Cataracts

AnnB

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Hi All,
Wonder if you've read anything on how long it takes for cataracts to resolve with a Peat Diet and plenty of bicarbonate/CO2 in the diet. The article/newsletter I reread today said they could be resolved, but didn't say how long.

My husband quit drinking diet sodas a few months back and cataracts became evident or at least much worse. He's scheduled for cataract surgery Nov. 7. I'm thinking perhaps even that it kept them at bay to some extend until the Diabetes diagnosis and misread labs for hypothyroidism and then low carb diet since March/April.

I know late to new diet to correct any health issues and this is the biggest one that conflicts with seeing to drive safely, etc.

Would be nice if it corrected itself as quickly as the blood glucose seems to be correcting/corrected.

I don't have Dr. Peat's e-mail...unless it hasn't changed from ********

Thanks,
AnnB
 

charlie

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Ann, thats the email address. I have blotted it out because Ray Peat is getting a ton of emails and he has taken his email address off his site. So I figure it best that we do not broadcast it out.

If you get anymore information about cataracts from his please pass it on!
 
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AnnB

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Thank you Charlie...for removing the e-mail address. Good call.
If I ever have a sensitive question like that again, I'll private mail you directly.

I got a short e-mail out to Dr. Peat. However, I think I got back to Peat a bit too late to prevent cataract surgery for my husband. But there are numerous other benefits in the future on this WOE/living.,,,so all is good.

All the best,
AnnB
 
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AnnB

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Hey All,
I got a response. Just to be sure, did I get from his response that bicarbonate solution for eye drops is the thing to do? That's what I already had in mind/made sense to do in addition to orally chugging some bicarbonate in water.
AnnB


E-Mail correspondence Today Nov. 2. 2012

Ann B

8:26 AM (6 hours ago)

to raypeat
Hello Dr. Peat,
I've reread your 1998 newsletter "The Transparency of life: Cataracts as a model of age-related disease.

Four days ago I asked my husband (age 60) to follow me off low carb diet and (begin) taking thyroid (cynoplus and cynomel), pregnenolone 25 (mg) chewable, adding sugar to his coffee, and increasing CO2 with bicarbonate and carbonated soda. He was eating and is continuing to enjoy pork rinds daily....unless gelatin would be better for him for now.

How soon would he likely see any improvement to the cataracts? ...enough to delay the surgery. His sight is too poor to really be a safe driver, or operator or farm machinery. In different lighting he experiences easier/more difficulty reading of print.

Thank you,
Ann B
ray peat

10:25 AM (4 hours ago)

to me
I think it would have to used as eyedrops to have a noticeable effect in less than a few months.
My brother used both thyroid and high doses of aspirin, in his seventies, and didn't know when the cataracts disappeared, since he didn't have an eye exam for a few years.

I'm going to be traveling for three weeks and don't know when I'll be able to check email.
 

charlie

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Interesting, wish we knew for sure if he was talking about baking soda. Maybe get in another quick email before he heads out?
 
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AnnB

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Well, I did get a thank you to him with reference that I would start bicarbonate water eyedrops. So, if that is not what he meant, we can hope he gets back to me soon.

However, if he's already gone, (it's been four hours) then who knows.

AnnB
 
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AnnB

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to ray
Dr. Peat,
Thank you. The bicarbonate eyedrops made sense to me. We will start them.
All the best,
Ann



4:54 PM (33 minutes ago)
to me
It's important to test different solutions, starting with a 1% salt solution, and adding a small amount of bicarbonate to it in stages, testing it for comfort each time. It shouldn't irritate the eyes.


4:56 PM (31 minutes ago)
to ray
Dr. Peat,
Thank you once again. Will make up the salt solution (pickling salt) and add in the bicarbonate as you suggest. And test it on me, first.
Ann
 

charlie

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Very cool! Thank you, Ann. Let us know how the drops go. Is your husband still going to do the surgery?
 
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AnnB

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Most likely, unless the drops make a remarkable difference in the next few days. Otherwise, the 7th is the first eye.

And his sight is so poor, he's quite frankly a danger to himself and others to be driving. As a farmer, he can manage around here and our very small town, but to the cities of any size and traffic, it's a different story.

And he's pretty miserable not being able to see much. He'll be shocked at what he's been missing for the last year or so and the last 3 months especially. He has difficulty even enjoying the grandsons due to his poor vision. Everything looks like it's covered in fog.

And, HA!, I probably will not be as attractive anymore, not having that photographers haze to soften my wrinkles, etc. I'll live..... He'll probably also be shocked at his own appearance. Again, he'll live....
 

kiran

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AnnB said:
And, HA!, I probably will not be as attractive anymore, not having that photographers haze to soften my wrinkles, etc. I'll live..... He'll probably also be shocked at his own appearance. Again, he'll live....

Going Peat should help with that overall. Especially the gelatin.
 

nwo2012

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AnnB said:
Most likely, unless the drops make a remarkable difference in the next few days. Otherwise, the 7th is the first eye.

And his sight is so poor, he's quite frankly a danger to himself and others to be driving. As a farmer, he can manage around here and our very small town, but to the cities of any size and traffic, it's a different story.

And he's pretty miserable not being able to see much. He'll be shocked at what he's been missing for the last year or so and the last 3 months especially. He has difficulty even enjoying the grandsons due to his poor vision. Everything looks like it's covered in fog.

And, HA!, I probably will not be as attractive anymore, not having that photographers haze to soften my wrinkles, etc. I'll live..... He'll probably also be shocked at his own appearance. Again, he'll live....

The pregnenolone face-lift will help. Also rubbing some Progest-E into the wrinkles.
Good luck.
 

BingDing

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Just a bump, an intriguing thread. If AnnB is still around, can you give us an update?

Anyone have any more ideas, input, linkies? Cataracts are Advanced Glycation Endproducts (AGEs), we all have a broad interest in these.
 

SQu

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My dog's cataracts reversed since I've been peating and she's been getting peaty leftovers. The changes are more protein; entirely of the non muscle meat variety, when I make stock. Lots of gelatin. Skin, chicken feet in particular. We do live at altitude, but all our old dogs get cataracts anyway, until this.
 

Bingo

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Anyone try the salt and baking soda drops? I love reading from this forum, but don't post much. Been eating the dairy and fruit, high protein and sugar, low PUFA for about 10 months. Love my coffee and dark soy free chocolate. Even like carrots. Gelatin gives me a headache, but I find other ways to up protein. Love liver and oysters. As Fall is approaching and days are getting shorter I had to drive at night for the first time in a while. Well my cataracts are worse judging by the glare from the lights. As i am only 43 this is a bit alarming.

Now I am wanting to get started with whatever will make it safe for me to drive. It seems to me the salt and baking soda solution might not be stable. Wouldnt the CO2 leave the liquid after a few hours? I suppose this would need to be made fresh at least daily. Anyone have an opinion about that?

There are eye drops for sale at Swanson's vitamins that the makers cant claim help cataracts but state evidence that they do. N-acetyl carnosine i think is the ingredient. Should have written it down before I posted here. Can-C is one brand, the others have the same ingredients but are less expensive. Probably i would buy the life extension drops as they cost the least. One of the ingredients is a bicarbonate which makes me wonder if they do work and if the actual mechanism involves CO2. Still i cant see how the CO2 could be stable in solution. Perhaps a chemist out there might know for sure?

Any other ideas on what to try to reverse cataracts? Anyone have success with this? Might be three years before my PUFA stores are depleted and that would be a long time to wait....
 

Birdie

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Bumping this. Agree with BingDing.
Wonder if Bingo is still reading here.

I did reverse cataracts about 15 years ago. The ophthalmologist who had told me I "wouldn't have to worry" about surgery for three years, later told me there was no evidence of cataracts. That was at my next appointment 2 years later.

Now, I've gotten the warning again. I used bilberry last time.
 

Birdie

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Well, I've heard a lot, but anyway. I'm not looking for another magic bullet supplement. Maybe others are.

Bingo, I think you'd make the salt/baking soda drops each time fresh.
I use a water baking soda wash for my eyes... I might look into the drops.
I wonder if anybody here has used them?

Since the bilberry approach seemed to work for me last time, I'm using it again.
And really a RP multiple approach including, well, food and everything. :bouquet:
 

Birdie

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And if cataracts are an example of age related measures of progress, and they seem to be that, then it isn't a magic bullet approach we want anyway. We want to solve the health situation that causes them. That said, I'll take just solving the cataracts as a first step.
 

Sheila

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Just a note about n-acetyl carnosine eye drops (eg. CAN-C) suggested as a wonder cure for cataracts, especially 'early' cataracts. And then a few other observations fwiw.

These eye drop preparations contain benzyl alcohol as a preservative at 0.9% and 'stinging' is reported as a side effect in some, purportedly due to differences in pH between the user's eye fluid and the drops. That may be so, but it is a sure sign of some kind of irritation which Dr Peat suggests should be avoided. I rather suspect such a reaction is to the preservative, which is a 'sensitiser' capable of causing severe irritation. Of course some people will be more reactive in this respect than others, and there are plenty of reports of miracle cures, but a friend of mine developed a nasty bloodshot eye, the likes of which I have only ever seen from direct incident trauma, after just FOUR drops, spaced over two days. Caveat emptor.

In certain circumstances, irritation can have some benefits. Again, it is dose, it is frequency, it is longevity of treatment and the state of the person undergoing that treatment, that are important to consider. There is a fine line between stimulation of a desired effect and over-stimulation causing harm longer term and the line will depend on the state of the person as well as preferably not using known irritants. However, the old herbalist, Dr Christopher's eyewash remedy contains cayenne, ostensibly to cause counter irritation and blood flow to engender healing. I have used that one in the past and it does seem to work well (it also contains bayberry, cayenne, eyebright, golden seal and red raspberry leaves) to improve eyesight, colours etc., but boy does it sting, at least at first until the eye has 'toughened up' possibly due to the tannins etc in the remaining constituents improving structure and thereby function. I am wary now of the potential to do harm with counter irritants in more fragile eyes - although again, reports of Dr Christopher's formula helping with senile cataracts over the years (where you would also expect a degree of sensitivity in the older user) abound. Still caveat emptor.

I have had success using a saturated sterile salt solution on a cotton pad, placed on the OUTSIDE of the eyelids for 10 mins or so, 2 x daily. I had a lass with bulging eyes from acute thyroiditis who gained great relief from this, again, you're just shrinking oedematous tissue, whilst we worked more internally. I would not, of course, put that IN the eye but it seemed to cause some transient improvement in vision clarity in those older and less sensitivity to hayfever-inducing triggers (merely by strengthening the area, improving structure, improving function). Eye washes using fennel, chamomile, black tea, eyebright tea mixes 2x daily have also proved useful in older age eye conditions, together with all the internal improvements we try to make.

I am going to try the weak salt solution and bicarbonate and report back in due course.
Sincerely
Sheila
 

Birdie

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Thanks for commenting, Sheila. I wanted to report back on my progress with cataracts and you reminded me.

I did use the Can-C, which is not RP advice btw. I'd read the stinging was a pH thing and found that if I used the bicarb/saltwater wash first, they didn't sting with the Can-C. If I didn't take the time for that, they did sting. I used the drops 2x a day for about 4 months. Then once a day for a month.

When I visited the ophthalmologist, he didn't mention finding cataracts. When I quizzed him, he said I had "very minor" ones. Good news there. But he said I have Drusen indicating possible future macular degeneration... He advised I use certain brand of supplement. Being stunned, I didn't ask what was in the sup. Later, when I looked up the sup, saw I was using most of the ingredients already. Only his had excipients I didn't want. He told me this sup worked to prevent MD 100% of the time. Just telling you what he said. Not RP here, but my doc.

The sup contained vit A, lutein and zeaxanthin. I continue using the bicarb/water solution every morning which helps with itchy eyes and blepharitis. (I did an extensive treatment plan for blepharitis last winter and continue parts of that still.) I keep a weeks supply of the solution, so it's easy to use.
 
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