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Question:

Mark Gibson wrote: > I am dead, but my body remains animated. This undead existence, > life-in-death, feels like some sort of punishment from God for what I have > done wrong in my life. It is certainly a curse without any hope of ending. > Mark > — > -"Everybody knows the dream is dead." >                       -Leonard Cohen >                        "Everybody knows"

YO MARK, PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE READ THIS FOR YOU. Man, what did you do "WRONG" in your life? Were you receiving any other "punishment" for your wrongs prior to the recent turn of events? Thanks for the update. By the way, man, as deep as it gets, there are always other folk who would gladly trade places.  Many folk would love to be able to walk on a bus, any stinking bus, …, even just walk.  Even if you were blind, which you are NOT, there are many other dimensions of life which you can participate in if you wish.   Perhaps, you need to get out more. I live in the Washington, DC area.  Recently, I saw a gentlemen getting off the Metro (our subway system) at the same station as me.  As it turned out, both of us were on our way to a seminar.  Both of us were male.  Both of us had never been to that particular station in the Virginia suburbs.  BOTH of us were employed, both of us were going to a work related seminar, as in real work, read as in earning money, and both of us didn’t know for sure exactly where we were going. There was one subtle difference which might have been noticed by a casual observer.  He had a white cane which he tapped on the ground, and I had no cane. Get it?  He didn’t happen to "see" what I saw, as he was sightless. Apparently, he had value to offer an employer even though he could not see light.  But he did have other forms of vision, and knowledge, and creativity, and, perhaps, even some wisdom.  Anyway, he was getting paid to perform his profession.  He seemed like a sharp guy to me. Life can, and does go on, in one of many, many variations. Best of Luck in serving the sentence for the wrongs you did. Bruce (sorry, no spell checker active!)

Response:

Please pardon the length of the following, I think the complete dialogue is needed to deal with all the issues involved. I’m sending this to the group because I suspect there are others lurking who feel the same way and need some reality checking.  -tls. Mark Gibson (mgib…@vcn.bc.ca) wrote:

: Yesterday I went to the eye doctor ( opthalmologist ). : I have congenital chronic open-angle glaucoma. For those who don’t know : this is a disease which causes a loss of visual fields. That is to say : that the cells at the back of the eye which are essential for seeing get : killed off. When these cells are dead they don’t comer back. The vision : lost is gone forever. The condition can be slowed or halted but the vision : loss can never be restored. Consider yourself lucky, I’ve been dealing with both the results of congenital cataracts (resulting from congenital rubella) and congenital open-angle glaucoma.  Total of 11 surgical procedures on the eyes all told, 3 in infancy and 8 after I was 30 years old. : My doctyor yesterday told me my visual fields have continued to worsen : even though the pressure in my eyes has been in the normal range for most : of the last few years. This means, he told me: : 1. I am no longer legally eligible to drive a car or any other vehicle : requiring a license. You’d be surprised how many people don’t drive.  I never have.  I know people with normal vision who don’t. : 2. I will probably not be able to do fine detail work or any work that : involves a lot of reading in the future. A suggestion:  go down to your local photography store and buy one of those spiffy little 10X things they use to look at negatives and slides. It’ll cost $5-10 and is very useful.  I’ve been carrying one of those around for years.   : 3. There is a possibility that my vision will continue to deteriorate. Nothing noteworthy there — everybody’s vision deteriorates over time. : 4. I am not legally blind ( thus not eligible for disability benefits ) : but I definitely do have a visual disability. Not sure you’re right there.  At least here in California, my eye doctor told me that half the patients with my acuity (20/200-) are on disability but I’m not "legally blind" either.  Admittedly, you can’t get the extra tax exemption here unless you are.  If anybody wants to hear a lengthy diatribe on how government does NOT understand the complexities of physical disabilities and how most of the laws dealing with them are slanted to dealing with war veterans (what’s so holy about them????), just give me a bit of encouragement. : So here I am, unemployed, perhaps unemployable. If I get a job at all I : can probably look forward to spending the rest of my life doing menial : labor or phone sales at minimum wage or straight comission. Bullshit.  By the way, what kind of work have you done in the past? You may have to adapt HOW you work but be assured you CAN work and get paid pretty well doing it. : Never again own a car. Probably never own a house. Probably never get : married–who would want a half-blind guy who lives in poverty? The few : friends I have left distance themselves from me, not knowing how to handle : my feelings of frustration. Actually you can OWN a car, just can’t DRIVE it.  I own the one my sister drives right now.  Oh yeah, her husband has been blind since birth (a genetic condition).  And his sister, also totally blind, has managed to marry twice.   : I have $1,072 left in the bank, can’t really afford the rent where I’m : living. I talked to a social insurance guy and he told me I will p[robably : at most be eligible for general relief and should prepare myself for the : possibility of moving into a public housing project or even a homeless : shelter. Last year I was making $23 an hour. This year I am making $0, : zero. You are getting lousy advice.  Where’s your family?  Have you had friends in the past with low vision?  If so, look them up and just ask how they manage. : I can’t even read the type on this computer without holding my face two : inches from the screen. Get a better monitor (bigger) or start using something like Windows which lets you use different size fonts.  That’s easily dealt with. : I feel like a subhuman freak. Now that’s NOT easily dealt with.  But it is unnecessary.  At least you can hear, I presume.  Me, I’ve got one deaf ear and a hearing aid in the other. : The nurse told me that "my income may be lower in the future but I can : still have a rich spiritual life". Funny how people talk about : spirituality to losers and failures. Churches are all about giving the : cripples and gimps something to fantasize about, so as to keep them quiet. : Agnostic neoconservative academics recommend that businesses give to : churches ( though they never attend themselves ) because it keeps the down : and outers happy. Next time you see that nurse, quote me: "That kind of advice is unprofessional and inexcusable."   : Since losing my license I’ve had to take the bus everywhere–an : indescribably disgusting experience. I don’t know what buses are like in : other cities but here in Vancouver they are operated on the assumption : that only losers and gimps who don’t count ever take the bus so that : nothing at all need be done to take account of their comfort or even their : safety. Drivers pull up at a stop, open the dorrs for a second, then : arbitararily slam the dorrs without bothering to see if everyone is on and : then drive off. All the busy routes are underservices, so people are : packed in like sardines. A skinny youth with a tubercular cough repeatedly : coughs in your face. Your own face is literally crammed into the wall by : the force of the crowd.A big guy violently elbows you in the back on his : way to the door, muttering in my ear, "Oughta my way, fucker." I reply : sarcastically, "Sorry, I can’t dematerialize". He replies, "I’d : dematerialize you if I could." The floor of the bus is so dirty that when : I get off my shoes, which were clean when I got on, are covered with mud. Complain.  Complain loudly.  Call up the government agency that regulates them and complain.  Write letters to the editor.  Write letters to the bus company.  Get acquainted with the local taxi company. They know a valuable customer when they see one and you’re probably gong to be one. Regulated businesses like bus and taxi operators value their relationships with the local politicians.  So get to know them and keep them informed.  Demand that someone who actually RIDES the buses be on the board or commission that regulates them.  The position might even pay good money…. : The social security guy told me I should start looking for work. This is : fun when I can’t even read the want ads without holding the paper 1 inch : from my eye under a 150 watt bulb. Likewise to fill in any application : forms I have to lower my face onto the table so that my eye is about 1 : inch from the paper so I can read the questions. This does a lot to : convince potential employers I will do a good job for them. You do need to deal with the work problem in some way.  Bring the application form in to the social security guy’s office and ask him to help you fill it out.  He might even offer to help you buy something like the TeleSensory Aladdin thing I have here that magnifies what you’re reading on a video monitor.  It’ll let you read the .003 inch high print they’ve added around the portraits on the currency here in the US.  Very useful.  Probably tax-deductible. : I am dead, but my body remains animated. This undead existence, : life-in-death, feels like some sort of punishment from God for what I have : done wrong in my life. It is certainly a curse without any hope of ending. Get on with life.  Deal with it. Feel free to reply.  ;-) — Truett Lee Smith San Francisco, CA E-mail: tru…@crl.com OR 73063….@compuserve.com

Response:

Tony Wypkema <Tony_Wypk…@Mindlink.BC.Ca> wrote: ……………… >With incredible medical advacements in medicine such as cloning of >humans now possible,

Give us a break!  Are you saying he should go clone himself and grab the clone’s good eyes?   >I think that science will, within your lifetime, >come up with a way to restore your vision.

You really sound like you’re in a position to forecast the future of science NOT! >In the meantime, you should >be aware of complementary, holistic treatments for glaucoma. >You should also be aware that it is not necessarily true that vision >lost to glaucoma is gone forever. Vitamins B12 and E have been shown to >improve visual fields in glaucoma patients (see below). >I also have chronic, open-angle developmental glaucoma. I am 39. >Three and-a-half years ago, faced with the threat of >a trabeculectomy to treat elevated pressure and the first damage to my >fields, I embarked on a desperate search for complementary therapies. >After starting a comprehensive vitamin and mineral therapy, my pressure >stabilized at a lower level and the small visual field damage that had >shown up in both eyes in three consecutive field tests >cleared up–an occurrence that my doctor claimed should have been >impossible and had no explanation for!)

You’re implying that a seeming minor improvement in your only very slightly damaged eyes has something to say about this guy’s driving a car again with eyes that are now nearly shot? ……………..on and on – Hide quoted text — Show quoted text ->Bill Sardi eloquently explains why in the Part III article: >"The eyes are not lacking in beta blockers, nor miotics, nor other >synthetic drugs. They are often lacking nutrients that produce the >hormones, enzymes and neurotransmitters that control human biochemistry, >such as fluid balance, autoregulation of blood pressure and the visual >process itself. Current medical practitioners have largely ignored less >costly and potentially more effective dietary, nutritional and lifestyle >regimens in favor of high-tech diagnostics, laser and surgical >treatment. Eye physicians often find such simple approaches incompatible >with their training and antagonistic to the barrage of advertising >thrust at them by companies who sell diagnostic equipment or >prescription drugs. Therefore, this writer believes glaucoma patients >will have to find alternative approaches to glaucoma treatment outside >of the conventional medical marketplace. Unfortunately the present >empahasis in medicine is on treatment of disease rather than maintenance >of health. Ironically, eye physicians who prescribe unconventional >nonpharmacologic therepy for glaucoma expose themselves to malpractice >claims and censure by state medical boards. Yet unproven medical therapy >requiring more drugs, then more laser treatment and more surgery, is >never questioned by those who police medical care."  

All lot of this is probably true, but I surely don’t think you "alternative" types can substitute for what’s really needed here with all your bags of herbs.  You have to simply get blood going where it’s supposed to to get the optic-nerve chemistry corrected; I really think only a rather normal blood-supply system do this very complex job.  To get that, you probably have to get back to some type of surgery in many cases, at least–rather than the eye-devils that operate now to play around with pressure that is usually a result, not a cause. ………….and on again. Ray

Response:

I do know what you are feeling.  There are computer add-ons that will allow you to use your computer with your voice. It will also read text to you.  It may not be what you want. but you can go to the local colleges and universities, post in the different departments, that you will type up term papers.  They don’t have to know that yoou are using your voice.  You can get upto $5.00 a page, depending on how much setup you have to do for that page.  Don’t give up.  Once you do, then you are really defeated.  My doctors at the VA, and Johns Hopkins, told me that it takes up to 2 years for the results of the damage that is already there to be seen or felt.  My pressure has been between 15 and 22 for two years now. but my vision is only now starting to level off.  My next field test is the 14th of april.  This should confirm if my eye sight is finally stable. Trust me, there is life after sight. Don’t give up! Grey Mason greyma…@solution4u.com

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Bruce Burrows wrote: > Mark Gibson wrote: > > I am dead, but my body remains animated. This undead existence, > > life-in-death, feels like some sort of punishment from God for what I have > > done wrong in my life. It is certainly a curse without any hope of ending. > > Mark > > — > > -"Everybody knows the dream is dead." > >                       -Leonard Cohen > >                        "Everybody knows" > YO MARK, > PLEASE HAVE SOMEONE READ THIS FOR YOU. > Man, what did you do "WRONG" in your life? > Were you receiving any other "punishment" for your wrongs prior to the > recent turn of events? > Thanks for the update. > By the way, man, as deep as it gets, there are always other folk who > would gladly trade places.  Many folk would love to be able to walk on a > bus, any stinking bus, …, even just walk.  Even if you were blind, > which you are NOT, there are many other dimensions of life which you can > participate in if you wish. > Perhaps, you need to get out more. > I live in the Washington, DC area.  Recently, I saw a gentlemen getting > off the Metro (our subway system) at the same station as me.  As it > turned out, both of us were on our way to a seminar.  Both of us were > male.  Both of us had never been to that particular station in the > Virginia suburbs.  BOTH of us were employed, both of us were going to a > work related seminar, as in real work, read as in earning money, and > both of us didn’t know for sure exactly where we were going. > There was one subtle difference which might have been noticed by a > casual observer.  He had a white cane which he tapped on the ground, and > I had no cane. > Get it?  He didn’t happen to "see" what I saw, as he was sightless. > Apparently, he had value to offer an employer even though he could not > see light.  But he did have other forms of vision, and knowledge, and > creativity, and, perhaps, even some wisdom.  Anyway, he was getting paid > to perform his profession.  He seemed like a sharp guy to me. > Life can, and does go on, in one of many, many variations. > Best of Luck in serving the sentence for the wrongs you did. > Bruce > (sorry, no spell checker active!)

Very nice story about yourself and the other gentleman in the station with you..which has absolutely no bearing on the original post except to point out what we already know to be true..people are *different*. What may be crippling to me..may well be just minor incovenience to you..however if you use that as a basis for denigration, then you are guilty of emotional bigotry.     Mark need not validate his perceptions or feelings to the rest of us..the name of the group is alt.SUPPORT.depression..he came here for support..not lectures in differential perception. As long as what Mark feels is real to *him*..then it is validated.. because he is the person who ultimately has to live in his world.     The gentleman you spoke of certainly deserves whatever kudos he receives..and as bad as blindness is..it is still unlike having one’s own brain betray one.    Have a nice day..stay strong and take care orcan    To Mark..if you read this..post on..or e-mail if you want..you don’t need to make excuses..what you feel is real and as such, I, for one will offer all the support I can.. I wish I could tell you it will go away tomorrow..but you know better..you also know you have to keep chipping away at it..even an iceberg breaks down if one chips at it long enough..keep fighting man..stay strong and take care orcan

Response:

Well this is just about me which probably doesn’t interest you all that much but I feel like venting anyway. Yesterday I went to the eye doctor ( opthalmologist ). I have congenital chronic open-angle glaucoma. For those who don’t know this is a disease which causes a loss of visual fields. That is to say that the cells at the back of the eye which are essential for seeing get killed off. When these cells are dead they don’t comer back. The vision lost is gone forever. The condition can be slowed or halted but the vision loss can never be restored. My doctyor yesterday told me my visual fields have continued to worsen even though the pressure in my eyes has been in the normal range for most of the last few years. This means, he told me: 1. I am no longer legally eligible to drive a car or any other vehicle requiring a license. 2. I will probably not be able to do fine detail work or any work that involves a lot of reading in the future. 3. There is a possibility that my vision will continue to deteriorate. 4. I am not legally blind ( thus not eligible for disability benefits ) but I definitely do have a visual disability. So here I am, unemployed, perhaps unemployable. If I get a job at all I can probably look forward to spending the rest of my life doing menial labor or phone sales at minimum wage or straight comission. Never again own a car. Probably never own a house. Probably never get married–who would want a half-blind guy who lives in poverty? The few friends I have left distance themselves from me, not knowing how to handle my feelings of frustration. I have $1,072 left in the bank, can’t really afford the rent where I’m living. I talked to a social insurance guy and he told me I will p[robably at most be eligible for general relief and should prepare myself for the possibility of moving into a public housing project or even a homeless shelter. Last year I was making $23 an hour. This year I am making $0, zero. I can’t even read the type on this computer without holding my face two inches from the screen. I feel like a subhuman freak. The nurse told me that "my income may be lower in the future but I can still have a rich spiritual life". Funny how people talk about spirituality to losers and failures. Churches are all about giving the cripples and gimps something to fantasize about, so as to keep them quiet. Agnostic neoconservative academics recommend that businesses give to churches ( though they never attend themselves ) because it keeps the down and outers happy. Since losing my license I’ve had to take the bus everywhere–an indescribably disgusting experience. I don’t know what buses are like in other cities but here in Vancouver they are operated on the assumption that only losers and gimps who don’t count ever take the bus so that nothing at all need be done to take account of their comfort or even their safety. Drivers pull up at a stop, open the dorrs for a second, then arbitararily slam the dorrs without bothering to see if everyone is on and then drive off. All the busy routes are underservices, so people are packed in like sardines. A skinny youth with a tubercular cough repeatedly coughs in your face. Your own face is literally crammed into the wall by the force of the crowd.A big guy violently elbows you in the back on his way to the door, muttering in my ear, "Oughta my way, fucker." I reply sarcastically, "Sorry, I can’t dematerialize". He replies, "I’d dematerialize you if I could." The floor of the bus is so dirty that when I get off my shoes, which were clean when I got on, are covered with mud. The social security guy told me I should start looking for work. This is fun when I can’t even read the want ads without holding the paper 1 inch from my eye under a 150 watt bulb. Likewise to fill in any application forms I have to lower my face onto the table so that my eye is about 1 inch from the paper so I can read the questions. This does a lot to convince potential employers I will do a good job for them. I am dead, but my body remains animated. This undead existence, life-in-death, feels like some sort of punishment from God for what I have done wrong in my life. It is certainly a curse without any hope of ending. Mark — -"Everybody knows the dream is dead."                       -Leonard Cohen                        "Everybody knows"

Response:

mgib…@vcn.bc.ca (Mark Gibson) wrote: > Well this is just about me which probably doesn’t interest you all that > much but I feel like venting anyway. > Yesterday I went to the eye doctor ( opthalmologist ).

-snipped the vent- Man, if that happened to me, I’d be pissed off as all HELL too. Sincerely Stewart — s…@prophet.pharm.pitt.edu

Response:

Tony Wypkema wrote:

snip > After starting a comprehensive vitamin and mineral therapy, my pressure > stabilized at a lower level and the small visual field damage that had > shown up in both eyes in three consecutive field tests > cleared up–an occurrence that my doctor claimed should have been > impossible and had no explanation for!)

end snip What are the specifics of your program? Saul Schonfeld

Response:

Mark Gibson wrote: > Well this is just about me which probably doesn’t interest you all that >  (post)

Well, all I can say is you’re justified in being here and I back you up totally in what you’ve expressed.  Wish I could do more. Anthony

Response:

Bruce Burrows (burro…@erols.com) wrote:

: Best of Luck in serving the sentence for the wrongs you did. This is either a sarcastic allusion to the original post, or it is incomprehensible stupidity.  The rest of your writing gives me reasonable hope for the former of these.  However, I wish you’d be clearer about such things. If it actually represents your considered opinion, then I don’t have time to write to you. Regards: Steve Murgaski <6…@qlink.queensu.ca> The idea of God has seemed to bring very little peace to the world as a whole.

Response:

- Hide quoted text — Show quoted text -Mark Gibson wrote: > Well this is just about me which probably doesn’t interest you all that > much but I feel like venting anyway. > Yesterday I went to the eye doctor ( ophthalmologist ). > I have congenital chronic open-angle glaucoma. For those who don’t know > this is a disease which causes a loss of visual fields. That is to say > that the cells at the back of the eye which are essential for seeing get > killed off. When these cells are dead they don’t comer back. The vision > lost is gone forever. The condition can be slowed or halted but the vision > loss can never be restored. > My doctor yesterday told me my visual fields have continued to worsen > even though the pressure in my eyes has been in the normal range for most > of the last few years. This means, he told me: > 1. I am no longer legally eligible to drive a car or any other vehicle > requiring a license. > 2. I will probably not be able to do fine detail work or any work that > involves a lot of reading in the future. > 3. There is a possibility that my vision will continue to deteriorate. > 4. I am not legally blind ( thus not eligible for disability benefits ) > but I definitely do have a visual disability. > So here I am, unemployed, perhaps unemployable. If I get a job at all I > can probably look forward to spending the rest of my life doing menial > labor or phone sales at minimum wage or straight comission. > Never again own a car. Probably never own a house. Probably never get > married–who would want a half-blind guy who lives in poverty? The few > friends I have left distance themselves from me, not knowing how to handle > my feelings of frustration. > I have $1,072 left in the bank, can’t really afford the rent where I’m > living. I talked to a social insurance guy and he told me I will p[robably > at most be eligible for general relief and should prepare myself for the > possibility of moving into a public housing project or even a homeless > shelter. Last year I was making $23 an hour. This year I am making $0, > zero. > I can’t even read the type on this computer without holding my face two > inches from the screen. > I feel like a subhuman freak. > The nurse told me that "my income may be lower in the future but I can > still have a rich spiritual life". Funny how people talk about > spirituality to losers and failures. Churches are all about giving the > cripples and gimps something to fantasize about, so as to keep them quiet. > Agnostic neoconservative academics recommend that businesses give to > churches ( though they never attend themselves ) because it keeps the down > and outers happy. > Since losing my license I’ve had to take the bus everywhere–an > indescribably disgusting experience. I don’t know what buses are like in > other cities but here in Vancouver they are operated on the assumption > that only losers and gimps who don’t count ever take the bus so that > nothing at all need be done to take account of their comfort or even their > safety. Drivers pull up at a stop, open the dorrs for a second, then > arbitararily slam the dorrs without bothering to see if everyone is on and > then drive off. All the busy routes are underservices, so people are > packed in like sardines. A skinny youth with a tubercular cough repeatedly > coughs in your face. Your own face is literally crammed into the wall by > the force of the crowd.A big guy violently elbows you in the back on his > way to the door, muttering in my ear, "Oughta my way, fucker." I reply > sarcastically, "Sorry, I can’t dematerialize". He replies, "I’d > dematerialize you if I could." The floor of the bus is so dirty that when > I get off my shoes, which were clean when I got on, are covered with mud. > The social security guy told me I should start looking for work. This is > fun when I can’t even read the want ads without holding the paper 1 inch > from my eye under a 150 watt bulb. Likewise to fill in any application > forms I have to lower my face onto the table so that my eye is about 1 > inch from the paper so I can read the questions. This does a lot to > convince potential employers I will do a good job for them. > I am dead, but my body remains animated. This undead existence, > life-in-death, feels like some sort of punishment from God for what I have > done wrong in my life. It is certainly a curse without any hope of ending. > Mark > — > -"Everybody knows the dream is dead." >                       -Leonard Cohen >                        "Everybody knows"

Mark and others: With incredible medical advacements in medicine such as cloning of humans now possible, I think that science will, within your lifetime, come up with a way to restore your vision. In the meantime, you should be aware of complementary, holistic treatments for glaucoma. You should also be aware that it is not necessarily true that vision lost to glaucoma is gone forever. Vitamins B12 and E have been shown to improve visual fields in glaucoma patients (see below). I also have chronic, open-angle developmental glaucoma. I am 39. Three and-a-half years ago, faced with the threat of a trabeculectomy to treat elevated pressure and the first damage to my fields, I embarked on a desperate search for complementary therapies. After starting a comprehensive vitamin and mineral therapy, my pressure stabilized at a lower level and the small visual field damage that had shown up in both eyes in three consecutive field tests cleared up–an occurrence that my doctor claimed should have been impossible and had no explanation for!) Also, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that before I embarked on a comprehensive vitamin and mineral strategy, my acuity was usually either 20/40 or 20/50, and recently it’s been 20/30, 20/30, and a couple of weeks ago in one test it was even 20/30, 20/25–the best it’s even been! I say it’s probably no coincidence, because I’m taking large doses of all the basic, essential vitamins and minerals (as recommended in The Real Vitamin and Mineral Book, by Nancy Bruning and Sheri Lieberman) including large doses of those supplements that are known to be essential for the functioning of the eyes, such as beta carotene, vitamin E and zinc. (In fact, the day I started using these three supplements (more than three years ago) the severe eyestrain I had had for months went away WITHIN HOURS and I’ve hardly had any eyestrain since then, so I know the supplements are affecting my eyes in a big way. Here are some holistic glaucoma treatment tips I’ve discovered: VITAMIN B12 Clinical and Experimental Optometry 76.1: 1993 January/February says: "Treatment addition in glaucoma "Glaucoma patients taking 1500 mg of vitamin B12 daily and i.o.p.-lowering medication were compared to controls using i.o.p.-lowering drugs only.  More of the vitamin group had improvement in visual fields and fewer worsening of fields than in the control group over the five-year follow-up.  There were no side effects of the vitamin therapy.  Since vitamin B12 has no pressure-lowering property, its affects is probably due to an improvement in optic nerve function. "Sakai T, Murata M, Amemiya T.  Effect of long-term treatment of glaucoma with vitamin B12.  Glaucoma 1992: 14: 167-170. VITAMIN E The spring, 1996, issue of Gleams newsletter (published by the Glaucoma Research Foundation) reported that on a study that found that,"vitamin E added to regular glaucoma medication improved visual fields in a majority of patients studied". . EXERCISE The Gleams newsletter goes on to say that, "in a recent study, people with glaucoma who exercised regularly for three months reduced their i.o.p.s an average of 20 per cent.  These people rode stationary bikes four times per week for 40 minutes.  Measureable improvements in eye pressure and physical conditioning were seen at the end of three months.  These beneficial effects were maintained by continuing to exercise at least three times per week; lowered i.o.p. was lost if exercise was stopped for more than two weeks." However, the article warns that, "Some forms of glaucoma (such as closed-angle) are not responsive to the affects of exercise, and other forms of glaucoma (for example, pigmentary glaucoma) may actually develop a temporary increase in i.o.p. after vigorous exercise." EYE FOCUSING, CHROMIUM AND ASCORBIC ACID Page 199 of the 1991 "Clinical Pearls", (which I got from my naturopath), has a summary of a study. The summary says, in part: "This is an ongoing case-controlled study of 400 consecutive eye patients, of which 809 did a food frequency questionnaire for over a two-month period. There were also 52 patients with ocular hypertension and/or glaucoma….Long-term, daily, repeated, sustained eye focusing (accommodation stimulus) was associated with an elevation of baseline intraocular pressure….Deficiences of either ascorbic acid or chromium were associated with elevated intraocular pressure which tends to stretch the normal eye, thereby reducing the capacity for focusing power….Intraocular pressure appears to be strongly influenced by diet…. "’Diet and Glaucomas’, Lane, B.C., Journal of the American College of Nutrition, October 1991:10(5):536/Abstract 22. (Address: Dr. B.C. Lane. Columbia University School of Public Health, Environmental Sciences Division, New York, NY 10032, U.S.A." FISH OIL A summary of a study on page 199 of Clinical Pearls says: "In a rabbit model food soaked with cod liver oil resulted in drops in intraocular pressure, according to a University of Kentucky study.  If fish oil works as well in humans as it does in this animal model, it would be a positive prophylactic agent against glaucoma.  This study was done by Dr. Prasad S. Kulkarni, Ph.D. at the University of Louisville at Kentucky after observing the Eskimos who had a low incidence of open-angle glaucoma.  When normal rabbits were given food soaked in cod liver oil, the intraocular … read more »

Response:

Mark Gibson (mgib…@vcn.bc.ca) wrote:

: When these cells are dead they don’t comer back. The vision : lost is gone forever. The condition can be slowed or halted but the vision : loss can never be restored. You have my empathy.  :/ : 2. I will probably not be able to do fine detail work or any work that : involves a lot of reading in the future. Absolutely wrong.  Technology exists which can allow you to read virtually anything type-written.  Speech synthesizers make it possible to "read" (hear) anything which is accessible by computer.  It’s a matter of learning to process auditory information instead of visual, and that should be neither easy nor impossible. : 3. There is a possibility that my vision will continue to deteriorate. Has benefits, believe it or not.  In my somewhat extensive experience, people with a bit of vision can end up adapting less completely to their situation then those who lose it completely.  The same for those losing vision slowly as opposed to rapidly. : So here I am, unemployed, perhaps unemployable. If I get a job at all I : can probably look forward to spending the rest of my life doing menial : labor or phone sales at minimum wage or straight comission. It would be a waste for you to hold to this idea. : I feel like a subhuman freak. I don’t think subhuman is actually possible.  *tehe* Look, I’m not trying to turn this into A.S.D, or to pretend that you have no serious issues to deal with.  But I know that they can be dealt with, at least the ones you raised in your post.  "Productive" living is quite possible without vision, and many even seem to enjoy it.  More than many ASHers hope for, I suspect. Regards: Steve Murgaski <6…@qlink.queensu.ca> You can’t row without grasping an oar.

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