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Preserving Vision: Self-Love is Self-Care

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By Andrea Junge

6 min read

Oftentimes, a diagnosis of macular degeneration can feel like a dead end.

Depending on the type of macular degeneration we have, there may or may not seem to be much if anything we can ‘do’ to preserve our vision. I'm here to tell you the great news about how that is far from the truth!

Existing treatment options for macular degeneration

If you have wet ARMD, you can possibly receive injections in order to slow the progression of your disease. But, if you have dry ARMD, myopic macular degeneration, or Stargardt's disease, there are few treatments, and there is no cure for any type of MD. However, there are still many things we can do in order to give our eyes a fighting chance.

Using self-love to take care of our eyes

Self-love is defined as regard for one's own well-being and happiness. This goes a lot farther than one might originally think. Taking care of our eyes and bodies is one of the biggest and most important forms of self-love there is.

Want to know more about the importance of self-love? Here’s an article I wrote around Valentine’s Day that may be of some help for you called SELF-Love is in the Air.

While on a conference call this week here at Health Union, our outstanding team members were discussing which topics our community might like us to write about. That got me thinking about all of the really great articles that have already been written for our community but may not have been read by our newer members. I wanted to find a way to highlight some of these amazing articles and make them easily accessible to you.

Preserving vision with self-love

I’ve come up with an acrostic poem about self-love to help us all remember how much there really is that we CAN do for the health of our eyes and the preservation of our vision. Under each self-love topic, I’m linking some articles written by myself and each of my friends here MacularDegeneration.net. These articles are all in an archive in our community, but they're also here now for you to easily click and enjoy!

S - Sleep and Sunglasses

E - Exercise

L - Learn All You Can

F - Fruits and Veggies

L - Let Go of Mental Health Stigma

O - Optimism and Community

V - Vitamin Supplementation

E - Experience Joy

The importance of sleep and sunglasses

I know that sleep and sunglasses don’t really go hand in hand, but they’re both important macular degeneration ‘s’ words. Check out these amazing articles on both topics:

Exercise tips for macular degeneration

Exercise is another important tool in battling macular degeneration. Remember, you don’t have to join a gym and pump iron in order to get your exercise in. One of my favorite ways to exercise is to enjoy a long walk with a loved one or to do what I call productive exercise. Some examples of productive exercise would be vacuuming the house or mowing the lawn.

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Learn all you can

Knowledge is such a powerful tool when battling macular degeneration. The more you know, the more power you have over it. Our very own Sam Seavy has so many helpful videos with tips and tricks to help us all change the way we do things with vision loss. You can find all of his videos here.

Fruits and veggies for healthy eyes

Diet and nutrition are such major pieces of the macular degeneration puzzle. They help us keep our eyes healthy and seeing as well as they can, for as long as they can! But, it isn't always simple to know what to eat or how to cook eye-healthy meals.

Recipes for a macular degeneration diet

Our team is working hard on not only providing information about this topic, but we’ve also recently launched a recipe section on Maculardegeneration.net! You can find all of our recipes here: Recipes Archive | MacularDegeneration.net.

Let go of mental health stigma

It isn't hard to believe that a difficult diagnosis like macular degeneration is accompanied by difficult feelings. Our emotional and mental health is another integral part of battling this disease. It may be hard for some of us to admit that we might need so assistance with mental health because there's often a stigma attached to it.

Taking care of your mental health is taking care of your eye health

I'm here to tell you that taking care of your mental health is not only necessary to living our best lives, but it's also brave and worth it. Here are a few articles that may be of some help to anyone looking to work on the mental health aspect of their difficult health diagnosis:

Optimism and community support

A little bit of optimism, a shift in perspective, and a supportive community go a long way when it comes to our emotional health when dealing with a difficult diagnosis.

Healthy communities at Health Union

Have you ever wondered about who or what Health Union is? Check us out here on an article I wrote about the amazing people behind our most precious community Heart to Heart: A Look Into Our Macular Degeneration Community.

  • The Power of Belonging: How Being Part of a Group Affects Macular Degeneration: By Andrea Junge
  • The Eight Types of Wellness: By Andrea Junge
  • LUCKY Me?: By Andrea Junge

Vitamin supplementation for macular degeneration

Vitamin supplementation is one of the hottest topics in the macular degeneration world. There is so much information out there about which vitamins to take and whether to take any or not. It’s important to note that each of us has unique needs when it comes to vitamin supplements and nutrition. Be sure to talk to your doctor before taking anything new.

A guide to eye healthy vitamins

We, here at MacularDegeneration.net have so much valuable information to offer about vitamins... from cutting down cost and what’s inside AREDS vitamins, all the way to help prevent stomach ache when taking them. If you've been diagnosed with Stargardt's disease, it's important to know all you can about Vitamin A. Likewise, if you take (or plan to take) the AREDS vitamin formula, you may want to be sure how your body responds to zinc.

Changing perspective to experience joy

A diagnosis of macular degeneration doesn’t have to feel like the end of the world. Though battling this disease is oftentimes accompanied by difficult emotions like fear, sadness, anger, and worry... we can change our perspective about it all and allow it to be a catalyst for a happier and grateful life. I always say... we get ONE life, macular degeneration or not. How we choose to spend our time matters.

We are never without hope and power

Living every day with a diagnosis of macular degeneration can sometimes feel hopeless or worrisome. Those of us here at MacularDegeneration.net are here to show you that there is so much we can do for the health of our eyes.

I hope all of these articles help you gain back some control over your diagnosis. When you aren't sure what you can control about your macular degeneration diagnosis... remember this acrostic poem on SELF-LOVE!

To browse all of our previously written articles you can search within our WebSite by topic at MacularDegeneration.net. Here’s an article that covers the difference between our Facebook page and WebSite as well titled What’s the Difference Between MacularDegeneration.net’s Facebook Page and Website?

You are powerful beyond measure,

Andrea Junge

Editor's Note: As of August 2023, 2 drugs known as complement inhibitors — Syfovre® and Izervay™ — have been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to treat the advanced stage of dry age-related macular degeneration, or geographic atrophy (GA).

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The MacularDegeneration.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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