So there are many wise folks here who are older like me. I have an eye condition called "wet macular degeneration". I get an injection right into my eye for that every two to three months after they check it with a machine.

For some reason, extra blood vessels grow behind the eye and they leak fluid. That makes my vision look funny. Do you know that painting of The Scream where the guys face is all twisted? Well that's what things look like.

Last Friday it suddenly got worse and now everything I see with my left eye droops down or disappears. I just had an injection in August on the 12th and my next one is October 21. I seem to need one now but I can't get an appointment. The eye doctor is triple booked, just came back from vacation and has a half day today.

The staff seems overworked and tired all the time and I am sure they are afraid of covid. I called three times and they said another doctor had an open appointment but never called me back to confirm. So covid is causing a lot of people with conditions to not be getting care.

My question is, does anyone with this same condition, wet macular degeneration, have any good information about what I can do for myself? I have read that eating oranges slows the worsening down so I bought some. I am also wearing orange tinted glasses. I tried those 30 dollar vitamins they push Areds, but those are made with fabric dies that are toxic so I try to eat and drink orange and blue things instead. At my last appointment someone walked in the room and took the medication box I was supposed to get and put another on there. I asked the dr. if it was the right one and he said yes, but I don't know.

My mom has macular degeneration but she doesn't get any shots in her eyes. She has good luck taking Hi-Health's Premier Formula for Ocular Nutrition (can be ordered from 1-800-266-2323). Her eye doctor has stated that it has done wonders over the years to help her macular degeneration so that it hasn't gotten any worse.

Smokowna: Isn't Metzger a "natural medicine" general doctor? Is that really who you'd recommend for someone that appears to have a several eye issue?

He literally sells a bunch of "tonics" and homeopathic stuff.

Now, granted, that might be right up Ally's alley, but I seriously hope that she at least also consults with a good ophthalmologist (or at least a great optometrist) to get some real help.

Ally: I know we don't always get along, but as someone that also has macular degeneration, I hope that you seek out a well-trained, non-Naturopathic eye expert.

- John...

Typo. I meant "severe eye issue" in that first line.

John, I was referred to this retina specialist by the best eye Dr. around. Lately he seems to be kind of not serious about the shots and injecting very quickly. These shots are a cancer medication that stops vein growth for cancer. It also works for the out of control growth of the veins behind the eyes of some people who have a gene that does this over growth. I did a bunch of reading today and the cause is blue light from the sun and computers and everything else. I think now that this thing flared up last Friday because I have been spending a lot of time on the computer (blue light) for political reasons, without sunglasses. I should have had them on. So while I have had this problem for a couple years and been treated for over a year, it flared up.

The information I found is that this brownish spot and wrinkled view of things that I have, is the first indication of macular degeneration. So this retina doctor has been treating me to stop it from progressing to this point. I should have had an appointment last month but the doctor went on vacation so now I have a problem.

So eating things that have a lot of color in them does help because the colored substance gets into the body and absorbs the bad radiation from the sun going into the eye. Because we have no sunspots there are a lot of xrays coming in and I am wondering about those.

So anyway the foods that deposit dyes and absorb light in the eye are: blueberries, saffron, bilberry, carrots, corn, spinach, black currants, collards and oranges. So the vitamins we can buy are lutein, zeaxanthan and anthocyanins.

So if you suggested a naturopath like Metzger or a vitamin, you were correct but I might be too far along that path to stop it with just foods and still need the eye injection.

Nothing scarier at the start than thinking of a needle going into one's eye but I got used to it and the Dr. got better at doing in by not burying the needle in the eye and then putting on pressure to inject the meds.

Gene I am going to look up that Hi Health ocular formula and thank you. Thank you so far. If anyone knows more I am sure interested in reading what you say.

I think you misunderstood me, Ally. I am NOT recommending Metzger or a naturopath. That is what Smokowna was suggesting.

I was tell you the opposite. I was asking you to please make sure you are seeing a GOOD ophthalmologist and NOT a "natural medicine" person like Metzger.

This was based on you saying that your current eye doctor seemed to be a problem lately. Jim suggested that you might look for another doctor if yours isn't making you happy. I agree with him and was telling you that if you go looking for a new doctor, please find a good ophthalmologist and NOT someone like Metzger that Smokowna was suggesting.

I wish you good luck in your treatment!

- John...

Ally, my mother had macular degeneration (one wet, one dry). We were not happy with the doctors here in Las Vegas so we took her to the Jules Stein Eye Clinic at UCLA, possibly the best facility in the country (and world). I drove her round-trip to Los Angeles for her doctor's appointments, including her eye injections, for several years, sometimes as often as every week.

I wish I had some wonderful advice for you, but all I can offer is my prayers! Good luck, it is a very scary disease.

I was going to suggest spinach but you already mentioned it.

i have a really good ophthalmologist after working through two really bad ones.

I looked at Gene's recommended vitamin and it's about 120 bucks. I tried to read the contents of it from the screen and it's mostly hidden but I don't see anything that I don't already know about in other vitamins that are cheaper.

Mike 45 that was a great thing you did for your mom. I am glad to hear that the best place in the world also offered injections. I am on the right track with those.

Things I picked up along the way: don't look at blue screens without sunglasses. Wear sunglasses outside at all times as the bad rays are always there ready to damage the inside of your eye. Cutting grass for 10 properties years ago has already given me skin damage and the eye thing.

Yes, I can drive. I had no manifestation of this until last