Home Cures for Eye Pressure

Eye pressure is measured by an ophthalmologist in a painless procedure. The patient is usually over 40 years of age. If high eye pressure is recorded, it is important to lower it before constant eye pressure can damage the optic nerves, possibly leading to eventual blindness. The person should make changes involving body weight, exercise, food and supplements before accepting prescribed eye drops. Two home cure strategies can be used, either singly or combined.

Reduce Blood Pressure

• Drs. James Balch and Mark Stengler state that high blood pressure can be one of the causes for eye pressure leading to glaucoma.

  High blood pressure is the only factor relating to glaucoma that is amenable to home cure, through weight loss, exercise and nutrition. Blood pressure drops as a person loses weight. Moderate exercise improves blood flow to the retina and optic nerves.

  Limit cooking with salt, using table salt, eating processed foods, such as cold cuts and most cheeses. These foods contain sodium. It is not enough to avoid sodium, though. It also is important to ingest more potassium in fruits, vegetables, whole grains and beans. Other foods to eat are celery, garlic (or aged garlic extract), onions, nuts, seeds, wild salmon, fish oil and green leafy vegetables.

  Relevant supplements include celery seed extract, at a dosage of 75 to 150 mg twice daily, and coenzyme Q10, 200 mg daily. A mixture of muscle peptides from bonito fish is effective in two-thirds of people with high blood pressure. .

  If, after using foods and supplements at home, your blood pressure has not dropped below 140/95, you should ask a physician to prescribe a pharmaceutical drug.

Prevent Glaucoma

• Glaucoma is a condition in which the optic nerves are slowly destroyed and peripheral vision is lost. The first step is to avoid caffeinated drinks because caffeine reduces blood flow to the eye.

  According to Drs. Balch and Stengler, magnesium and plant extracts of bilberry and ginkgo biloba improve ocular blood flow. Grape seed extract improves the strength of eye capillaries. Vitamin C supplements and fish oil with 600 mg of EPA and 400 mg of DHA reduce eye pressure. The antioxidant alpha lipoic acid and bioflavonoid rutin improve or prevent glaucoma.

Considerations

• The authors of The Johns Hopkins White Papers 2006 state that ginkgo biloba is a blood thinner and should not be taken with aspirin or Coumadin. The herb can cause bleeding in the front part of the eye and hemorrhages in the retina. Ginkgo can interact with Haldol, and it can increase the side effects of antidepressants and certain antibiotics.

  The nutritional recommendations are not offered to cure disease. The information should be used in conjunction with the services of a medical doctor.