Macular Degeneration Treatment Tips

I want you to know how easy it can be to quit. Don’t let the fear of smoking withdrawals put you off. Smoking withdrawal symptoms are not the monster you might have been led to expect!  I’m saying this and I was a die-hard smoking addict. So take heart, and read on …

After thirty-odd years of sucking on a ciggie I haven’t smoked for a couple of years now and I am very pleased about it. In every way this choice has had a positive effect on my life (and the lives of my nearest and dearest).

My sister, brother and I all started our nicotine habits in childhood. Our mother smoked two packets a day, and by the time we were adults we were not far behind.

I did try and stop, or smoke less, when I realized how my health was suffering. In fact, when I admitted the truth, I was only getting through the day by literally overdosing on asthma inhalers. I was asthmatic and the cigarettes were causing chronic inflammation.

I’d stay off the cigarettes while on camping holiday with my non-smoking partner. But every time I returned to my social circles, work mates and family who smoked, I’d start again.

It wasn’t until my sister, brother and I all received a big wake-up call that we changed the habit.

Our mother was very unwell with emphysema. She went into hospital for unrelated surgery, and tragically died just after the operation. She wasn’t even old. She hadn’t told the doctors she smoked heavily. The post-mortem revealed she also had lung cancer.

We made a pact to stop smoking - for our mother’s sake as well as for ourselves. Then my sister was diagnosed with emphysema herself, and contracted a chest infection so bad she was sure she was going to die. By now our younger brother was experiencing body numbness from poor circulation. So we really had to quit, to choose life and health.

Now we have all stopped smoking - and we were all surprised at how easy it was to do.

Stopping smoking is much easier than you think.

Before I gave up smoking for good I’d made a couple of serious attempts to stop, as I said, but my success didn’t last. A lot of people have the same experience so don’t worry if your first attempts don’t go well. You will get there. For me what made the difference was truly agreeing I needed to quit, I wanted to quit and I could do it. That brought me back to choice.

Here are a few useful ideas to keep in mind:

1. Stay away from shops and other smokers for the first few days. 

This does help. Sure, those first few days were a bit challenging. I had slight headaches and felt a bit lost. My brother found it difficult - but he knew he just had to last it out. He spent the first days on his own, and I encouraged him via some phone coaching! Still, it was all very mild compared with the shocking health declines we’d started to experience. And next thing we knew, smoking wasn’t even something we thought about.

So, you may feel sharp urges to reach for a cigarette, but you’ll be surprised how quickly they subside. Three days or so and you will be over this stage. Smoking withdrawal symptoms don’t go on and on.
 
2. Give yourself a break in routine.

3. Choose something you can do immediately - a replacement activity - instead of heeding an urge to smoke. It could be to drink a glass of water or juice, do one yoga stretch, leap up and dance for a minute, sing, read something to make you laugh, anything.

4. Instead of saying "I am giving up cigarettes", say something positive like "I am choosing health".

One of the things I really used to enjoy about smoking was the little breaks of relaxation, like sitting down for ten minutes with a cup of tea and a cigarette. So when I was quitting I still allowed myself those brief breaks. I’d sit down and say something like "this is my breathing space break", and I’d try to stay aware of each healthy smoke-free breath.

For me aging and increasing ill health were great motivators. I really do wish I’d stopped smoking years ago. So if you do smoke and you’re anywhere near wanting to quit I sincerely and heartily encourage you. Be firm but also be kind and gentle to yourself. Treat yourself as if you were your own dearest friend or beloved child.

The first is chronic inflammation. Smoking causes chronic inflammation because of the constant presence of pathogens and foreign particles inhaled in cigarette smoke.

Chronic inflammation is associated with many diseases, including cardiovascular problems. Inflammation is usually associated with the healing response of the immune system, but chronic inflammation also has destructive processes. There’s a comprehensive explanation of inflammation at http://www.virtualrespiratorycentre.com/symptoms.asp?sid=60, which makes it easy to understand.
 
As well as inflammation there is some evidence that certain chemicals in cigarettes can directly disrupt blood flow to the retina.

These chemicals also have an adverse effect on the antioxidants in our blood. Antioxidants are vital to eye health, and you can read about them in the Antioxidant Nutrition posts in the "Eye Health Nutrients" category of this site.

Smoking damage affects every part of your circulatory system. Nicotine constricts your blood vessels. This places extra stress on your heart and can raise blood pressure. The lining of the blood vessels is harmed by smoking. The damaged surface allows fat deposits to adhere which causes hardening of the arteries as well as other blood flow problems. Several studies show that people with cardiovascular disease have a greater risk of AMD macular.

Not smoking is one of the most important things you can do to protect your macula.

If you do smoke, be cautious taking vitamin supplements with high levels of vitamin A or beta carotene. Results are not conclusive but various tests have revealed an increase in lung cancer in smokers who took concentrated beta carotene and vitamin A.

Smokers are strongly advised to eat a diet rich in deep yellow, orange and dark green vegetables. These vegetables contain beta carotene which is converted to Vitamin A in the body. Beta carotene-rich food poses no risk to smokers, and helps to protect you from AMD macular. You can and should eat as much of these healthy foods as you like.

Other vitamins, such as vitamin C, become depleted in smokers. You need a fresh, healthy diet, water and juices and plenty of vitamins and minerals to help your body recover from smoking damage.

And of course the first and most important action, if you’re a smoker, is to quit.

I smoked for thirty-odd years and happily I’m still alive to tell the tale. You can read my story here.

Results vary slightly between countries, age groups, gender and genetic groupings but there is a consensus view that current smokers have a higher risk of developing macular degeneration eye disease than non smokers.

The risk factor ranges from two to four times more likely to develop the disease if you smoke.

When you stop smoking your risk decreases in the first few years by 5-10%. The risk keeps dropping by approximately 5% for every five years after quitting.

The macula is a tiny area in the centre of the retina.

The retina, the light-sensitive tissue at the back of the eye, processes all visual images. Photoreceptor cells in the retina are called ‘rods’ and ‘cones’. Rods are used for peripheral vision and seeing in dim light, while cone cells are needed for sharp sight in bright light.

The macula is packed with cone cells. It gives us detailed and color vision. Thanks to the macula we can see accurately when we look straight ahead. It’s also thanks to the macula we are able to drive, do fine work, recognize faces and read. You are using your macula to read this print.

The macula has a highly specialized blood and nerve supply. And more messages reach the brain from the macula than from any other separate part of the body.

So you see how vital this tiny bit of the eye is to our understanding of the world.

The macula is normally a slightly darker color in the middle because of more pigment in the RPE. It may also look yellowish because of luteal pigment in the inner layers of the retina. This pigment protects the macula from light damage.

If your eyes lose pigment, macular health is threatened and so is your sight. Aging eyes have less pigment, and so do blue or pale-colored eyes.

That’s why we’ve written about the different things you can do to look after your eyes and specifically the macula. Things like wearing good sunglasses, eating vision-friendly foods, and testing your sight. It’s also important to give up smoking and to do some exercise if you can. And you can support your vision by taking a daily supplement formulated for macular health.

Make sure it contains Lutein and Zeaxanthin, as well as other eye nutrients. For more information read our posts on "Lutein Vitamins", "Antioxidant Nutrition" and "Eye Health Nutrients" (see category on right).

Why are Lutein and Zeaxanthin important for macular health? They:

    •    shield the macula from harmful UV light
    •    improve macular pigmentation
    •    have powerful antioxidant properties
    •    have an affinity with the macula
    •    are naturally present in high concentrations in a healthy macula

The good news is that both Lutein and Zeaxanthin are now available for you to take in supplement form. They can be made from ground-up marigold petals or else synthesized. So if your natural levels of these carotenoids have depleted, you can replace them.

It’s not!

Here’s what happens.

When you have the little yellow lumps called drusen on the macula in your eye, they may enlarge or merge with others. They may also gradually disappear. This is because of atrophy, or loss of tissue.

Cells in the RPE (retinal pigment epithelium) wear thin, lose pigment and then die. Light-sensitive cone cells in the retina (and macula) are no longer properly supported and nourished, so they die too. With atrophy, macular drusen then gradually disappear. They leave behind round areas where the RPE cells and cone cells have died.

An optometrist looking into your eye will be able to see straight through these round spots to the large blood vessels in the choroid. It’s like looking through a window in the retinal pigment layer.

Further to this, new ("abnormal") veins may grow up into these areas, causing ‘wet’ macular degeneration.

Drusen, these yellow or whitish lumps, are deposits of accumulated or waste material. It’s thought to be largely lipids (fats), fatty waste products from the photoreceptor cells, &/or debris from deteriorating tissue. Many different kinds of chemicals and cellular components have been identified in analyzed drusen, so they’re seen as a sort of trash heap.

‘Drusen’ is a German word for stones. It was used because the deposits of matter look like little pebbles.

How and why do macular drusen form? The cause isn’t totally known. It could be largely because as the body’s fine processes (cell transfer, etc) slow down with age, they become less efficient. So waste products don’t get transported away as cleanly.

When drusen appear on or near the macula, it’s a sign of developing macular degeneration eye disease, and a threat to your vision.

If you want to know more detail, there are two sorts of drusen. Soft drusen, which are pale yellow, often large, with indistinct edges, are the dangerous ones. They evolve to macular degeneration. Hard drusen, which are round, yellow, with well-defined edges, tend not to be a problem.

Large drusen cause more disturbance than small ones. Studies show that eyes with large drusen go on to develop severe AMD with vision loss much more often than eyes with small drusen.

Here are some questions for your eye specialist:

    •    Do you see drusen (deposits) in my eyes?
    •    Are they large or small drusen?
    •    Are they near the macula?
    •    How many drusen are there?

Drusen in your eyes don’t necessarily mean you have macular degeneration. You can have drusen for years without your vision being affected. And drusen far from the macula may not be a problem at all. But if you have these deposits there’s the risk you’ll develop AMD.

More than a few medium-sized macular drusen or one large one indicate dry macular degeneration. The cells of the retina can then wear thin, lose pigment or disappear.

Remember there are two types of macular degeneration, ‘dry’ and ‘wet’. They are not mutually exclusive. Dry macular degeneration can develop into wet. Less than 10% of people with macular drusen develop wet AMD. The wet form is far less common, but more severe in its effects.

In wet (neovascular) AMD, abnormal blood vessels develop beneath the retina. These leak fluid and bleed. Swelling and scarring causes distorted vision and ultimately blindness.
 
So these questions relate to signs of wet AMD:

    •    Does my retina look raised?
    •    Do you see any abnormal blood vessels?
    •    Is there any bleeding, or leaking fluid visible at the back of the retina?
    •    Can you see any other abnormality?

A further test for wet macular degeneration is called fluorescein angiography. The specialist injects dye into your arm, and photographs your eye as the dye enters the blood vessels behind it.

As well as being aware of your vision specifics, have regular eye exams.

How Often Should You Have Your Eyes Tested?

Some experts advise that you take the Amsler Grid test every day. You can view a video demonstration of the Amsler Grid in our post titled Macular Degeneration Test You Can Do At Home.

You can download an Amsler Grid in PDF form by visiting My Vision Test at http://www.myvisiontest.com/amslergrid.php.

They also offer two new vision tests you can take, based on the Amsler Grid model. The new tests can pick up vision changes in ways that the original Amsler Grid may miss. Take the vision tests at http://www.myvisiontest.com/exam.php.

Other than your own daily testing experts suggest that older people should have their eyes checked at least once a year.

If you cannot afford vision testing, The National Eye Institute lists organizations that provide financial aid for eye care. Visit http://www.nei.nih.gov/health/financialaid.asp

In Australia eye testing is free under Medicare.

In the UK free eye testing is available to people in certain situations. To find out more visit http://www.nhs.uk/chq/Pages/895.aspx?CategoryID=68&SubCategoryID=157

PINK:  Salmon is a terrific food for intake of omega 3 essential fatty acids (EFAs). It’s also called a "brain food". So are prawns and seafood, which contain selenium (a key mineral for macular eye degeneration). How delicious.

WHITE (cream, etc):  Garlic and onions contain selenium too. Potatoes are a good natural starchy food and give us potassium; new potatoes in their skins are a source of vitamin C. There’s cauliflower, daikon and tofu. White fish too. Fish is excellent in the diet, and deep-sea or oily fish have extra benefits. Those little white bones in tinned salmon can give you calcium. (You can even grind eggshells, as a doctor once told me to, but they’re too horrible.) Yoghurt can give you calcium and improve the digestive system, while milk and other dairy foods provide retinol (vitamin A).

White foods not to go overboard on, however, include white sugar and white flour in processed products. Salt deserves a mention: mineral-rich ocean salt is good for you, while commercial pouring salt is definitely not.

BROWN: Moving from creamy colours into the browns of the colour range, we find all sorts of staple and excellent  foods. Nuts: almonds, brazil nuts, walnuts can all be called "superfoods." Seeds, wholegrains (including rice, both brown and white)and wholegrain breads, chickpeas, lentils and other legumes. Seaweed, which you can buy dried and add to soups, is mineral-rich. Liver and kidney, if you eat them, are another source of retinol for vitamin A. And a small amount of quality chocolate can be good for you!

On a general note, remember to drink plenty of clean, filtered or spring water. Juices (freshly-made vegetable and fruit juices) are wonderful for health.

Fresh fruits, berries and vegetables as listed in yesterday’s "rainbow" are high in vitamins, carotenoids and flavinoids, and the best antioxidants, many specific to age macular degeneration and eye health. If possible, eat organic food as its nutrients are far superior (and it tastes far better). Eat the skins of many organic fruits or veges instead of peeling them, as vitamins are often concentrated in or just under the skin. But pesticides and chemical sprays also concentrate there, so it’s a good idea to scrub or peel non-organic produce.