Glaucoma

Technically, glaucoma is due to damage to the optic nerve, sometimes as a result of increased pressure of the aqueous humor, the clear, watery fluid that circulates in the chamber of the eye between the cornea and the lens. But the term glaucoma is now defined as a collection of diseases that causes optic nerve damage. As a result, the diagnosis is no longer solely based on whether a person’s Intraocular Pressure (IOL) is elevated or not.

The major types of glaucoma are:

• Open angle or Chronic Glaucoma - is the most common type. Here the area of trouble is that the filter (called the trabecular meshwork), for various reasons, gets clogged or obstructed and does not filter the acqueous humor fluid efficiently. Even though elevated eye pressure is one of the diagnostic tests used for glaucoma, approximately 30-40 percent of patients with open angle glaucoma have normal or low eye pressure and develop optic nerve changes and progressive vision loss without having elevated eye pressure. With open angle glaucoma, there are no visual symptoms until the disease has progessed, which results in gradual loss of peripheral vision. Open angle glaucoma is one of the types our complementary protocol, described further below, is recommended for.
• Narrow Angle Glaucoma is an ocular emergency. Here there is an obstruction in the drainage of the acqueous fluid due to a narrowing of the angle between the base of the iris and the cornea. The symptoms can be a sudden, painful red eye, nausea, vomiting, headache and visual halos. In the event of the symptoms above, go directly to the emergency room and call your ophthalmologist.
• Low Tension Glaucoma is usually a sign of poor circulation. Heart problems, brain tumors, or toxic drugs can all produce optic nerve damage that may present as glaucoma.
• Secondary Glaucoma develops secondarily to other conditions, for example, due to inflammation, injury, blood in the eye or drug side effects (such as from steriods).
• Glaucoma Suspects are people with higher than normal eye pressure but never develop glaucoma. These people should be monitored regularly. Open angle glaucoma is one of the types our complementary protocol, described below, is recommended for.
• Congenital Glaucoma may occur in the first few months of life.

• Reduced peripheral vision
• Intraocular pressure (IOP) greater than 21, or where there is a large discrepancy in IOP’s between the two eyes.
• Optic cup asymmetry

• High level of stress - has been implicated as a major cause of chronic glaucoma. For example, stress causes us to breath shallowly, which reduces the amount of oxygen in the bloodstream, causing venous backflow in the head. This effects the eyes ability to revolve eye fluids, which results in increased pressure. Although we do not know exactly how the optic nerve is damaged in glaucoma, one common factor in all cases of glaucoma is a lack of bloodflow to the retina and optic nerve. This results in retinal nerve cell death, enlargement of the optic cup, and loss of vision.
• Nutritional Deficiencies and Poor Digestion - Often sufferers of glaucoma are deficient in some or many of the important nutrients including essential fatty acids, lutein, zeaxanthin, taurine, antioxidants, bioflavenoids, zinc, selenium, vitamin B-complex.
• Poor digestion often results from a lack of hydrochloric acid in the stomach needed to breakdown food, which becomes more common as we age. Use of excessive antibiotics is also a prime culprit in poor digestion due to the killing of important stomach flora.
• Family History of Glaucoma
• Other chronic diseases that can raise IOP’s include obesity, diabetes, cardiovascular disease (insufficient blood flow to the eyes), thyroid disease (hyperthyroidism) which due to prominent eyes, the eyes are exposed to increased pressure from intraorbital swelling.
• Being African-American (glaucoma is the leading cause of blindness among this population
• Extreme nearsightedness or farsightedness (higher level and a risk of angle closure)
• Steroid use, often in the form of eyedrops, nosedrops or inhalants (elevates IOL pressure mildly in approximately 16% of people on steroids).

Drugs that can cause glaucoma and damage the optic nerve