Today we’ll explore alternatives to these medications, focusing on primary open-angle glaucoma. We’ll delve into the drawbacks of common eye drop medications like Latanoprost and Timolol, which can trigger issues like headaches, blurred vision, and dizziness. I propose a range of alternative strategies, collaborating closely with a doctor. These include employing coleus, safeguarding the optic nerve with omega-3 fatty acids, ginkgo, taurine, bilberry, lutein, zeaxanthin, and vitamin A. Enjoy the show!

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Hello, everyone. It’s Dr. Sam. I’d like to welcome you to my EyeClarity podcast. This is a show that offers cutting-edge information on how to improve your vision and overall wellness through holistic methods. I so appreciate you spending part of your day with me.

If you have questions, you can send them to hello@drsamberne.com.

Now to the latest EyeClarity episode.

Hey, everybody, welcome to the program today. So I’m going to take a question from a lady who’s been diagnosed with glaucoma. And her question is, I’ve been given these eyedrops for glaucoma. I hate them. There are side effects. Is there an alternative?

Well, in answering this question, I’m going to be referring to primary open-angle glaucoma. I’ve done many video blogs that you can look at to find the cause of primary open-angle glaucoma. But today I’m going to talk about the eyedrops and what are the alternatives.

So, the most common eyedrop that’s prescribed is in the prostaglandin family, you may have heard of it. Latanoprost is one, Lumigan is another one. So this eyedrop is preferred because usually, you need to take it once a day. And what it does is it drains the excess fluid out of the eye. It’s probably the one that’s used the most.

Another common eyedrop that’s used, this is a beta-blocker, is called Timolol. They also help bring eye pressure down by draining excess fluid out of the eyes. So there are other classes of eyedrops that are given for glaucoma. A lot of times they’re given at night, and for some of them, you do once a day, you do twice a day. But there are definitely some nasty side effects. You can google the medication and look up the side effects. Some of the main ones would be headaches, blurred vision, dizziness, lowering the heart rate, just to name a few.

So this person who’s asking the question wants to know if there are alternatives. So the answer to that is yes. And yet you want to stay connected to your doctor because you can’t just go off the eyedrops cold turkey. I’m going to give a list of some of the things that I use in conjunction with the eyedrops. And we keep measuring the eye pressure, looking at the visual fields, and if we start to see a person turning the corner, we can start reducing the medications.

So let me go through the list of some of the alternatives. The first is an herb called coleus. C-O-L-E-U-S. Coleus is an herb that has been shown in small studies to actually bring down the eye pressure.

Some other things you can do to protect the optic nerve because that is the vulnerable part of the eye that is affected when you have primary open-angle glaucoma. So by protecting the optic nerve, you want to make sure you’re getting enough omega-three fatty acids, ginkgo, taurine, bilberry, lutein, zeaxanthin, vitamin A. You want to make sure you’re really boosting your antioxidants.

If it were me, I would definitely wear blue blockers to protect your eyes from any undue inflammatory situations that might occur from the blue light. Obviously, the diet is a big piece of this, so if you’re eating a healthy antioxidant-based diet, that’s going to be helpful.

And some other things that you could do would be to get some craniosacral therapy. Meditation has been shown to bring eye pressure down. Lymphatic health has been shown to bring eye pressure down. Jumping on a rebounder. And the whole idea with glaucoma is to improve the vascular health.

One of the ingredients that have seemed to work really well, and I’ve actually put it in my own optic nerve formula, is an ingredient called nitric oxide. You should check it out. Nitric oxide helps dilate the blood vessels, and it’s been found to be very supportive for your eye health, especially on the circulation level.

I also like to add things like turmeric, saffron. These are wonderful. And then, of course, the MSM eyedrops are great to use, although they’re not going to bring your eye pressure down. They are going to lubricate and moisturize your eyes, which is really important to keep your eyes hydrated.

Now, if you’re using a combination of my MSM eyedrops with the glaucoma medications, just wait 15 minutes before you put in my MSM drops after you apply the glaucoma meds.

I also like things like acupuncture. Acupuncture has been shown to be very beneficial for opening up the meridians in the eyes. Helps the liver, the gallbladder, the spleen, the large and small intestine, the kidneys, the lungs. So acupuncture would be another thing I would put on my list if I was diagnosed with primary open-angle glaucoma and I wanted to get off the medications.

So the key in this is vascular health. It’s also important to reduce any inflammation and irritation and eye stress that you may be dealing with. And again, yes, the eyedrops can be kind of nasty. So I would work on these other alternative areas, maybe get hooked up with a naturopath or a functional medicine doctor, see what your toxicity levels are like. Sometimes if you’re suffering from heavy metal toxicities, that can give you an artificial spike in your eye pressure.

So there are a lot of underlying causes that you can overcome, and you can start using some integrative natural remedies, and then you can get off the glaucoma medication. So in the short term, hang in there with it, start doing these other things. Within a few months, you’ll probably turn a corner and start seeing some improvement, and you can wean yourself off these glaucoma medications.

So I’ll have more to say about this later on, but I want to thank you for tuning in today. Until next time, take care.

Thank you for listening. I hope you learned something from the EyeClarity podcast show today. If you enjoyed the episode, make sure to subscribe on iTunes or Spotify and leave a review. See you here next time.