaction to the pain is what would affect eye pressure more than the pain itself.

Sorry to hear you have that kind of pain.