PAGE 28 MONTANA SENIOR NEWS
DECEMBER 2013/JANUARY 2014
increasing activity levels is recommended since inactivity is detrimental despite the temporary relief of symptoms that may accompany it. Therapeutic exercise can include range-of-motion exercises, stretching, strength training, water therapy, and cardiovascular conditioning. Therapeutic exercise is beneficial for restoring flexibility, strength, endurance, function, range of motion, and can alleviate discomfort. Mind-body Interventions include relaxation, meditation, guided imagery, biofeedback, and
hypnosis. Relaxation and biofeedback are directed toward helping people become aware of their ability to exert some control over physical processes of which they are not normally aware such as muscle tension, heart rate, skin temperature, and breathing. There is a variety of meditative practices, with the most studied one being mindfulness-based stress reduction, a variation of meditation. Hypnosis is a state of deep relaxation that involves selective focusing, receptive concentration, and minimal motor functioning. Individuals can be
taught to use hypnosis themselves, and the use of self-hypnosis can provide pain relief for up to several hours at a time. Relaxation, self-hypnosis, and meditation techniques are a form of physiologic self-management. They assist individuals with muscle relaxation and distraction from pain and illness perception. Although autoimmune diseases are complicated, they can be managed, you just have to find the methods that work for you. MSN
Glaucoma – The Silent Thief of Vision By Chad Bouterse, DO Glaucoma is an eye condition that results in a progressive, painless loss of peripheral vision. If left untreated, it will eventually affect the central vision (which is used to drive and read) and can result in total blindness. It is the number two cause of irreversible blindness over the age of 60 in the United States with only macular degeneration af-
fecting more people. So what exactly is glaucoma? To answer that question, we need to start with some simple eye anatomy. The eye is kept inflated with a fluid similarly to the way a basketball is filled with air. This fluid, called the aqueous humor, provides nutrients to the eye to keep it healthy. Fresh fluid and nutrients are constantly being pumped into the eye as older fluid is drained out. Imagine a bathtub that has the faucet turn on to deliver the same amount of water into the tub that is flowing down the drain. A bathtub setup this way will stay full, but not overflow. This results in the eye retaining a certain level of fluid pressure called the intraocular pressure (like the air pressure in a tire or basketball). Everyone’s intraocular pressure is unique to his or her own eyes. The range that is generally considered normal is between 5 and 22 (mm of Hg). However, everyone’s individual eye has a certain pressure it can tolerate before the eye overinflates and causes damage to the optic nerve. The optic nerve is like a cable that connects your eye to the brain. As the pressure increases, it pushes against this cable at the back of the eye and overtime permanently damages it. This injury prevents the eye from transmitting the images you are seeing to the brain. It generally starts by taking away your far peripheral vision and can go on for years without someone’s noticing vision changes. Once vision is lost to glaucoma, it is gone forever.