Some Alternative Therapies Can Be Safe, Effective For Children

...Today, more children than ever are being treated with complementary and alternative therapies. Recent studies indicate that about 30 percent of healthy children and up to 50 percent of children with chronic disease are using some kind of alternative therapy....

Some types of therapies that may be beneficial for children:

• Yoga. Experts suggest that pediatric patients participate in yoga as a form of therapy. Yoga, when combined with medicines prescribed by a physician, can be used to help asthmatic patients learn to practice and use deep breathing and remain calm when faced with shortness of breath. Yoga also helps reduce stress in teens and adolescents.
• Tai chi. Research shows teenagers encounter a lot of stress, which puts them at risk for depression. Mind and body therapies, such as tai chi, help reduce the risk of depression and anxiety. Tai chi and yoga help to decrease blood pressure and sympathetic activity in children. This allows for a sense of relaxation and calmness.
• Probiotics. These live bacteria, similar to those found in the human stomach, can be found in dietary supplements or in food, such as yogurt. Used to treat antibiotic-associated diarrhea, controlled studies have shown probiotics are safe for children. Using probiotics can reduce diarrhea by one to two days, allowing children to go back to school or day care sooner. Probiotics are not recommended for children on any immunosuppressive drugs or those who are immuno-compromised. Always consult a doctor first....

Treatment of Convergence Insufficiency in Childhood: A Current Perspective.

...Recent clinical trials showed that office-based vision therapy was successful in about 75% of patients (resulting in normal or significantly improved symptoms and signs) and was the only treatment studied which was more effective than placebo treatments for children with symptomatic CI. Eye care providers who do not currently offer this treatment may consider referring these patients to a doctor who provides this treatment or consider expanding the treatment options available within their practice to manage this condition.

Shoot-'em-up games may be good for your eyesight

...DOCTORS may start prescribing a dose of violent conflict, if a trial confirms evidence that computer gaming improves eyesight.
Six years ago Daphne Bavelier at the University of Rochester, New York, exploded the myth that gaming is bad for your eyes by showing that expert gamers outperform non-gamers at a variety of visual tasks (New Scientist, 31 May 2003, p 11). Now she has demonstrated that playing action-packed video games improves a person's ability to perceive contrast, a skill we rely on in dark conditions....

Vision Therapy Patient Blogs About Her Experience

ONE EYED GIRL - My Life With Strabismus is a blog about an adult being treated for strabismus using optometric vision therapy. Just like "StereoSue" she may be able to obtain true 2 eyed vision with depth perception....

Stereo Sue information
Oliver Sacks, A Neurologist's Notebook, “Stereo Sue,” The New Yorker, June 19, 2006, p. 64

Going Binocular: Susan's First Snowfall

Improving Depth Perception - Success with Visual Disabilities ...

Stereo Sue: 3-D Vision After All These Years (Listen to NPR Audio)

Rewiring My Old Brain
By Susan R. Barry, Ph.D. on April 1, 2009 - 1:46pm in Eyes on the Brain
Imagine that you are a professor of neurobiology who, for the past seventeen years, has been lecturing to your students on the conventional wisdom about the brain. Then, quite unexpectedly, you discover through your own experiences, that the conventional wisdom is not so wise. This is exactly what happened to me....

Orignal Brock Posture Board

Ilana Gelfond-Polnariev, OD, FCOVD of Staten Island, NY sent me these photos of an orignal Brock Posture Board. I remember making one or more of these for Dr. Coleman Hatfield (yes, of the Hatfields vs McCoys fame) who was head of the Illinois College of Optometry's Vision Therapy Department...

Thank you Dr. Gelfond-Polnariev....! DM

Are Your Drugs Safe?

As primary care physcians, it is important for us to make sure that the many drugs taken by our patients are safe....did you know that:

The contents of your medicine cabinet may not be what they seem.

Just 10 of the 21 multivitamins tested met the quality claims on the label, ConsumerLab.com of White Plains, N.Y., reported in January. Several had significantly more or less of the active ingredients than promised; one was contaminated with lead....Last fall, more than 1 million counterfeit OneTouch diabetes test strips flooded the United States and went on sale in 700 pharmacies in 35 states.

Free Medical Care for your Patients

You might want to let your patients know that:

Walgreens is extending a helping hand to unemployed, uninsured workers and their families, offering to treat minor aches and pains for free at its Take Care clinics in 342 locations in some 30 metro areas. But there's a catch: To be eligible, workers or their family members have to have visited a Take Care clinic in the past.

Comments: There's always a catch! DM

4 Promising Autism Treatments, From Vitamin B12 to Alzheimer’s Drug Namenda

...treatments for autism do exist. Those proven to work include structured behavioral interventions that teach children social and language skills, as well as medications that reduce disabling symptoms such as anxiety, depression, and gastrointestinal disorders...MIND researchers recently tested injections of methyl B12 in a controlled trial on 30 children, since prior recent findings had shown that some children with autism have altered biomarkers for oxidative stress. The results weren’t statistically significant, but ...nine of the children did improve in language and socialization, and those children had changes in biomarkers for oxidative stress. The institute will run a larger trial this summer with 50 children in an effort to figure out if the treatment really does have a benefit....The MIND researchers also have just finished a double-blind placebo-controlled trial of omega-3 fatty acids, which may have an anti-inflammatory effect...fenobam, a drug in phase-1 clinical trials for a genetic disorder called fragile X syndrome (many Fra X children have autism) may be useful as well.

Comments: It's notable that so many studies are looking at drugs for a cure...when some of the most "drug resistant" folks around seem to be those who are parents of a child with autism. It will be interesting to see how the Autism Street reacts to all these new meds? It may be worthwhile for the researchers to spend some research dollars on how to get parents to understand and accept the use of drugs as treatment for autism...DM

Disability Affects Three Out of Every 10 U.S. Adults

... Nearly 30% of the noninstitutionalized adult U.S. population -- about 62 million people -- have some disability that affects daily activity...More than 20% of the population reported difficulties walking, bending, reaching overhead, or using their fingers to grasp something...

Comments: A long time ago when I was just an optometric puppy, I was talking to an individual who was very motorically impaired. He had a "sip & suck" system that allowed him to move his wheel chair and to communicate. I guess may lame attempt at being empathetic (I was still young and inexperienced but learning quickly) was crossing over to the "pity" side ...when he mentioned that we all are TABs....or Temporaily Abled Bodied. .... and that I will experience my TAB existence soon enough....well, I'm old enough now to have experienced some TABness ....and one of the things I've noticed is that my empathy side has gotten much better....my understanding of disability has gotten much better and my patient care (although I hope it was always good) has gotten much better! We are all TABs. Remember this the next time you see a patient with a disability. DM

Generic Topiramate Wins FDA Approval

...The FDA has approved generic versions of the antiseizure drug topiramate (Topamax). ...Topiramate also has been associated with serious eye problems, such as a sudden decrease in vision and a blockage of fluid in the eye, causing increased pressure....Patients taking topiramate should contact their healthcare professional immediately if they have a loss in vision or experience eye pain. These problems can lead to blindness if not treated right away. ...

Comments: It seems as if this particular drug is being given out like candy. It is being used not only for seizures, but for migraines, behavorial issues, and even to promote neuroplasticity. It can cause a myopic crisis and narrow angle GLC. Now that a generic is available ... watch for a significant increase in its use. The prescriber of this med should conduct a blood test to monitor the level of a patient's serum bicarbonate.

Many of my patients with intellectual disability and mental illness are on this medication (along with a bunch of others....watch for the May issue of the AOA's Optometry journal for an article on polypharmacy and special populations by Robert Donati and me). So far I may have had one patient who may have had eye problems associate with this drug....so you don't see these eye problems often...but we should be aware of both the system and oculo-visual side effects. DM

Fats of Life Newsletter

The Fats of Life Newsletter reviews some of the latest research of Omega-3s. The Fats of Life web and PUFA Newsletter are sponsored by DSM Nutritional Products, Inc., headquartered in Kaiseraugst, Switzerland. the Fats of Life is sponsored by DSM Nutritional Products, Inc., Parsippany, N.J., USA. So they may not be completely unbiased. However, the research I've read on Omega-3s does seem pretty convincing. DM

Omega-3s May Benefit Newborns, Menopausal Women and Obese Individuals

...Long-chain omega-3 fatty acids (omega-3s), namely EPA and DHA found in seafood and fish oil, are known for their potential heart health benefits, but evidence of other benefits continues to stack up. Enhanced infant brain development, reduced hot flashes in menopausal women and healthier weight loss in obese dieters are newer associations with omega-3 consumption....

Comments: I've been recommending Omega-3s more an more for my patients since I started using them mostly for my dry eye. As the research continues to poor forth...Omega-3s may be one of those "wonder" foods we've been looking for. As always...consult your doc before any major changes in diet, diet supplements, or medications...DM

Free books online

Read Jonathan Walker's, Diabetic Retinopathy for The Comprehensive Ophthalmologist (2009 - Deluma Medical Publishers, 280 pp; 250 MByte ISBN 978-0982147207 ) for free!

Free Books

Read Peter K. Kaiser's, The Joy of Visual Perception (1996 ) for free!

BrainScope™ Positioned To Identify Traumatic Brain Injuries Suffered By Military Troops

...With awareness growing around the need for new ways to detect traumatic brain injuries, BrainScope Company Inc. announced completion of data acquisition in high school athletes with mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI) as part of an on-going investigational study of its brain assessment device. This comes at a time when Congress is seeking increased efforts to accelerate the development of new treatments for neurological conditions with the recent neurotechnology bill, and the Defense Centers of Excellence for Psychological Health and Traumatic Brain Injury has issued a call for a uniform test for traumatic brain injury to be performed on all troops who are exposed to a blast or other violent event in wartime. ...

How The Brain Makes The Most Of The Visible World

...The visual system has limited capacity and cannot process everything that falls onto the retina. Instead, the brain relies on attention to bring salient details into focus and filter out background clutter...

Eye Protection Is Essential For All Athletes

...April is Sports Eye Safety Awareness Month, ...40,000 people suffer from eye injuries related to sports every year.... advocates the need for athletes to wear appropriate, sport-specific protective eyewear properly fitted by an eye care professional. Lenses made from polycarbonate materials provide the highest level of impact protection; they can withstand a ball or other projectile traveling at 90 miles per hour. ...

Inconsistent Short Term Memory Linked To ADHD

...Researchers in the US found that children with attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) showed more inconsistent reaction times when doing short term memory exercises compared to peers of the same age who did not have the disorder...

Effects of maternal and paternal smoking on attentional control in children with and without ADHD

...Paternal smoking had a negative effect on attentional control in children with ADHD and this effect appeared to be mediated by genetic risk factors.
The prenatal smoking effect did not interact with genotypes of the child.
Maternal smoking had no main effect on attentional control, which may be due to lower smoking rates.....

Eye exercises help patients work out vision problems, UH optometrist says

...a study released in the fall by the National Eye Institute (NEI) found that office-based treatment for patients with a common eye muscle coordination disorder, along with at-home reinforcement, is more effective than home-based programs in isolation. The research, reported in the Archives of Ophthalmology, involved more than 200 young people with a condition known as convergence insufficiency, which Wensveen said likely affects between 5 percent and 20 percent of the population, depending on the definition used and the age group studied....

Comparison of the Amblyopia Treatment Study HOTV and the Electronic-Early Treatment of Diabetic Retinopathy Study visual acuity protocols in amblyopic

A single administration of any visual acuity test will always be prone to sampling error, but the present study confirms a small bias of the ATS-HOTV protocol toward better visual acuities of amblyopic eyes and lower interocular differences. The authors therefore suggest the need for caution in interpreting “near normal visual acuity” and small interocular differences when using the ATS-HOTV protocol. Nevertheless, in 3- to 6-year-old patients, the ATS-HOTV protocol remains one of the few standardized methods of detecting amblyopia and monitoring its therapy.

ADD or a Vision Problem?

...Attention Deficit Dsorder or a vision problem? The symptoms overlap, but are commonly misdiagnosed. Children with attention problems are three times more likely to have vision problems, so that ADD diagnosis sometimes has more to do with sight rather than behavior. ...

Find a doctor who does vision therapy

COVD's "Find a Doctor" page. Use it! DM

Project indicates eye exams are necessary for students

...Members of the Connecticut Association of Optometrists (CAO) along with nurses from public schools in Hartford found that 46% of children screened had acuity worse than 20/50 that was previously undetected and untreated. These exams were conducted to address a need and also identify a set of data that would allow for development of a model for better health care for children in urban, underserved public schools across the country....

Comments: Vision screenings are NEVER enough. Every child deserves a full, comprehensive eye and vision examination. Our children are worth it! DM