bstruss's blog

Here is a recent thread on Fiteyes newsgroup

From Diane:

I have been doing self-tonometry every day for the past 8 months or so with the Reichert 7 cr.  I have experimented with different types of exercise, both aerobic and weigh bearing, meditation, visualization, deep breathing, etc.  It seems getting my IOP lowered through any of these measures is hit or miss.  Sometimes my pressure winds up going higher, even when I am feeling completely relaxed and peaceful.

I wish to mention the technique Gyoshi Ho which  is used in Reiki. This techinque is also known as eyes healing and heres a small description about this technique : http://www.aetw.org/d_gyoshi.htm

Is possible that Gyoshi Ho can reduce IOP?

 I thought this was interesting, 

----------------------------------------------

 J Pineal Res. 2010 Mar 31;

Authors: Belforte NA, Moreno MC, de Zavalía N, Sande PH, Chianelli MS, Keller Sarmiento MI, Rosenstein RE

I mentioned previously that my new glaucoma specialist had me on a drug wash out period to get off all glaucoma meds so as to establish a baseline (what a nerve racking experience!). During this several week wash out time, I learned that my pressures could get almost as low as when on xalatan, but they also were much more volatile. Anyhow probably in anticipation of my doc visit, yesterday my pressures really start getting up there, as I had several readings crossing 30 and could not seem to get them down even with exercise.

My new glaucoma specialist has me on a complete drug washout period for the next few weeks. I am guessing that she wants to establish a baseline for diagnoses and treatment. Anyhow, because my ocular hypertension can run pretty high pressures, this process is a bit unnerving. But my main point here is to point out some interesting observations concerning weaning off of xalatan (the main med I take regularly).

Feb 19, 2010

MedWire News: Presence of the metabolic syndrome increases the risk for high-ocular tension (HOT), a major cause of primary open angle glaucoma, report researchers. 

Previous research has shown that mean intra-ocular pressure (IOP) has a tendency to increase in a linear fashion in the presence of increasing numbers of metabolic syndrome components.

 I have read studies indicating that central corneal thickness is a risk factor for glaucoma. Studies show that the thinner the cornea, the higher the glaucoma risk  (for example, African Americans generally have thinner corneas). However, I have also read studies indicating that thinner corneas are a risk because they give falsely low readings on applanation tonometry. Therefore, I have the following questions:

1) Are thinner corneas a higher risk factor irrespective of giving falsely low readings?

 Here is what i have noticed after several months of recording my eye pressures. 

• I can sometime detect an immediate correlation between a 'negative' or stressful thought (or anxiety) and an increase in my eye pressure.
• read more...

 I have noted since about mid November that my pressures start jumping up right after sundown (6ish?) and then mysteriously drop around 8:45-9ish.  For example, they can be in the mid teens in late afternoon, and then after this time start up to an average of low 20's (with occasional higher spikes) during this time. Afterwards, they can drop to lower teens. Last night, for example, they went from about 16 pre sun down, got as high as 22 and then were 11 by 10pm! During the high period, even exercise won't bring them down.

 It's been quite a bit rainy and cloudy the last few days. Anyhow, my pressures have been measuring higher than I have ever seen them on drops during this period (prompting me to make an urgent eye appt). They were measured the highest last evening.  Has anyone else noticed a change in pressures resulting from weather? There may be no connection, but I was just wondering if changes in barametric pressure and degree of sunlight might have something to do with this - because I cannot figure anything else out.

 I have tried numerous experiments over the last few months to lower IOP and generally most everything has been a failure. However, I tried something different today and got a statistically significant result. Basically, I sat in my office desk chair, placed my hands on my knees (spreading them). I then proceeded to lean forward and let my head fall down inside my knees. Without much pause, I then leaned backwards until my head went backwards as far as it could and repeated this motion for a count of about 15 times.

 In the last couple weeks, my right eye has measured higher pressures than my left on 'most' days. The differential is a bit higher in the mornings and can be about 4-5pts (i.e, typical average L=15, R=20). When my pressures are overall less, the difference is about 2-3pts (though not all the time).  However, looking back at several months of records this seems to be more of a recent occurence. For those practicing self tonometry, have you noticed a bilateral shift in pressures over a several day period? I cannot determine any variable that might explain this.

The following (below) is an excerpt from this article..

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/113735.php

"This study provides the first compelling evidence that the RR [relaxation response] elicits specific gene expression changes in short-term and long- term practitioners."

They wrote that their findings suggest:

 Has anyone with glaucoma thought about or tried Lion's Mane mushroom (extract)?

One of the things which I have not gotten around to testing is the effect of quality of sleep on IOP. Has anyone done any tonomotry testing attempting to pinpoint sleep quality/quantity as a variable? Also, would such things as going to bed early/late, or getting up early/late have any effect? Just curious if anyone has noticed any patterns in IOP related to amount of sleep, restfullness, awakening and rising time, etc. I will have to start paying more attention to this, but so far I have not varied my sleep patterns enough to make an observation.

I have speculated about such a relationship myself as being part of the IOP puzzle, and then came across this..

Canadian researchers have discovered an unidentified form of circulation in the human eye which may provide important clues to glaucoma.

The human eye is considered to lack lymphatics – a circulation responsible for pumping fluid and waste out of tissues.

In addition to making quick circumstantial notes relavant to certain measurements in my IOP recording regimen, I have felt in the need for some 'snapshot' indicators of certain consciousness indicators to include in a separate field of my spreadsheet. These I plan on noting at the end of the day (and maybe at noon). I may also note them at other times (like pressures noticably above and below my baseline for that time period).

I had any eye appt today and had my eyes dilated around 10:00 am. I measured my pressures a few times with my AT555 before the appt and they were approx 13pt in each eye. My doc also measured them at 13 and 15 before dilation. About 2 hours had ellapsed since dilation till I arrived home and so I measured them and got the following readings..

11:51

R- 20, {13}, 19    [17.3]

L-  {38}, 27, 29    [31.3]

11:54

R- 21, {29}, 22   [24]

L- 30, 32, 31      [31]

1:00 pm

R- 16, 18, 17    [17]

L- {22}, 30, 31  [27.7]

Has anyone who practices self tonometry noted what the effects of higher levels of salt or sugar on IOP are? Of course, these substances are not good for overall health in the long run, but I have not noted any effect on more short term IOP (though I haven't been scrupulous about the results yet). I actually read the other day that there is less prevalence of glaucoma in diabetes (which surprises me and i need to relocate the article to verify that I read this correctly).