Information and facts on Glaucoma

 

Glaucoma is a serious eye disease where pressure in the eyeball is exerted on other parts of the person's eye. This pressure can cause damage to the retina and can eventually destroy the optic nerve. Leading to vision loss and even total blindness. There are two types of glaucoma one is "closed-angle glaucoma" and the other is called "chronic open-angle glaucoma". Closed angle is the more serious and occurs less often, early warning signs include: eye pain - especially in the morning, blurred vision, and the pupils have a hard time adjusting in a dark room. Open angle glaucoma occurs in around 90% of people, the symptoms occur very late with the disease and so by the time you are aware of it a lot of damage is already done. Symptoms include: loss of peripheral vision, loss of  night vision, chronic headaches, changing eye glass prescriptions often , and tunnel vision. Stress and poor nutrition are the primary causes of glaucoma. Thus a good natural multi-vitamin and other supplementation can help prevent or slow down this disease.

Glaucoma is one of the leading causes of blindness. This eye problem normally affects people over 40 years old, and occurs more often in women than it is in men. Those with the highest risk of developing glaucoma are people of African ancestry; people with diabetes, high blood pressure, severe myopia or nearsightedness, people with a family history of glaucoma, and those taking corticosteroid preparations. Many person's cases of glaucoma will go undetected until actual vision loss starts. There are two basic forms of glaucoma. The worst and luckily - least common form of this disease is known as "closed-angle" glaucoma. Attacks of this type of glaucoma occur when the channel through which the eye's fluids usually drain become tightened or blocked. This is often due to narrowing or hardening of the exit channels from the person's eyes, resulting in extreme pain, bad vision, and even blindness. It is treated as a medical emergency type of health problem. Early warning signs that a problem may be developing include: eye pain especially during the morning, blurred vision, seeing halos around lights, and the pupils being not able to adjust in a dark place or room. The symptoms of acute attack may include: throbbing eye pain and loss of sight, especially the peripheral vision, pupils that are fixed in a semi-dilated condition and do not respond to light correctly, and a sharp increase in the pressure in the inner eye, normally just on one side.

These symptoms can occur very quickly and may be accompanied by nausea and vomiting. Note that permanent vision damage can occur in as little as 3 to 5 days making treatment within the first 24 to 48  hours critical. The most common form of glaucoma, which accounts for over 90% of all cases of this disease, is "chronic open angle" glaucoma. With open angle glaucoma, there is not a physical blockage and the eye structures will appear normal, however the drainage of fluid is not good enough to keep the intra-ocular pressure at its normal level. While the acute form of glaucoma is very frightening, especially to people at high risk with other health problems, chronic glaucoma is a lot more sneaky because it normally never has any symptoms until very late in the disease. Thus by the time it is noticed, vision may be damaged already and many times permanently. The most pronounced symptoms of open-angle glaucoma are darkening or loss of peripheral vision and a decrease in the person's night vision and ability of their eyes to adjust to darkness. Peripheral vision is the ability to see "out of the corner of the eye." The eyesight loss causes the person to have "tunnel vision." Other possible symptoms include chronic low grade headaches which are very often mistaken for tension headaches, frequently changing prescription for glasses, and/or seeing halos around electric lights. Glaucoma probably has many causes, but it is closely related to stress and nutritional problems, and is often related to other disorders such as diabetes and high blood pressure. Problems with collagen have been linked to glaucoma, collagen is a widely used protein in the human body. Poor collagen metabolism often appears related to all forms of eye diseases and disorders.

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