I've been seeing Cheryl for several months to treat my vision and blood pressure. I was recently diagnosed with Glaucoma as of March, 2020 following with what was likely an anxiety induced vision attack, where my vision went hazy after waking, accompanied by 4 days of headaches and nausea. I've also developed symptoms similar to that of Visual Snow - seeing static in my vision. In my case, the static comes in the form of a black void-like fog that expands and contracts like a vortex around my nasal and central vision. The black fog has a much greater diameter and is much worse in my left eye, and I think it's been developing unknowingly for several years. I began noticing it in my right eye immediately after the vision attack, and it would progressively worsen month-after-month, almost to the same level as my left eye. Even after I started to take Latanoprost to control my eye pressures, and a subsequent SLT surgery to both eyes, my right eye vision continued to degrade quite fast. I was noticing almost weekly changes to my vision until I found Cheryl.
At first, Cheryl primarily treated my blood pressure symptoms, as I found out that the eyes and blood flow are closely linked. In my case, I have a low diastolic and a wide pulse pressure, which translates to low ocular perfusion pressure, and that puts me at greater risk for Glaucomatous damage. After 3 months of treatment, I've gone from an average daily BP of 130/60 to 120/70, measured using an Omron cuff home monitor. My diastolic used to go as low as 50 mmHg, now I rarely see it go below 65 mmHg. I no longer get lightheaded, and the dreaded feeling of impending doom when my BP dips has completely gone away.
When Cheryl moved on to treating my eyes, that's when I started noticing my vision stabilize and improve. The continual degradation of my right eye seemed to have stopped. On some days I can see much clearer and farther away, and the black fog in my right eye is finally starting to lighten up, which I'm very thankful for. What I've also noticed is that the feelings of eye strain, eyelid twitching, a burning feeling in my right sinus, eye socket pain, and eye "headaches" which I've been having almost daily since my vision attack, have mostly all gone away. One of the most impactful treatments I can recall was when Cheryl noticed the pressure "around" my eyes seemed high. So she stuck some needles around my eyes (no it doesn't ever go into the eyeball) and even a couple on my nose. The following night, I actually felt my eyes "fall" or reposition themselves into the back of my sockets, more so in my left/worse eye - strangest feeling ever. The back of my eyes felt sore for almost a week, almost like the feeling of a recovering muscle after a hard workout. If I lightly squeezed my eyeball, it felt like they weren't bulging out as much as they were prior to that treatment. Which got me wondering just how long has my eyes have been bulging out for.
I'm a software developer so I use my eyes quite heavily. I think it's fair to say how much of an understatement it is when I say that I'm extremely grateful to have found Cheryl to treat me. After seeing a total of 5 opthalmologists (2 retinal specialists, 1 cataract specialist, 1 glaucoma specialist, 1 neuro) and 1 cardiologist in the past 6 months, including the countless number of scientific papers and blogs and reddit posts that I've nerded out on while learning about my condition(s), I have to say that the most impactful treatment has been Cheryl's holistic approach to training my body to heal itself.
I respect Cheryl on a professional level as well, as she has a learning mindset - never stop learning. This skill is surprisingly difficult to come by in the medical profession and even in my own profession of software development. She's incredibly warm and understanding and spends a lot of time listening and learning about my condition so that she knows how to better treat me. This is in stark contrast to many of the ophthalmologist's I've been to, where it sometimes feels like they're not interested in what I have to say, and just want to get me out quick so that they can attend to the next patient. There's a level of care and expertise that seems to be missing in the current advancements of western medicine when it comes to vision, and I feel this is where Cheryl's personally tailored and holistic approach fills in that gap, which has allowed me to heal and regain the vision that I've lost.
I'm lucky to have found Cheryl. Thanks for listening :) read more
