NIH reference: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4911456/
I avoid doing head stands and similar movements, but now I have to rethink the hip and posterior chain stretches that have me placing my elbows on the mat in front of me... Ugh.
And the only reason I'm doing further research is that after I got home from the gym, I noticed my left eye seemed bloodshot. It had been achy even before I went to workout so I wasn't horribly worried, but hours later I was concerned enough to administer a few drops of anti-inflammatory meds. Thank goodness for left over medications!
However, overall, it appears that cardio exercise produces lower IOPs in most people so it's only exercises that might require greater exertion, and holding one's breath (VM, aka Valsalva Maneuvers) that are a cause for concern. That includes bench pressing and dead lifts. Actually, that probably includes pull ups too because it's hard to inhale properly when doing this movement. Ugh.
The NIH article rightfully concludes that it's not possible to know currently whether exercise is beneficial or not because activities that raise IOP may cause lower IOP readings afterwards, but it's not known whether the subsequent lower pressures are enough to mitigate any damage that occurs during the actual exercise itself. There's also the pre-workout, which for me is just a cup of coffee. Caffeine is shown to increase blood pressure, heart rate, and IOP, but I'm not about to give up my breakfast beverage. Besides, it's just one cup.
However, I will have to look at the SuperBeets® that my hubs swears by. I had a dose yesterday before going to the gym. It has a very pleasant beety taste (one tsp in 6-8 oz of water), and is suppose to increase nitric oxide in the body, which enhances blood flow and increases circulation. I'm told that a dose is the equivalent of eating 3 whole beets. Recent online literature suggests that nitric oxide might be useful in lowering IOPs by targeting the trabecular meshwork of the eye.
The Valeant pharma drug Vesneo, renamed Vyzulta and marketed by Bausch & Lomb, received FDA approval last November. Unfortunately, recent studies show that the new drug only drops IOPs by 1mmHg, which is not a lot. On the other hand, this occurred in 50% of the participants, so it's not a statistical fluke. The other participants were on plain ol' latanoprost, which is what I was on before my doc decided that the brand name Travatan® was a better drug. Personally, I don't think there was any difference, and the generic latanoprost is cheaper. As it is, my IOPs have been rising steadily over the past year. High IOPs are anything over 22, so Tuesday's right eye reading of 19 is rather alarming. Realistically, I don't think there's any way my IOPs will ever drop to <10 mmHg.
Reference: https://www.glaucoma.org/news/blog/new-nitric-oxide-medication-to-reduce-intraocular-pressure-takes-on-glaucoma-from-a-new-angle.php
I guess I'm going to give up heavy (160 lbs+) RDLs because I really don't want to exacerbate my glaucoma. Any weight that has me holding my breath to move it is potentially sight-threatening, so that's that. Sigh. High reps and middling weights are okay for me. As long as I'm doing something! I can even make peace with the bike and the treadmill, but I'm going to sneak in pull ups, and some push ups too... Gym Rats are adaptive.
No comments:
Post a Comment