stress

For many glaucoma patients, a vacation can present an opportunity to do some good thinking, maybe reflect on our direction in life or mentally solve some important questions that have been in the back of our mind but ignored because of our busy schedules.

On my own recent vacation I started thinking about new career directions. And yesterday I received a phone call from a good friend of mine who was vacationing on a tropical island. He told me all about swimming in the ocean, jogging on the beach and eating healthy food. All of it sounded fun, relaxing and healthy. But he was perplexed by one thing -- his intraocular pressure was going up in spite of being on a relaxing vacation in a tropical paradise.

If you have been reading FitEyes.com, you already know we have documented, through thousands of intraocular pressure measurements in real life situations, that stress can raise eye pressure in glaucoma patients. I just came across this abstract of an older study done in Japan that is of interest in this regard.

Purpose. To test whether encagement and volume load as stressors influence the intraocular pressure in rabbits.

Method. Rabbits were encaged for an hour in a horizontally-plastic tube with an internal diameter of 13.2cm and a length of 33.2cm. After the encagement, rabbits received a rapid intraveonus drip infusion of 5% glucose solution, 20 ml per kilogram of body weight, for 5-6 minutes. All experiments were performed at the same time of day.

I have pre-glaucoma (my field of vision is normal, but the nerves in the back are damaged).  I've been to the doctor several times.  Each time the tech checks my pressure and it's fine (13-15), then a few minutes later (5-30) the doctor comes in and checks again.  It has always been high (18-20) when he does it.  He says she's not doing in right and she says he's not doing it right.  Is is possible that he makes me nervous enough for my pressure to go up that much in such a short amount of time?  I've seen where most of the people on the site believe stress plays a role, but I'm curious about the timing.  I'm also not aware of that much stress.  I don't particularly like the doctor, but I don't hate him.

Read the abstract or download the article here...

Who has tried melatonin for glaucoma? i've read that it may decrease intraocular pressure.. but.. today i've found that it can higher it too!

have a look:

who tried it? i've read that it may decrease intraocular pression.. but.. today i've found that it can higher it too!

have a look:

 Hi again.. i'm happy to had found a place where i can discuss of intraocular hypertension..even if is in english.. and i'm italian!..

i would want to ask you which is the eye drop - for intraouclar pression elevated (mine is24)  with less side effects.. pilocarpine? travatan? or timogel? or there are other bettar with less side effects? anyone of you tried something else?

thanks for your help

Sandro

I've never really heard anybody give an educated guess on when we may really have the ability to reverse the damage done by glaucoma.. Whether through stem cells or any other medical advancement ... can anybody reasonably predict a timetable on being able to repair the damaged nerves?

I'm especially interested in this because - at 55, and in good health otherwise - I have pretty bad glaucoma. I lost 90% of the vision in my right eye, and maybe 50% in my left before I even noticed any problems.  I sure wish I'd been paying attention ...

News Release:

A host of musicians will perform at a gig promoting transcendental meditation.

From NBC News:

High blood pressure and hypertension are huge problems in this country.

Millions of people suffer from the condition which can lead to heart attack, stroke and kidney disease.

Now, a study shows that a different type of program can help get blood pressure under control.

56-year-old Rosemary Palmer-Powell had been taking medication for high blood pressure for years, but after getting a routine check she started down a whole new treatment path.

"I've been doing [meditation] for a solid six months and it has really changed my life," she said.

http://www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/01/05/meditation.stress.reduction/index.html

The following article is from U.S. News & World Report, hence it takes a financial angle on stress. See the original article here: http://health.usnews.com/articles/health/living-well-usn/2008/12/29/how-to-beat-stress-and-angst-through-meditation.html

Over the last several years, original research conducted by FitEyes.com has supported the observation that our internal state (which largely consists of our thoughts and emotions) is fundamentally related to the health of our eyes. Our physical health and our state of consciousness are intimately related and each can influence the other. However, in our model of health,consciousness is primary.

 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/9677551 

anybody seen this? 

 I had an interesting experience last night while taking my IOP. My measurements were in the low 20's for the first 5 readings, (3 on the right and 2 on the left) before the total was averaged. Just as I was pressing the button to take the last reading for my left eye, my husband called to tell me there was an ambulance at his niece's house across the road. That reading was {30}. We could see that her child was being taken on the stretcher, but he was alert and looked good.

I guess I am like a lot of people, I take vitamins in hopes of preventing desease and to feel better. I started taking lots of Leutin and 2 1000mg of bilberry each day since they are supposed to be eye vitamins. I told a friend about the bilberry and he said it made his eyes water and I noticed mine do too.  Has anyone who tests their own pressure ever taken these vitamins to see if they bring the pressure down? 

I read this comment recently on FitEyes.com:

"When I was in the ophthalmologist's office my eye pressure was 30 mmHg, and when I was in my optometrist's office (who also happens to be a good friend and strongly believes in alternative, natural eye care), my eye pressure was 20 mmHg. The intraocular pressure readings were taken one day apart, at the same time in the morning."

I know several people in our self-tonometry research group who have had experiences very, very similar to this. I have seen it myself. Typically, this is due to stress. It is typically not, as skeptics like to immediately assume, due to errors in measurement or equipment.

Often, both patient and physician are very pleased if a combination of drugs and/or surgery reduce intraocular pressure by 10 mmHg. A change of this magnitude is highly significant.

My own experience, and the experience of many other people doing self-tonometry, is that our inner state (our thoughts and emotions) are capable of producing intraocular pressure changes in excess of 10 mmHg. In some ways this is a shocking finding because, A) in general, the field of ophthalmology does not recognize or admit that this is even possible -- that stress affects IOP, and B) the magnitude of the change is often similar to the changes produced by the most powerful treatments (drugs and surgery) available in allopathic medicine.