Termyn8or
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Joined: 11/12/2005
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After a short visit with Dad I started thinking about family and genetics.
There is something that puzzles me about the characteristics of my relatives. Specifically relatives on the paternal side, now we got Polish, Geerman, Prussian and who knows. Of course this is part of what makes me fit to be tied, but that is not the subject right now.
As I have stated, many of the complex chemical processes in your body require minerals, and at times the minerals are not in the diet, therefore a disease results.
Would you consider myopia or presbyopia a disease ? It meets the definition, a part of the body does not work properly. The presbyopic and myopic are dependant on optometrists and opticians to function effectively in the world.
Now to my paternal Grandparents, neither one of them was myopic. Grandpoa wore convex glasses, like reading glasses almost evey time I saw him. I never saw Grandma wear glasses that I can remember, but she never drove a car.
Basically three out of the five kids were myopic. One severely myopic. We used to joke that he wore coke bottles for glasses, not the bottom, the whole bottle. This crap didn't bother him, he was strong. His Dad (Grampa) had walked across the US and back. This kind of bullshit from family did not phase him in the least.
I am myopic to the tune of about a -4.00 lens, but that doesn't matter because my Mother and maternal Grandmother are/were myopic. This does not affect the other side of the family unless there is something very strange going on.
What are the odds now, since my paternal Grandmother never drove, that she was hiding her myopia ? Three out of five kids were myopic, and their Father was presbyopic, the opposite condition.
The reason I want to look into this is that I am starting to think that both conditions share the same cause. Perhaps the eye muscles and tissues need a certain mineral we lack or have a malabsorption problem with. If the eye is not nourished proerly, it fails in a way based on it's own traits.
Alot of this is theory, conjecture etc. But most is based on sound fact. Thing is I never figured out is the heredity thing. If Grandma wasn't nearsighted, and Grandpa was farsighted, how did most of the kids turn out nearsighted ?
Diet ? But then why didn't they wind up farsighted ? Genetics, even though evidence cannot bear it out ?
The biggest problem here is isolating all the variables. What do I know about their life, and whatever pre-natal care ? More importantly what do I not know.
I am myopic, and I saw my old old birth certificate. It seems there was a "prophilactic" drug administered to my eyes at birth. Is is possible that this causes myopia ? What's more my eyes suck, they can't focus a big range anymore and my astigmatism changes every exam, not that they are all that frequent.
Is it possible that this is some type of degeneration of the lens and iris system, tissues breaking down ? Somewhat like a bodybuilder who goes too far and can't reach his mouth anymore ? Might be a healthy muscle and strong as the dickens, but can only expand and contract a certain amount, much less than normal.
The muscles that work the lens of your eye to focus it need to have a lot of flexibility, and the lens has to be flexible as well. As I age it seems my ability to focus is decreased. Also, my tolerance to bright light is affected, as well as my night vision. Think about it, the iris in the eye is operated in a very simililar way as the lens. So it is not surprising to me that one problem comes with the other.
They are both radial muscles, and when they lose their elasticity they lose range, no matter how strong they are.
Is it possible that diet could indeed help eyesight ?
Thoughts ?
T
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