How Ignorance Leads to Incurable Eye Diseases
When 24-year old Jame realized his eyesight was getting weaker, he blamed his MNC job for it. He told himself that sitting in front of his laptop for 9 hours a day continuously was the reason this was happening, and got himself anti glare glasses to prevent any further damage. While his girlfriend thought that the glasses looked cool, his mother was concerned. She told him that low vision at 24 years is not a good thing and advised him to visit the ophthalmologist. But he assured her that it was just because of the computer and nothing else, and let the matter slip.
A few months later he noticed that he was not able to read the fine print of the newspaper properly. This disturbed him, and he was compelled to listen to his mother.
The doctor tested his eyes and started asking him about his life style and food habits.
“Small talk” thought Jame and told the doctor a few things. When the doctor was more persistent regarding his food habits, Jame got irritated. All he wanted was to know the number of his sight to get himself glasses and be done with it. The doctor noticed this, and told him that the optic nerve of the right eye, the nerve that connects the eye to the brain has suffered irreversible damage. Jame was astound to hear this and told the doctor that there has to be an obvious mistake, as he never had any eye-related accident.
The doctor explained to him that this damage was not because of any accident, but was because he had low vitamin content in this blood. Tests showed that he had below normal levels of Vitamin A, vitamin C, and more importantly Vitamin B12. Jame was given high doses of Vitamins as supplements on priority basis that raised the levels in the blood, but the damage to his eye was permanent.
Due to the fast paced life we are leading, there is not even time to have a balanced meal with all the required components. Vitamins are very important for the all round physical development of the body and any imbalance may lead to serious consequences. If having vitamin rich food like green leafy vegetables and eggs is not possible everyday, it is advisable to take supplements.
Vitamin B complex is available in the market in form of pills and capsules and anyone can consume it. Most often, the first symptoms are so subtle, that they go unnoticed, and most of them end up with incurable diseases like in case of Jame.
Strict vegetarians can get the required nutrients from pulses, greens and carrots. Milk is also a high vitamin food. Vitamin A, also called Retinol is responsible for the eye vision. Low retinol in the blood can make the eyesight go weak and cause night blindness.
There is a prevalent misconception that vegetarians will always suffer deficiencies and most of the vitamin rich foods like read meat, cod liver oil, white fish etc are all non-vegetarian. This is not true. Even vegetarians can lead a healthy life but an intelligent selection of food is important.
Kids should be given food rich in minerals as it helps healthy development and pregnant mothers too should take vitamins supplements.
If time is a constraint, vitamin supplements are advisable. These are available in all pharmacies and do not a need a prescription.
Take supplements, take care.
