My Astigmatism has been 'cured' - What does this mean? If anything?

Hi, I have had Astigmatism for my whole life, only moderate but it was
always there, worse in one eye. About 18 months ago I started to be
much more focused on a good diet, daily exercise including daily
weights and 1/2 hour walk, more sleep, and a certain set of vitamins.
I spend many hours every day on the computer, for 20 years.

I am 48 years old and now - my astigmatism is 100% gone! Furthermore,
when I go out, my visual feed seems unusually clear to me - its really
good. Night vision is also very good. I did not expect my vision to
get better in my late 40's. I am near sighted, and that part has not
changed.

I want to know how common this is, that someones astigmatism clears up;
and that vision also gets better. Of course that is somewhat of a
subjective statement, but my eyes used to vary a lot during the day,
and many times things did not seem as clear as I thought they should -
now, it is very consistent to be good vision. I keep noticing it - and
i never notice it being bad. Could it be my vitamins and improved
lifestyle? Or is it luck/chance that the astigmatism improved?

For vitamins, I feel a good diet gets most of the vitamins so a multi
is too strong. And I don't feel that an antioxidant pill does much at
all since it has so few of antioxidants - when in the real world there
are 100's of different antioxidents. Variety can mean a lot more than
quantity since we really don't know a lot about what each does. You
get a broader mix by having a variety of fruit every day; so I do that.
So what I take for vitamins is this:

breakfast:
1/2 multivitamin
1/4 aspirin
Policosinaol (an alternative to Statins, for Cholesterol)
Fish Oil tablet

Lunch:
Lutein (5 to 1)
Green Tea
Piece of pure chocolate (heart, and for enjoyment)

Dinner:

Folic Acid
Glucosamine/Chrondontin/MSM/Jello for joints
1/4 aspirin
Small glass of red wine (unless its Saturday night... *ahem*).

I take the aspirin twice because I have a long history of cardiac
arrhythmia (heart surgery 10 years ago) and because I weigh about 200
lbs so I think a single 1/4 aspiring is not enough.

I have taken some of this for 10 or 15 years - the multi vitamin and
the aspirin and the fish oil. But now its more regular, and the
additional items.

An alternative that I hope does not happen is that the astigmatism is
not cured but still changing in a new direction, so that in another
year or two i will have it again but in some opposite direction of what
it was my whole life... so, obviously i am hoping my eyes stay right
where they are. If my visual field stays crystal clear I can't
complain...

But any comments would be appreciated, and any suggestions for
additional supplements or routine would also be of interest.

Kevin

 

Since the lens in the eye grows and changes throughout life, your
refraction, including astigmatism can change at any time. I am not aware of
any research that suggests diet or supplements affect refractive error.

Some possible reasons:
1) You had some accommodative spasm which caused both the low astigmatism
and the variable vision. At age 48, your accommodative system is now
relaxed (normal aging).

2) You were borderline diabetic with wildly flucuating blood sugar which
caused variable vision. Now the good diet and exercise have made your blood
sugar stable.

3) You have started on the process that leads to cataract. Often it is
causes against the rule astigmatism which would cancel out with the rule
astigmatism.

Reason #1 is most likely.
Dr Judy

 

AAARRRGGGHHH! So not only is my ATR astigmatism miserable, it's going
to get WORSE! Is there a personal limit on the number of ways to be
doomed, or is the number infinite?