How to Overcome Glaucoma

Glaucoma is a condition that is caused by too much pressure being built up in the eye. This pressure is caused by the deterioration of the optic nerve. This nerve is essential to many aspects of vision. If untreated, glaucoma can eventually cause you to go blind. Although damage to the nerve cannot be reversed, glaucoma can be controlled by a combination of several treatments as well as changing several aspects of your lifestyle.

Instructions

• 1

  Consult an optometrist if you believe you have glaucoma. You can then discuss with your doctor the available treatments for glaucoma. The optometrist will know which route to take with your treatment depending on how advanced your condition is. The goal of the treatment is to relieve the intraocular pressure in the eye.

• 2

  Consider using eye drops to control your glaucoma. This is usually the first step in treating and overcoming glaucoma. These eye drops, which must be prescribed by a doctor, are designed to lower the pressure behind the eye as far as it can possibly be lowered. The eye drops will also keep the glaucoma from progressing.

• 3

  Avoid drinking anything with copious amounts of caffeine. According to agingeye.net, a recent study proved that decaffeinated coffee did not increase pressure in the eye, but caffeinated coffee did.

• 4

  Get exercise. Agingeye.net states that aerobic and isometric exercise can lower eye pressure. Isometric exercise is when you tense a muscle and hold it for a set amount of time. Setting up a routine for working out would be advised. Exercising for at least 40 minutes three times a week is a good habit for trying to reduce eye pressure.

• 5

  Try acupuncture as another technique to overcome glaucoma symptoms. Although acupuncture does not lower the eye pressure, researchers have shown that it can improve the accuracy of your central vision. Acupuncture involves the belief that moving the flow of life energy (or "chi") within your body can help heal disease. An acupuncturist will try to rebalance the flow of energy to your eye. While acupuncture may help alleviate some glaucoma symptoms, it has never been proven to cure eye pressure, the main cause of glaucoma.