- Age-related macular degeneration can be stopped and reversed
- It is vital to determine and treat the causes of the degenerationâusually a combination of nutrient deficiencies and digestive difficulties
- A treatment program of intravenous minerals, herbs, amino acids, vitamin supplements, and often hormones, has been used for over twenty-five years with tremendous success
Age-related macular degeneration (also termed âdryâ macular degeneration) is preventable, and prevention is always best! Itâs not widely known that the progress of age-related macular degeneration can be stoppedâand very frequently significantly improvedâfor the majority of individuals with dry macular degeneration with a treatment program developed at Tahoma Clinic during the 1980s.
My father was diagnosed with dry macular degeneration by an ophthalmologist; at the time, he was told his vision was 20/80 (with glasses) in each eye. After the being treated with the Tahoma Clinic Macular Regeneration Program, he said he could see significantly better; the same ophthalmologist told him his vision (again with glasses) had improved to 20/30 in each eye. In 1990 we published two case studies[i] describing successful treatment of dry macular degeneration. The Tahoma Clinic Macular Regeneration program is so often successful because it treats one of the major causes of the problem!
No, weâre not eye doctors! Thatâs why we insist that all diagnoses be made by each individualâs eye doctor, and that everyone we treat have their visual acuity (20/20, 20/30, etc.) determined by an eye care professional. Understandably, itâs unbelievableâespecially to medical doctorsâthat a ânatural medicine clinicâ has been stopping and often reversing deterioration in dry macular degeneration for thirty years.
It was unbelievable to Dr. Tom Dorman, too, a California physician who relocated to Washington state to join Tahoma Clinic in the 1990s, where he practiced for several years before moving on to his own practice. He wrote the following in 1998:
It was an amazing experience when I joined the Tahoma Clinicâthat I found a routine for managing macular degeneration. It would have been impolite of me to have said what I thought: âIt cannot be.â Of all the forms of quackery, the assumption that a nutritional physician could cure that which the specialist for the eye could not was the most brazen and not likely to be substantiated. Now, in retrospect, I am glad that I did not hastily express skepticism.
It fell to me, however, to follow the protocol established at the clinic and treat many of the individuals who flocked (and who still flock) to our clinic asking for help with this disease. Mostly the disease was diagnosed correctly by their ophthalmologists across the land, and mostly they were told and are still being told that nothing can be done: âThe prognosis is hopeless.â
Well, having utilized the protocol for macular degeneration in my own practice for one-and-a-half years, since my move from California to Washington state, I can testify from the clinical experience I have gained personally that about seven out of ten of the patients who have come in with this diagnosis (and only those in whose case the diagnosis was correctly made) benefited substantially from the regime used to improve their vision. One must emphasize that in advanced cases, the dosage of the nutrients required isso high that these need to be administered through an intravenous protocol carefully. Accordingly, this is usually done in our clinic setting. A course of treatment of about eight weeks is required. Many of these people come and stay in motels near the clinic during the course of their treatment; but what a boon it is to save oneâs vision! I, for one, now stand foursquare behind this routine, based on my clinical experience.
âThomas Dorman, MD
Thank you to Dr. Dormanâwho sadly is no longer with usâfor this independent perspective on the Tahoma Clinic Macular Degeneration Program!
Treat the cause
As noted above, our program is so often successful because it treats the cause. This case studyâfirst published in 1996âis an excellent illustration of one of the major causes of dry macular degeneration.
Elaine and Tom MacDonald walked to my office, Tom guiding Elaine as unobtrusively as he could. He showed her a chair, and they both sat down.
âAs you may have guessed, Iâm not seeing as well as Iâd like,â Elaine began. âMy eye doctor tells me itâs macular degeneration in both eyes, though the left is worse than the right. Iâve been taking those vitamins that eye doctors are starting to use these days, but they donât seem to be helping at all, and my vision is slowly getting worse.â
âWeâve heard you have a treatment that can help macular degeneration sometimes,â Tom said. âWeâre hoping itâs not to late to help Elaine.â
âAs it is now, I can read an interstate highway sign if Iâm standing right in front of it,â Elaine said. âAnd thatâs with my glasses on. I was a teacher before I retired, and I so miss being able to read my books and newspapers.â
âOf course she canât drive anywhere either,â Tom added.
âHowâs your health otherwise?â I asked.
âAs far as I can tell, itâs OK. I donât have the energy Iâd like, but then Iâm 67, so I guess thatâs to be expected.â
âNo other bothersome symptoms?â
âNone that I can think of.â
I asked about her health history, family health history, diet, and exercise. Then we went to an examination room for a physical exam. All appeared OK until we got to her fingers. Her nails bent very easily.
âExcuse me, but your fingernails arenât very strong, are they?â
âTheyâve been that way all my life. Never have been able to grow nice nails like some women do. Mine, they crack, peel, chip. . . . I took gallons of gelatin when I was younger, but it never helped. The last few years Iâve been taking a lot of calcium, it helps a little. Theyâre stronger for a while, but then bad again. Canât really put it together with anything.â
âDo you get cramps in your legs?â
âYes.â
âHow often?â
âOh, two or three times a week, especially at night, but occasionally when Iâve been doing a lot of walking. But thereâs nothing unusual about that, is there? Tom gets them, too, and so do some of our friends. We thought it just went with our time of life, like this gray hair.â She touched her head.
âYouâre right,â I replied. âThose of us past fifty do get more leg cramps than younger people, but those cramps arenât an inevitable part of aging. Theyâre a correctable malfunction.â
I made a few notes. We finished her exam, and went back to my office.
âWhat shall I do first about eyes?â Elaine asked. âIâm anxious to get started right away.â
âFirst, have your stomach tested. . . .â
âMy stomach? How will that help my eyes?â
âAs we get older, an increasing number of symptoms and health problems need to be approached by checking the stomach and the rest of the digestion first. By the time weâre sixty, at least half of us who have symptoms or health problems have problems with digestion and nutrient assimilation. The leg cramps that you and many past-fifty people have are usually a symptom of inadequate digestion and assimilation of calcium, magnesium, potassium, and other minerals.
âIn your particular case,â I continued, âitâs likely youâve had digestion/assimilation problems for years. If we donât âpatch upâ these problems as best we can, we wonât have as much of a chance to help your eyes, since all the nutrients our eyes need enter our bodies through the digestive tract.â
âMaybe thatâs why these vitamins the eye doctor gave me arenât working?â she asked.
âLikely thatâs part of it, but they donât have all the necessary nutrients, and the few they do contain are in very small quantities.â
âWhy do you think Iâve had digestion problems for years?â Elaine asked. âI donât have any digestive symptoms, as far as I can tell.â
âYour fingernails. A large majority of women who have cracking, peeling, chipping fingernails also have poor stomach and digestive function.â
âReally? Youâre saying I could have had glamorous fingernails all these years had I only known?â
âDonât know about glamorous, but at least a lot stronger. But getting back to tests . . . along with the stomach test, we need to check further on your digestion through a stool analysis, looking at mineral levels, amino acids, and hormones, particularly testosterone.â
âSo far,â Elaine said, âI think I understand checking my digestion and the mineralsâeven these vitamins that you say are weak have mineralsâbut amino acids? Testosterone?â
âAmino acids are the building blocks of protein. If we hope to rebuild cells and tissues, we need to make sure amino acids are adequate. Yours have a higher probability of being low. . . .â
âBecause of poor digestion and assimilation.â
âExactly.â
âBut what about testosterone?â Tom asked. âWhat does that have to do with eyes?â
âItâs certainly not the most important factor, but vision is so important that we want to cover all the bases right away. Testosterone is the most powerful anabolic steroid that our bodies make naturally. Anabolic steroids do much more than stimulate the growth of muscles. They stimulate repair and regrowth of many damaged body tissues. Iâve observed that correcting unusually low levels of testosterone can help tissue repair in either sex.â
âHow long will it take to get the tests done so I can get started?â
âThe tests are important, but I recommend you start treatment today or tomorrow, as soon as your tests are turned in. Over the years, Iâve found that if we give key nutrients intravenously, particularly zinc and selenium, twice weekly, we make much faster progress. We make sure the quantities are safe, of course, but also sufficient to do the job.â
âJust zinc and selenium?â
âThose are the most important minerals, but we make sure to back them up with a variety of minerals and other nutrients. And of course, Iâll ask you to start with oral supplementation, too.â
âBut what about digesting and assimilating them properly?â
âYour stomach test will be completed and the results known today; the remaining tests on your digestion will be completed in just two or three days.â
âWhat about the rest of the tests? Shouldnât we wait for them?â Tom asked.
âWeâll adjust or add to what weâre doing as soon as they become available, but since we know many of the major items of importance we can start them right away.â
âHow often does this work?â Elaine asked.
âNot every time, but definitely more than half the time.â
âHow long before I know one way or another?â
âIn my experience, if we use the IVs, digestive aids, all the oral supplements, and hormones if necessary, you can seeâliterallyâresults starting in four to six weeks. If thereâs been no improvement in six to eight weeks, then itâs not likely this all will help.â
âI hope it works for me,â she said. âIn addition to the IVs, what supplements should I take?â
âVery, very likely, the list will start with taking betaine hydrochloride with pepsin at meals, to replace what your stomach likely isnât doing, and pancreatic enzymes after meals. Together, these should restore a large part of weak digestive function.
âWeâve already covered zinc and selenium, two most important minerals,â I continued. âVitamin E and taurine are very important, too. Bilberry and ginkgoâherbal medicationsâcontain flavonoids and other substances important to the retina. Vitamin A, copper. . . .â
âHold on,â Elaine said. âI canât remember all of this.â
âYou donât need to. There are several combination formulas available in natural food stores that contain most or all of these ingredients, including one designed by Dr. Alan Gaby and myself.â
âIVs, digestive aids, a combination formula with the nutrients youâve recommended . . . anything else?â Tom asked.
âThe tests will tell us if amino acids, testosterone, and possibly other hormones are advisable.â
âWhen I start seeing results, how long will I need to continue having IVs?â Elaine asked. âI certainly canât get those done for years and years.â
âYou wonât need to. Remember, much of the problem is due to poor digestion and assimilation, and youâll be taking care of that so that oral supplementation has a better chance to do the job. But just for insurance, when the IVs are discontinued, weâll ask you to use some of the key nutrients in DMSO, which gets them in through the skin. But donât worry about that now, weâll cover it when the time comes.
âAlso,â I said, âplease remember that this treatment doesnât work every time. Iâve observed it to work in a majority of cases; unfortunately thatâs not 100%.â
âAt least all these nutrients wonât hurt me,â Elaine said.
âAnd weâll pray that Elaineâs in that majority,â Tom added.
âPlease do! Thatâll help, too.â
In four weeks, Elaineâs vision started to improve. After eight months of treatment, she reported that instead of just being able to read interstate highway signs, she could read books and newspapers again. Sheâs continued her treatment, and five years later has maintained her vision at that level.
Tahoma Clinic physicians have been treating individuals with previously diagnosed age-related macular degeneration since 1986 with the degree of success mentioned by Dr. Dorman. If youâre been diagnosed with macular degeneration, consider treatment at Tahoma Clinic with the Macular Regeneration Program. A strong chance of stopping visual deterioration andâeven more likelyâimproving vision makes the time, expense, and effort involved worthwhile.
[i] Wright JV. Improvement of vision in macular degeneration associated with intravenous zinc and selenium therapy: two cases. J Nutr Med 1990;1:133-138