Diabetic Retinopathy, a condition in which tiny blood vessels of the retinas leak, is one of the major causes of blindness in the U.S. It can be avoided by carefully controlling blood sugar. In my case, since I was an undiagnosed diabetic for many years, high blood sugars have caused me to contract this condition.
I am now carefully controlling my blood sugars, but the damage is done. Normal medical therapy for this condition is laser treatments to seal up the bleeding blood vessels. I had this treatment in 2010. I can’t say I was all that pleased with the results.
I went to a retinal specialist and he said “Now we are going to give you one treatment on your left eye this week, then next week one on the right eye, then the next week, another treatment on the left and then another treatment on the right.” And I said “No.”
“Doctor, I can’t let you work on both eyes at once because if something goes wrong, I have to drive for my job, and I won’t be able to work, and then I will have no insurance and no money to pay you for these treatments.”
He looked at me with this stone cold look on his face and said, “Well, you could always go on disability. “
I said to myself, this guy knows nothing about what it’s like to live on disability. First of all, getting approved is difficult. You can’t get approved if you are still working, so I’d have to quit. Then after you get approved, you aren’t eligible for Medicare for two years. So he wants me to take a 3/4 pay cut and get no medical treatment for two years so I can take his treatments.
“What are the possible side effects from this procedure?”
“None,” he says.
“Doctor, there is no such thing as a medical procedure without possible side effects.
”He says, “If your vision worsens, it will be because of the progression of your disease, and not because of anything I might do.”
“I am not saying you would do anything wrong. But even if everything goes right, there could still be side effects. Pain, redness blurred vision, anything like that?”
“No.”
I didn’t believe him. “Well, this is my offer. You can work on the left eye, and if that goes all right, then you can work on the right one.”
He says, “I think that is an extraordinarily foolish decision. If you don’t take these treatments, in a year you’ll be blind.”
It has been 11 years, and I am not blind. Is my vision perfect? No, but I’m not blind.
He finally agreed to work on one eye. After the first treatment, the whole top half of my field of vision clouded up. After the second treatment, the bottom half clouded up, and I had no usable vision in that eye for six months. I had been right. There was pain, swelling, and blurred vision, just the side effects I had been afraid of. I didn’t go back to have the other eye done.
The eye he worked on had no better vision than the other one. Then they wanted to do a vitrectomy, a procedure that terrifies me. No, not for me.
So I have started to look for alternative treatments. One of the functions of Vitamin C in the body is to strengthen the walls of veins and capillaries. So I am assuming I need more Vitamin C if my tiny blood vessels are leaking. In any other part of the body, leaking blood vessels would be called a bruise. What can you do to heal bruises naturally?
According to Fergon.com, “ Individuals who have low iron levels are more susceptible to bruising and experiencing bruises that last a long time. Therefore, it may be beneficial to take iron supplements…Other recommendations include… Eating a healthy diet with iron-rich foods, as well as foods with vitamin C and vitamin K, aid the reabsorption of blood and the healing of bruises as well.”
According to an article in BioMed Central’s Journal, Eye and Vision,
Nutritional and medical food therapies for diabetic retinopathy,
“We have reviewed the literature for nutritional interventions that support conventional therapies to reduce disease risk and severity. Optimal combinations of vitamins B1, B2, B6, L-methylfolate, methylcobalamin (B12), C, D, natural vitamin E complex, lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-lipoic acid, and n-acetylcysteine are identified for protecting the retina and choroid.
Large doses of B6, B12, and Folic Acid have also shown to lower homocysteine levels, thereby limiting damage to blood vessels by homocysteine.
So I am starting a regimen of the above vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.
Webber Naturals Supervision 50 Plus
Ancestral Supplements Beef Liver for Iron
I have also been doing the Keto Diet and have lowered my A1c from 7,9 to 6.7 without medication.
I will let you know how it goes.
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