OrganicMD Podcast Damon Miller, MD - Better Eye Health

BEH PODCAST EPISODE 56 - 8 Things Your Mind Can Help Your Body HealThis is the eighth of eight podcasts, where we have been talking about the different pieces of our Better Eye Health program, more specifically, on what your doctor does not tell you. Your doctor does not tell you these diseases can be improved, that there are things you can do to reverse vision loss, and there are things under your control that make a huge difference in not only your health, but the health of your eyes. 8 Things Your Mind Can Help Your Body Heal. Part 8 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.056 OMDPodcast 8Things MindBody-8of8CarlyleWelcome to the Organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller. This is Carlyle Coash. How are you doing today, Dr. Miller?Dr. MillerI am happy to tell you that I am doing well today, and I am grateful for that and for today. How about yourself, how are you doing?CarlyleI am still in one piece. I am walking and breathing, mostly. The air quality has been better since all of the fires, but I am still here breathing. Dr. MillerIt is almost like the like icing on the cake, you cannot go out to mingle because of the pandemic. Now, you are not able to even go outside for a walk because the air is so toxic, but what are we going to do? CarlyleSmall victories. Dr. MillerYes, it is.Today is the eighth of eight podcasts, where we have been talking about the different pieces of our Better Eye Health program, more specifically, on what your doctor does not tell you. Your doctor does not tell you these diseases can be improved, that there are things you can do to reverse vision loss, and there are things under your control that make a huge difference in not only your health, but the health of your eyes. We have talked previously about the different pieces to our Better Eye Health Program, like microcurrent stimulation, color therapy, and supplements. We also recommend the elements of Oriental Medicine, like needleless acupuncture and exercises, which are important if you have already developed an eye disease, or if you have a predisposition to it. The piece we have not spent much time talking about is the fact that if you want to make your eyes healthy, you need to take care of your health.This sounds too easy and too good to be true, but the things you do to take care of your health have a huge impact on it. That is a dirty little secret about modern medicine, most of what you can do to be healthy, and even to reverse significant disease, is under your control and based on choices you make every day. We are here to help you make good choices and give you some good information about what you can do to take care of yourself. With western and allopathic medicine, they talk about the body and mind connection, but they do not really know what to do about it. This leaves us with just body, so we are going to be talking not just about your mind, but of your spirit and body. We will go over all the things you can do to take care of these three important pieces. I am going to start by discussing the body because I am an MD, and that is what I was trained in. Then Carlyle will go over the mind and spirit because this is his expertise. He has been working for decades with people on their mind and spirits. The basic thing about our body is pretty simple stuff, eat a decent diet. We should not be eating too many processed foods or sugar. If you drink alcohol, it is toxic to the brain and eyes, so you should stop drinking. The same goes for smoking cigarettes, they impair the circulation to your brain and eyes, so you should stop smoking. This is especially true if you area already impaired by a disease; these can all make it worse. You can find out more about what eating a decent diet is, by doing our Healthy Eating Workshop. We should do whatever it takes, even if it means giving up alcohol and smoking. We can talk about alcohol in moderation because everyone has a different idea of what moderation is.

BEH Podcast 54 - 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 6 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.











In this podcast, we are going to jump in with both feet and talk about a subject that is at the core of our work in the Better Eye Health program. There are powerful tools that support regeneration, and it is important to understand the notion of how you can help your eyes if you do have a serious retinal challenge, like macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt’s disease, etc.I am not some magic sorcerer that has a way to take cells that are damaged and replace or repair them. I do know the body knows how to do this; your body can help you heal your eyes. I cannot heal your eyes, but I can help your body have the tools and resources it needs. We make sure everything that needs to be working is working, so your body can heal your eyes.

8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 6 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.

009_OMDPodcast_8Things_RegenerationCarlyleWelcome to the Organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller, and myself, Carlyle Coash. Welcome back Dr. Miller, how are you doing?Dr. MillerI am good, it is good to hear your voice Carlyle. CarlyleIt is good to hear yours.Dr. MillerI really enjoy doing this, it is a good day for a podcast. Today we are going to jump in with both feet and talk about a subject that is at the core of our work in the Better Eye Health program. There are powerful tools that support regeneration and it is important to understand the notion of how you can help your eyes if you do have a serious retinal challenge, like macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, Stargardt’s disease, etc.I am not some magic sorcerer that has a way to take cells that are damaged and replace or repair them. I do know the body knows how to do this; your body can help you heal your eyes. I cannot heal your eyes, but I can help your body have the tools and resources it needs. We make sure everything that needs to be working is working, so your body can heal your eyes. Through research, we now know when something gets regenerated in your body, it involves our adult stem cell system. We are born with this elegant system, full of stem cells that are able to go where damage has occurred and help is needed. Your adult stem cells completely restore and regenerate, leaving the cells that were damaged, like new. You have the best stem cell system in the body and we are here to help you support your own stem cell system. We have seen it work and now we understand why it works. The results are far better than anything recorded, like injecting stem cells. CarlyleStem cells work from birth until death. There may be times when they slow down, and not work as well or be as effective, but they are always doing something. Take cutting your finger, for example. After it is cut, your finger heals and this is your stem cell system working. Dr. MillerExactly, breaking a bone is a great example too. CarlyleBasically, all of the tissues in our body regenerate numerous times throughout our lives because your system is constantly working. It can be hard to realize, but our body has so much going on and is always doing so much for us. Dr. MillerOur body is constantly regenerating and repairing the parts of us that need fixing, but we only found out recently this is true for every tissue in our body. It was not that long ago that I was in medical school where we were taught the brain and the central nervous system tissues, like the eyes and spinal cord, do not regenerate. It was taught that you are born with a certain number of cells and that is it. Through Nobel Prize awarded research, it is now understood all of these cells and tissues regenerate. The cells in your brain and eyes are turning over at least every ten years, possibly more often. These are the most complex tissues in the body and they do not repair or regenerate quickly...

BEH PODCAST EPISODE 55 - 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 7 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.











This is the seventh of eight talks that we are putting together about the eye work we do to help people who have chronic degenerative eye conditions, like macular and retinal dystrophies. Some of the specific names include macular degeneration, Stargardt’s disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and cone rod dystrophy. We also help people who have severe glaucoma and separated retinas. Our eyes need a lot of support to be able to heal itself because it can. Today, we will be talking about the genetics behind these diseases. Especially, the idea that your genes are not your destiny. Let me say it again, your genes are not your destiny.

 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 7 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.

055_OMDPodcast_8Things_Genes-Not-Your-Destiny-7of8CarlyleWelcome to the Organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller. This is Carlyle Coash. How are you doing today, Dr. Miller?Dr. MillerI am doing pretty well during these tough times, by the grace of whatever. History will look back on this time, shake its head and wonder how we all got through it. I am grateful to be here because we are going to be talking about some important things. It is good to hear your voice, are you doing well?CarlyleI am holding up, as you said, by whoever is handing out grace. It seems to be helping to, at least, get through the day.Dr. MillerThis is the seventh of eight talks that we are putting together about the eye work we do to help people who have chronic degenerative eye conditions, like macular and retinal dystrophies. Some of the specific names include macular degeneration, Stargardt’s disease, retinitis pigmentosa, and cone rod dystrophy. We also help people who have severe glaucoma and separated retinas. Our eyes need a lot of support to be able to heal itself because it can. Today, we will be talking about the genetics behind these diseases. Especially, the idea that your genes are not your destiny. Let me say it again, your genes are not your destiny. Carlyle and I have been working with people for a couple decades now, and we see people in all different types of domains of their life. What we find of most people is they assume if it runs in their family; they will have and do the same thing their parents did. Your genes are not your destiny.CarlyleInstead of medical hexing, like we have talked about, we can say it is like a family or gene hexing. As opposed to seeing the pattern and looking to change it. Dr. MillerI see people respond to it if we can put it in some familiar ways. Without getting into a significant talk about genetics and epigenetics, consider the most common of these eye problems. Take the most common form of macular degeneration, called age related macular degeneration or ARMD. As it says in the name, the degeneration shows up in people when they are in their 60s, 70s, or 80s. From the time they are kids to the time they retire, there are no problems with their eyes. All of a sudden, their eyes start to fall apart. You need to be asking yourself if these diseases have a strong underpinning of some genetic predisposition, meaning you have a gene that predisposes you to the disease. We know that almost everybody who gets macular degeneration has some sort of abnormal gene. How is it that you can live to be 60, 70, or 80 years old, and have no idea that you have any kind of a genetic problem? You have had the gene from birth and your body has kept it suppressed. If it starts to rear its head, your body is able to fix things faster than they could break. This is true of many other diseases. Another bit of data that is interesting are the genetic testing kits, which look for genetic abnormalities. It is so common now, for only $90 you can get an at-home test kit that shows you any tendencies you may hav...

BEH PODCAST EPISODE 53 - 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 5 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.











In this episode, we are covering toxicity, which is part five of the eight part series about things your doctor does not tell you when you are diagnosed a retinal disease, like macular degeneration, Stargardt’s, or retinitis pigmentosa.



Toxicity is something I wrestle with while talking with people in my office all the time. It is not the cause of a disease, it is an obstacle to getting better, no matter what kind of health problem. No matter what you are doing, toxicity gets in the way and it can stoep any progress from happening. It has to be addressed. People wonder all the time if they are toxic, but how do you find out?

8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 5 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.

053_OMDPodcast_8Things_Toxicity-5 of 8Carlyle Welcome to the organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller, and me, Carlyle Coash. Welcome back to our interesting, ongoing conversation about bettering your health. How are you doing today, Dr. Miller?Dr. Miller I am doing well today. We are recording this while the great fires in Northern California are happening. It is bad enough that we are stuck here because of social distancing due to the pandemic, but it is almost dangerous to walk outside. It is getting better, and it is a good day to record a podcast. Today, we are covering toxicity, which is part five of the eight part series about things your doctor does not tell you when you are diagnosed a retinal disease, like macular degeneration, Stargardt’s, or retinitis pigmentosa. Toxicity is something I wrestle with while talking with people in my office all the time. It is not the cause of a disease, it is an obstacle to getting better, no matter what kind of health problem. No matter what you are doing, toxicity gets in the way and it can stoep any progress from happening. It has to be addressed. People wonder all the time if they are toxic, but how do you find out? There was a large study done to help find the toxins we have in our bodies. The study group consisted of hundreds of people, who were all seemingly healthy. They chose a healthy group of people to study toxins in, so they would have a control group to compare with those who have a disease or illness. Samples of everything were taken, stool, urine, spit, hair, and even skin biopsies. They tried to get as much information they could possibly obtain and came up with a list of about 150 toxins. The results were astonishing. Everyone had every toxin on the list, and in dangerously large amounts. This sparked a lot of interest in toxicity when the results were published in 2000 and doctors wanted to know if their clients were full of toxins. It was a mini industry for a number of years and some of the centers where the study was taken, put an elaborate test kit together. Doctors would get these kits with different tubes, vials, and envelopes to gather all the information from their clients; everything would then get sent back to the centers. This kit cost about $4,000 and you would get a 13-page printout back showing the results. This did not last for long because every test came back completely positive for toxins, everyone is full of toxins.This is a long conversation and we have a course on Do It Yourself, Detox. This first piece of work helps you mobilize the toxins in your body because they need to be shaken loose from where they have been stuck. This will help you from being sick while the toxins are floating around until your body can figure out a way to excrete them out. The toxins that are stuck are for a good reason and if it cannot deal with something it buries it in your solid organs, bones, tissues, brain, spinal cord, and in your eyes. This is so the toxins are not freely floating around your body,

BEH PODCAST EPISODE 52 - 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 4 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.Today, this is the fourth of eight podcasts on Organic MD. We will discuss our Better Eye Health program that helps people with serious eye diseases, like macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and Stargardt’s disease. We have a very effective program for stopping and reversing the progression of these diseases. To some extent, allowing people to get vision back that has been lost. I want mention how important your diet is – what you choose to eat and how you eat it, not just taking supplements. Our title of this podcast, the benefits that come from improving your diet can go beyond your wildest dreams, says it all.8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 4 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.007_OMDPodcast_8Things_DietCarlyleWelcome to the Organic MD podcast with Dr. Damon Miller. I am Carlyle Coash. How are you doing today Dr. Miller? Dr. MillerI am doing well today. I am very grateful. We are in a time where we get to spend more time listening to podcasts. Grateful for that and making our offering here. Today, this is the fourth of eight podcasts on Organic MD. We will discuss our Better Eye Health program that helps people with serious eye diseases, like macular degeneration, retinitis pigmentosa, and Stargardt’s disease. We have a very effective program for stopping and reversing the progression of these diseases. To some extent, allowing people to get vision back that has been lost. I want mention how important your diet is – what you choose to eat and how you eat it, not just taking supplements. Our title of this podcast, the benefits that come from improving your diet can go beyond your wildest dreams, says it all.CarlyleI would agree. We talked a last time about my dad making his diet choice. Among other thing he did, the main shift was what he ate and how he ate it. From the time he made the change to the next 30 plus years, he kept to it. There were times he may stray and have a meal that was a little more heavy or cheesy. He would suffer a little, but would say it was worth it because he did not get to eat it that often. He was suffering at the other side of it though. You have talked about this many times over the years, your health can start reflecting the types of food we are eating and putting into our system. Our body works with what we give it, to some extent. If you are giving your body not-so-great-things, it will do the best it can to process them, but your body may take a hit for it. Dr. MillerYour dad was motivated. The doctor said he could lose some weight, but they would end up doing surgery anyway to take out his gallbladder. Your dad wanted to try losing the weight first. This is the basic philosophy here at Organic MD – when you have multiple things to try, go with the safe ones that easy, simple, and cheap. It may take some work, motivation, and effort on your part, but if there are options to surgery, we want to exhaust them. I cannot tell you how many people I have seen go into a fairly simple surgery and come out very scarred or dead. This is also true with a degenerative eye disease, like a retinal disease, or macular degeneration, etc. Will changing your diet reverse these diseases? It is not clear. There are many things you can do to take care of your health that are worth mentioning, in terms of the science behind it. When we talk about macular degeneration, Stargardt’s disease, retinitis pigmentosa, we are talking about problems that almost always have an underlying abnormal gene that predisposes you to it. I choose these words very carefully – predisposes you. Having an abnormal gene does not mean that gene is your destiny. We have another topic we will be talking about in a later podcast called epigenetics. This is the information that sits on top of a gene. The gene is simply the strand of DNA holding the inf

BEH PODCAST EPISODE 51 - 8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 3 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.We are continuing this series on macular degeneration, and specifically things that we can do around it. Today we are focusing on something you mentioned in the last session, which is really exploring supplements as one of the many things we can do. One of the first things that your ophthalmologist may suggest or do is hand you a little packet of vitamins as they are hustling you out the door. They offer a consolation prize, one piece in an array of things you can do to help reverse the situation of degenerative eye disease.8 Things Your Doctor is Not Telling You About Your Eye Disease, Part 3 of 8. Hint: Your Vision Can Improve.004_OMDPodcast_8Things_2-SupplementsCarlyleWelcome to the Organic MD podcast. My name is Carlyle Coash and I am here with Dr. Damon P. Miller II. Hello Dr. Miller.Dr. MillerHey Carlyle, it is good to be hear. CarlyleWe are continuing this series on macular degeneration, and specifically things that we can do around it. Today we are focusing on something you mentioned in the last session, which is really exploring supplements as one of the many things we can do. One of the first things that your ophthalmologist may suggest or do is hand you a little packet of vitamins as they are hustling you out the door. They offer a consolation prize, one piece in an array of things you can do to help reverse the situation of degenerative eye disease. Dr. MillerAt the beginning of each podcast, we will briefly repeat what we covered in our last sessions. To start, the whole focus of this is for you to realize if you, or someone you love or know has one of these retinal diseases: macular degeneration, Stargardt’s disease, retinitis pigmentosa, cone rod dystrophy, etc., that there are things you can do to regain vision lost to these diseases. We know this to be true and we are here to tell you what we know about it, so you can do this for yourself or your loved ones.This is not something your eye doctor is going to say, but it is something we help with all the time. The eye doctors tend to tell you, if they are compassionate and honest, they do not have anything to offer you. There is no drug or surgery. If they are operating more from a typical script, they might say there is nothing that can be done. If they do not have anything to offer you, there is nothing that can be done. There are things that can be done. More recently, one thing the eye doctors do offer after making the diagnosis, like Carlyle was saying, is recommend taking certain vitamins – a brand called, Ocuvite. This is done routinely now because of the ARED Studies. The Age Related Eye Disease Studies is trying to codify what has been seen in research since the 1940s and 50s. A huge body of hundreds and hundreds of peer reviewed papers, looked at what supplements, vitamins, other herbs, etc., that we could do to try and help people with these degenerative eye diseases. The ARED Studies have found, if this is the only intervention you do is take vitamins and supplements, will slow the progression of the disease. These are progressive diseases – they never get better over time, but they do get worse. There is no single vitamin, supplement, or combination of the two that has shown to stop the progression of or reverse the diseases. I stand by that statement. I will say it again, “Vitamins and supplements will slow the progression, but they will not stop the progression of the diseases. They will not reverse the diseases and they do not lead to the recovery of vision that is lasting.” You need to do more. We will be discussing this topic over the next sessions. Today is our second of the eight-part series, and we will be talking about the things you can do. We want to be clear that supplements are necessary, but they are not sufficient. One important thing to keep in mind as we are laying out the program,