Hi Wbodri,
I have some protocols/recommendations/complementary medicine
treatments for you for eye floaters that I found in a variety of
places (all cited below). First of all, let me note that I am a
librarian, not a doctor, so everything here is just the result of
literature research and is not medical advice. Also, eye floaters can
be caused by a number of things, including nutrition, stress, and
(most scary) a retinal tear, so it is important to see an
opthalmologist to help determine the source of the floaters. They
will not necessarily "go away over time", and ignoring them could
result in serious complications later on. I should also note that the
complementary medicine treatments are generally for non-retinal
detachment cases of vitreous floaters - and that surgery is usually
necessary for that kind of floater.
Dr. Zoltan Rona and Dr. Karen Schad Byers suggest several treatments:
alternate hot and cold compresses over the eyes with a washcloth
(always end with cold)
Bates eye exercises (see 'The Art of Seeing' by Aldous Huxley for protocol)
spinal manipulation, especially to the neck and mid-back
castor oil or honey eye drops (1 drop 2x day)
eyebright tea internally (1-2 cups per day) and as an eyewash
vitamin C in very high doses (two grams every hour for 18 hours) - Dr.
Schad Byers notes that this was written up as a personal report in the
Rodal Encyclopedia of Home Remedies, and may not be effective for
everyone (or appropriate - high levels of vitamins can sometimes be
dangerous).
"Other treatments that can generally help include acupressure,
especially on the eye points, acute or constitutional homeopathy, a
cleansing diet or fasting and taking digestive aids between meals to
help the body clean up sludge (congestion from excess or wrong
foods.)" - Dr. Schad Byers
"Similasan Natural Eye Drops #1 would be an ideal homeopathic product
to use for a long list of benign eye conditions." - Dr. Rona
Dr. Rona also notes that a number of blood tests can rule out food
allergies or nutritional defects that might be causing them, including
the "RAST blood test, the ELISA/ACT test and a new test called the
DSP-1."
Citations: ALIVE ADVISOR , By: Schad Byers, Karen, Alive: Canadian
Journal of Health & Nutrition, 0228586X, Apr90, Issue 100
ALIVE ADVISOR , By: Rona, Zoltan, Alive: Canadian Journal of Health &
Nutrition, 0228586X, Jun91, Issue 110
Database: AltHealthWatch (EBSCO)
The Aldous Huxley "Art of Seeing" book was published in 1942 by Harper
and many times since. I'm seeing in the WorldCat online catalog of US
and world libraries that it is widely held in various incarnations, so
you should not have a problem finding it. It's also available for
sale on Amazon.com. And yes, this is the Aldous Huxley of "Brave New
World."
I did a search in PubMed MEDLINE (www.pubmed.gov) for "vitreous
floaters" (this is the more medical term) and found that all
treatments described were surgical in nature - mainly using the Nd-YAG
laser to repair retinal tears or detachments. Limiting the search to
the complementary subset returned no results.
A brief scan of pages returned for searches for "eye floaters" and
"complementary medicine" or "naturopathic" indicate a number of
supplements, mainly vitamin C, for treating eye floaters. I think
this website has particularly helpful information (including
protocols):
VisionWorks, Inc: Floaters
http://www.visionworksusa.com/disease.asp?d_num=6
They recommend an herbal tincture (take orally) to cleanse the liver,
or capsules or solution of milk thistle extract to do the same. They
also suggest other supplements that help make the eyes more porous to
nutrients.
It's somewhat hard to find others using a standard search, since most
pages seem to point to this one or are discussion boards about vitamin
C.
I hope this information helps! Please let me know if I can clarify
anything in my answer for you, otherwise good luck!
- Librariankt |