Replies

I can say I have had higher eye pressure, for decades, until this past year.

I went to an ophthalmologist a few years ago and he started me on brimonidine drops, as a preventative. The ones I currently take are 0.1%, twice a day.

I stopped taking the drops for two months to get their effect out of my system, while I used supplements I found from reading studies. I went back in early this year and found the supplements dropped my pressure from 22 to 16 (mm Hg) I told him what I did and he was frustrated with me and had me promise to take the drops, so I did. I also tweaked my supplements a bit more. This last time I went in, my eye pressure was 11, for the first time in my life.

So I literally went from 22 to 11 from the lowest dose brimonidine and supplements, in a matter of months, experimenting on myself.

What am I doing?

I noticed my blood pressure was, strangely, now higher in the prior two years. Part of the changes addressed that, and the rest was specific for my eyes.

Things I've started taking each day that directly affect blood pressure, reduce inflammation, or appear to prevent glaucoma, from what I had taken with high eye pressure:

- 40+ grams of soluble fiber (10 (5 x 2) grams of psyllium (20 minutes before a meal) and 30+ grams of fiber from breads like Sola Bread and Hero Bread)
- 100 - 150 mg of EGCG (green tea extract)
- 22 mg of additional zinc, over the standard amount that was in my multivitamin / multimineral (due to noticing my zinc / copper ratio was not 7.5 / 1) (Keeping total zinc below 40 mg a day)
- Mirtogenol (bilberry and pycnogenol) (twice a day) *
- Black currant extract (200 mg) *
- Saffron extract (30 mg) *
- Ginkgo biloba (120 mg) *
- Citrus bergamot (500 mg)
- Citicholine (250 mg, 2X a day) *
- Endocaylx Pro (supplement)
- Eating mushrooms (oyster, preferred) multiple times a week
- Now have more extra virgin olive oil in place of nearly all coconut oil and butter (saturated fats), from before (still no seed oils)
- Work to correct my posture *
- More activity / walking
- Watch my breathing more (aim to inhale five seconds and exhale over seven seconds), when not moving

* = Done specifically for eyes

These were the major changes from what I had or had not done.

My blood pressure also went down to the lower end of the normal range from the elevated range. It dropped about 30 mm Hg.

I take no other drugs aside from the 0.1% brimonidine drops, for which I use a piece of toilet paper to mop out of the corner of my eyes, after 45 seconds of leaving them in. Brimonidine drops, at 0.2% taken three times a day, can reduce eye pressure up to 20%.

Consider trying out some of what I've done, all without drugs.

The change can be extensive and leave your ophthalmologist quite impressed.

Note I only take the drop in one eye, not both. Just the one with the highest pressure (22 to start).

The other eye has always had 1 - 2 mm Hg less pressure, and it gets 50% of the benefit, of a brimonidine drop, in the other (some sort of sympathetic reaction happens with the brain).

It leaves the non-drop eye 1 mm Hg higher, in the end.

So, to make it clear, I take one drop of brimonidine (0.1%) in only one eye, twice a day, but both get lowered.

My final eye pressures were 11 and 12, two months ago.