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New topic: Relationship of Glaucoma to Cataract

Question:

Everybody (the old folks anyway) in my family has had cataract surgery. At 46,  when I complained of haloes, fuzzy vision,etc. I was informed by my mother  that that’s how her cataracts started showing. So I figured that I had eye  strain and the beginnings of cataracts.  No one in my family has ever had  glaucoma. I have angle closure glaucoma, which (hopefully) has been fixed.  Still being checked periodically for high pressures since surgery. OK so far,  and no more "cataract/eye strain" attacks.  OH BOY, I guess I can look forward  to cataracts too. My eyeballs will eventually look like Zorro visited them.  LOL. Elizabeth in Richmond

Response:

> B2 (not 12m but 2)

Correction–should read::     B2 (not 12, but 2) (clarifying it is B2 being mentioned, not B12).

Response:

craftyc…@aol.com (Craftycann) writes: >Everybody (the old folks anyway) in my family has had cataract surgery. At 46, > when I complained of haloes, fuzzy vision,etc. I was informed by my mother > that that’s how her cataracts started showing. So I figured that I had eye > strain and the beginnings of cataracts.  No one in my family has ever had > glaucoma. I have angle closure glaucoma, which (hopefully) has been fixed. > Still being checked periodically for high pressures since surgery. OK so far, > and no more "cataract/eye strain" attacks.  OH BOY, I guess I can look forward > to cataracts too. My eyeballs will eventually look like Zorro visited them. > LOL. Elizabeth in Richmond

I’m not a physician, but halos sound more to me like the result of corneal edema than cataracts.  High IOP can cause corneal edema. I like your Zoro metaphor.  I’ve had over 20 eye surgeries myself … — Dave Mehringer                   California Institute of Technology dmehr…@socrates.caltech.edu    Department of Physics Physics Post-doctoral Scholar    Pasadena, CA USA http://www.patnet.caltech.edu/~dmehring/dmehring.shtml

Response:

halt…@aol.com (Halterb) wrote: …………….. >Surely there is more recent data > as well, but I don’t feel "old research" is invalidated by time–the wheel may > have been invented thousands of years ago, but its principle is still valid today.

Depends on 1) how the conditions of the study stack up to modern standards and 2) what further subtleties might’ve been learned about the study subject that might affect its validity.  With the high prevalence of manipulation of words, even in the research end of medicine, even changes in the use of these can shed different lights on past studies. Ray

Response:

halt…@aol.com (Halterb) wrote: ………….. >If my information is correct, there seems to be a high prevalance of >glaucoma and cataract in the same individual, either concurrently or one or >the other developing in time.

I haven’t seen this in the literature I’ve read.  Yes, I know, I haven’t read all the *alternative* literature that has been offered me. >I notice some eye medications include a >warning about an adverse effect of "lens clouding" (notably pilocarpine),

Always sounded like bad news; never touched the stuff. ………….. >It is also striking that some visual symptoms are the same in both >conditions–halos or cobwebs around bright light, foggy or steamy vision, >etc.

Where did you get this.  I haven’t seen this written either.  And, of course, never have I myself, with glaucoma, seen anything like those symptoms. >Nutritionally, there are frequent implications of B2 (not 12m but 2) >problems, especially in cataract.

Never see anything about *any* B vitamins, except in this newsgroup. >The question for the pros is, how to we control the glaucoma without >risking cataract trouble? Or, will controlling glaucoma through other means >also prevent cataract?

The only association of these two problems that I’ve seen written is in the case of congenital glaucoma.  Of course, the MDs are not about to tell you their glaucoma-curing wares have been found to cause cataracts, even if they have been. Ray

Response:

In response to raych’s message concerning glaucoma/cataract symptoms and  vitamin B2. Regarding the similarity of glaucoma and cataract symptons, the AMA  Encyclopedia of Medicine on pages 240 and 488 leaves such an impression, as  does the book, Glaucoma and Its Medical Treatment, by E.M. Josephson. The  Encyclopedia of Medicine and Nursing, Miller-Keane, mentions the halos and  cloudiness of glaucoma, which many thought applied to cataract. The role of vitamin B2 is discussed in many places, including the Journal of  the American Medical Association, 113,931, 1939 (T. Spies), 114, 2437, 1940,  the Trans Opthal Soc. 62, 65, 1942, and American Journal of Opthal., 24, 1265,  1941. An excellent article, "Eyes Need Vitamin B2", appeared in Prevention of  November, 1970, in part reporting on the work of Dr. P.S. Day of Columbia  University, also dealt with in "Malnutrition and the Eye", D.S. McLaren. Dr.  Sydenstricker of the University of Georgia Hospital  found 15 milligrams of  riboflavin given daily to 47 patients with eye problems including itching,  burning, light sensitivity, faulty vision and cataract resulted in all but one  being healed within 24 hours, and the balance within 48 hours, and the  cataracts being completely reabsorbed and healed in every respect within 9  months with no treatment other than this microscopic amount of B2. When the  patients returned to B2 deficient diets all symptoms returned, which were all  subsequently cured by resumption of B2. Related topics are dealt with in  Archives of Opthalmology 66,181, 1961. This is the material readily available to me. Surely there is more recent data  as well, but I don’t feel "old research" is invalidated by time–the wheel may  have been invented thousands of years ago, but its principle is still valid today.

Response:

True, there is enough going on in this newsgroup at the present, but it is somewhat surprising that little, if anything, has been discussed about the Glaucoma/Cataract relationship. If my information is correct, there seems to be a high prevalance of glaucoma and cataract in the same individual, either concurrently or one or the other developing in time. I notice some eye medications include a warning about an adverse effect of "lens clouding" (notably pilocarpine), which may be a nice way of saying "cataract". Also, since the lens evidently has no blood supply, it appears to depend on the aqueous humor for nourishment; if formation of that humor is reduced significantly by medication, it would seem to raise the question of the adequacy of lens nutrition. So, are we faced with another catch 22? Like the old dental joke, "the teeth are fine, but the gumbs have to go", is it "the retina is fine, but the lens has to go"? It is also striking that some visual symptoms are the same in both conditions–halos or cobwebs around bright light, foggy or steamy vision, etc. Nutritionally, there are frequent implications of B2 (not 12m but 2) problems, especially in cataract. The question for the pros is, how to we control the glaucoma without risking cataract trouble? Or, will controlling glaucoma through other means also prevent cataract?

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