In July 2018, I went to the eye doctor after a few weeks of having some weird-for-me vision issues. My glasses weren’t working as well as I was used to. Additionally, I felt as though I could see better without them than with them. Even worse, I was getting headaches and not reading well while wearing my glasses. I have to admit, as someone with life-long vision issues, that I was concerned. So I set an appointment to re-test my vision.
Good eye news!
The eye doctor told me that I needed to change my glasses. “Your prescription is much too strong,” she told me. This is something no optometrist ever said in my life before. In fact, I’ve worn glasses since I was four, after serially crashing into obvious-to-the-rest-of-the-world objects on my bike which I didn’t see in time.
For me, eye doctor appointments have typically been disheartening and discouraging. Usually, they were filled with pronouncements about my bad vision: lazy left eye, astigmatism, visual field defects, retinitis pigmentosa, and premature macular degeneration…
The Power of Words
Words are powerful, and the way eye doctors, teachers and acquaintances described my vision in the past definitely affected my self-image and even, to some extent, my view of the world. Here are some choice phrases that come to mind:
- you are blind as a bat
- your retina is so damaged it looks like it’s sprinkled with pepper
- you don’t drive, do you, honey?
- your visual field is severely limited
- you squint like a mole
- you’re just one step away from being legally blind in your left eye
- your eyesight is quite poor, but I can’t do anything further to help
Over time, I grew so used to being told how poor my vision was that it hardly crossed my mind that it might improve. While some people dread going to the dentist, I typically dreaded going to the eye doctor.
Vision Exams Can Feel Invasive
When I was in my mid-twenties, I was detained at my eye exam for several hours because of my unusual eye problems, a throng of optometry students ooh-ing and aah-ing over how messed up my retina was for someone so young.
At long last, I finally experienced some positivity from an optometrist. In fact, she declared that my current prescription is now “way too strong” for me. Furthermore, she told me that the pigmented areas of the retina are now few and very circumscribed. Additionally, she said that I have “very good vision” for someone with my history.
So what shifted my vision?
I haven’t really ever gotten around to doing anything specific for my eyes, although eye health has always been part of my overall healing vision. What I have done is a lot of bio-individual nutritional therapy focused on nutritional balancing (especially minerals and fat-soluble vitamins, and addressing long-term past mercury exposure) and digestive repair, as those have been my main needs. A central health concern of mine is connective tissue health, which of course, is super-important for the eyes.
Eye health support for people with connective tissue problems
I have a hereditary connective tissue disorder, which makes my whole life (not just nutrition) revolve around connective tissue support. Because the eyes are largely connective tissue, my hard work in this area brought results for my vision! Of course, due to the bio-individual nature of my symptoms and triggers, I’ve learned to tailor my nutrition and lifestyle regimen over time to my needs. Needless to say, I have to adjust my regimen along the way because things change dynamically over time.
When I support clients who need connective tissue support, I recommend different things to different people. But with eye issues, one of the best connective tissue support is broth made with the whole (small-ish) animal, including the eyes. You can most easily accomplish this with any kind of poultry and/or fish.
For me, taking sufficient pre-formed vitamin A was important too, but what was really critical was working from a long-term, bio-individualized and big-picture approach to my health.
Why Bio-Individual Nutritional Therapy Works Best
Are you struggling with vision problems and wondering what you should do next? Without knowing your full history, it’s hard to say what would be best for your situation. I personally haven’t ever gotten much mileage out of generic advice.
Beyond broths made with the whole animal, including the eyes, as I mentioned above, there are a couple of other general points to keep in mind.
- Is your diet sufficient in pre-formed vitamin A? Note that only about 40% of people have the ability to effectively convert beta-carotene into vitamin A. Also, keep in mind that if you’re over-supplementing with vitamin D, you could be driving down your levels of vitamin A.
- Are you consuming a diet rich in eye-supporting nutrients, lutein and zeaxanthin? Read more here.
- Rule out exposure to mercury and other heavy metals, which can adversely affect eye health.
- Rule out copper dysregulation, which can affect retinal health.
Update: June 2020
“What have you done?”
I had my follow-up visual field test and get ready for it… my visual field has continued to improve, even since the amazing improvements I reported two years ago. How much improvement? My visual field is completely normal! Let this sink in. This is after I was told almost two decades ago that my retinal pigmentation had compromised my visual field so much that I shouldn’t drive a car and that I should expect the issue to worsen.
The eye doctor who ran my visual field test asked me, “What have you done to improve your retinal health so much?”
Not everyone with retinitis pigmentosa will be able to improve their visual field as much as I have. How much you can improve depends on the underlying cause and the contributing factors. But this experience has absolutely confirmed the incredible power of individualized nutrition to catalyze the body’s innate ability to rebalance and heal itself.
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If you are struggling with functional health problems, don’t try to resolve them all on your own! As a Functional Nutritional Therapy Practitioner with extensive training and clinical experience, I would love to help you reach your goals.
And if you’re a holistic healthcare practitioner wanting to support clients with complex health issues, including eye conditions, I’d love to have you in my clinical case study group.