Tips to stop glaucoma progression

Another test, when glaucoma is suspected, is to check the eye pressure. The doctor puts drops in your eye and then tests the level of pressure by pressing gently on the eye.

Glaucoma cannot be cured, but you can stop it from progressing. It usually develops slowly and can take 15 years for untreated early-onset glaucoma to develop into blindness. However, if the pressure in the eye is high, the disease is likely to develop more rapidly. So, the check-ups are important to keep it under control.

Glaucoma is most often treated by lowering pressure in the eye with drugs, laser surgery, or traditional surgery. However, these treatments can only preserve the remaining vision. They don’t improve or restore vision that has already been lost due to glaucoma.

If your doctor recommends treatment, don’t put it off. Follow any prescriptions to the letter.

To stop glaucoma progression the main aim is to reduce pressure in the eye. Depending on your circumstances and overall health, your doctor can recommend a range of different interventions.

The starting point may be a series of home-based actions and remedies. These may include:

• Eating a healthy diet.
• Taking regular exercise such as walking or jogging.
• Reducing your caffeine and alcohol intake.
• Keeping hydrated by taking plenty of fluids.
• Sleeping with your head elevated to reduce pressure on the eye.
• Taking any medications in exactly the way they are prescribed.

It’s important to get advice from your doctor if you are already on medication. This is because some drugs may exacerbate your glaucoma. The doctor may be able to suggest alternative medications which are less likely to raise your eye pressure.

A common treatment for glaucoma is taking daily eye drops of various kinds. These can regulate eye fluid and lower pressure in your eye. Lowering eye pressure can slow down or stop glaucoma progression. Many patients fail to take their glaucoma medications as prescribed.

It’s vital that you take the drops exactly as prescribed by your doctor. If you don’t, they could do you more harm than good. 

There is strong evidence that high stress levels and emotional trauma can exacerbate the progression of glaucoma. So, to stop glaucoma progression an important thing to do is to try and reduce stress in your life. Learning to relax can have huge overall health benefits. High levels of stress can cause high blood pressure and trigger a high level of IOP.

Many studies have shown that stress affects our body and overall health in many different ways. In a similar manner, high stress levels can degenerate nerve cells and cause increased intraocular pressure. Stress has this effect because of the poor blood supply, constricted blood vessels, and lack of nutrients that nourish our eyes.

Yoga may be beneficial here, though you should avoid bending exercises which put pressure on your head! Such exercises or other exertions may put pressure on the eyes, which is what you are trying to avoid. Breathing yoga may be beneficial too, as it is very relaxing and may help decrease your IOP (Intraocular pressure). You can also do other relaxing exercises such as Tai Chi to reduce stress and stop glaucoma progression.

Meditation is one of the best techniques for alleviating stress. It might sound complicated if you’ve never done it, but it is a very simple technique. Stress is a response mechanism that is built into our bodies. It served a purpose for our ancestors, as it helped them get out of life-threatening situations like being attacked by a wild animal.

However, today we don’t face those kinds of situations very often, but this stress response is still triggered by our modern problems in a psychological way. Simply put, our stress today is caused by things that are bothering us, such as being late with paying the bills, working on an important project at work, relationship problems, and so on.

When meditating, our mind goes from an active mode into complete silence. We remove all the negative thoughts that are bothering us and enter a state of restfulness. This leads to a decreased heart rate, reduced stress hormones, improved breathing, and normalized blood pressure.

Meditation also helps us get rid of troubling emotions and calms them down. We are able to take a more realistic approach to the issues that are bothering us and look at them objectively. At the same time, meditation also puts people into a relaxed state where they can fall asleep more easily and have quality sleep. Lack of sleep is also related to high stress levels.

Your diet has a major effect on your eye pressure. To stop glaucoma progression you will have to regulate your diet. A general rule of thumb is to avoid all the foods that raise insulin levels, such as pasta, pastry, and food with lots of sugar. Foods that have Zeaxanthin and Lutein carotenoids work as antioxidants and they can improve eye health.

This includes eating leafy and dark-green vegetables but also carrots, red peppers, tomatoes, and potatoes, as well as apples, oranges, lemons, broccoli, green cabbage, eggs, fish, cheese, and plums. These all have important vitamins such as A, B, C, zinc, and Omega-3 fatty acids that reduce eye pressure. Be aware that coffee may increase your eye pressure.

One of the quickest and easiest ways to get a lot of these important vitamins is by juicing. Drink carrot, orange, lemon, or apple juice on a daily basis or make a combination that you like, as this is how you will quickly get a lot of vitamins in your body to reduce eye pressure instantly and help stop glaucoma progression.

If you don’t have the time or the money to get all the necessary vitamins and minerals through your diet, consider buying supplements and taking them on a regular basis. Make sure that you follow the instructions on the products and avoid taking doses above the suggested ones.

With regular exercise, you can reduce hypertension and IOP levels. Consider exercises like jogging, Tai Chi, or simply walking at least three times during the week to help improve your vision. Avoid exercises that put large amounts of pressure on your body and generally require lifting heavy weights.

The important thing is to be consistent with your exercise and you will stop glaucoma progression. Regular exercise also drastically improves blood circulation, makes the circulatory system expansive, flexible, and stronger. With regular exercise, your circulatory system will deliver your body with valuable nutrients and oxygen much faster.

For any queries relating to how to stop glaucoma progression, please contact us. The New Jersey Eye Center in Bergenfield is open six days a week. It has a Glaucoma Specialist on staff, who’s had more than 25 years of experience. All patients examined at the eye center are tested for glaucoma.