Personal Macular Degeneration (MD) Update: My Protocol and Commentary

MD is a leading cause of blindness. When I received a diagnosis of early MD, I determined to do something about it. Here is an update for those interested.

The primary parts of my Personal MD Protocol

Between 18 and 20 million Americans live with a diagnosis of early MD while another 1.5 million live with severe visual challenges because of it.

Not long ago I discovered during a routine visit to my ophthalmologist that I was one of them. He made the diagnosis very early Age Related Macular Degeneration (ARMD) saying that it was very early, so early, in fact, that what he was seeing might be an artifact.

I came home, did some research and published this stack:

In it, I mentioned to readers that in my clinical practice, I had the experience of treating people with ARMD with intravenous taurine and other nutrients and seeing their eyes return to normal.

ARMD is apparently a disorder of the metabolic and energy functions of the mitochondria of the macula, allowing debris to build up on the macular surface that damages the function, and eventually, the integrity of the macula itself.

MD comes in two flavors: dry (initial, “untreatable”) and wet (more advanced, somewhat treatable). Neither is acceptable to me. I would rather simply correct the underlying problem and get back to the rest of my life, thank you, very much. I also, based on what I have seen and helped to make happen in my drug-free medical practice since my graduation from Medical School in 1970, do not understand or know the meaning of the following:

• Incurable

• Intractable

• No hope

• No cure

• Nothing we can do

• Make the best of it

• Just learn to live with it

• Just accept it

• Just age

• Just life

• Just the way it is.

You see, people come to a doctor like me after the things that their drug doctor tells them to do have failed (although in medicine, the official phrase is, and I am not kidding here, that the “patient has failed therapy”).

So after all the usual things do not work, patients seek out someone like me, hoping against hope that there is, after all, something that will work, although nothing did yet.

Now, it is true that there are some patients (and more each year, I have to say) who get that the allopathic route is not going to work out for them and start earlier on the path to health and wellness with someone like me before all that frustration, expense and pain. And that is great. But dealing with so many desperate and desperately ill patients over so many years meant that I had to learn how to get smart fast for a particular patient in order to help, not just add to the burden of sorrow that they came through the door with.

So I have learned quite a lot over those years and knew that the first thing I had to do for my own health and well-being was to learn all I could about the condition that was threatening to make me go blind so that did not happen.
The original diagnosis was in March. I have been doing red light therapy and nutritional IV’s, acupuncture and some nutritional therapy. But my research into macular and optical nutrients was not complete until now so I am sharing them in this stack for those who are interested.

You may recall that I mentioned that I immediately initiated a treatment course with my own doctor, a naturopath skilled in nutritional IVs, using his wisdom and my own. And I have done some serious and detailed research on light and oral nutrition and supplementation, as well.

I also found very encouraging literature suggesting that the use of red light at the right frequency (660 nm), intensity and timing (immediately upon arising) had very good possibilities. This treatment, often called “Photo Biomodulation”, is something I am also familiar with since I have used frequency in my practice and health care strategies for decades.

Now, before I go any further, let me make some very clear disclaimers:

What I am going to share here pertains to MY health, MY body, MY history, my emotional strengths and vulnerabilities, and so on. This article and the information in it is NOT a prescription for your or that of any friend with or without ARMD or any other sort of MD. I am very knowledgeable and have skills in high-intensity nutritional therapies, both IV and oral, and know my body, history, genetic tendencies, etc., well. I am also a “mega-dose kind of gal” and believe in, monitoring closely, high dose nutritional therapies.

If you were coming to me for a consultation, which many people do on a private basis via telemedicine¹, we would spend time and effort gaining the same familiarity with your physical and psychological self so that when I crafted a protocol for you, it would be exactly that: for YOU.

That important proviso being said, I thought it might be interesting for people to know what my personal protocol is. In July, by the way, I will revisit my perfectly pleasant eye doctor. When I asked him if he were familiar with Taurine IV’s for ARMD, he looked blankly at me and said “no”. I explained my history of success with them in patients carrying the ARMD diagnosis and he said that he would be interested in learning more and turned away.

It is pretty likely that when I go back to him in a couple of months, if the problem is gone he will say it was an artifact, after all. we’ll see and I will certainly keep you posted.

But, for right now, here is my Protocol:

1. Nutritional Taurine + IVs twice a week preceded by an IV push of phosphatidyl choline. The IV contains taurine, selenium, copper, 25 Grams of Vitamin C, a variety of other vitamins and minerals and takes a couple of hours to drip completely.

   I take my laptop with me and conduct Zoom meetings and do other work as the insertion of the drip allows, since sometimes it is in my right hand, not arm, and can seriously get in the way. I work around it the best I can.
   Often, after I have spent the morning dripping, my friend, the doctor and I go out for his lunch break, and I have both the IV nutrients and the pleasure of lunch with my doctor buddy.

2. Before we finish each time I do a drip, my doctor, who is trained in Oriental Medicine, does acupuncture on the orbital area of my eyes to move, clean, encourage the Chi of my eyes in general and the retinae, in particular.

3. Every morning, 45 minutes before I need to wake up, I set an alarm that goes off. I grope to find the 660 nm light Eye Power “glasses” specifically designed for this therapy:

   

   The device costs about $113 including shipping and, when turned on, provides a very bright 3-minute light nutrition to the macular mitochondria of the eyes. The research is encouraging and, as is responsible, no claims are made for the device’s impact on any individual wearer. Here is the website: Home • eyepower. I have no financial connection to this device whatsoever.

   Interestingly, the research shows that the beneficial effect is lost if the light is not introduced first thing upon awakening, which is why I set the double alarms.

4. I use the powerful, natural and safe adaptogenic product called Nano Soma, 4 sprays in my mouth 4 times a day. Why? because it helps the body toward homeostasis on a wide variety of parameters and this cannot hurt my effort to regulate macular metabolism. Besides, it is part of my regular regimen anyway and I would not think of giving it up.
   Unlike Eye Power, I do have a relationship with the Nano Soma company: I am its Chief Medical Officer because I believe strongly in the beneficial impact of the product across a wide spectrum of situations. You can purchase it here, DrRima.MagicDichol.Info if you wish.

5. Oral Nutrients: First, let me remind you that there is a massive difference between professional quality nutrients and cheap ones. And there is a further significant difference between ordinary professional quality ones and really high-quality ones.

   I purchase my nutrients from US.Fullscript.com/welcome/RLaibow because I can find not only the professional quality ones there (the company is designed to supply professionals with the nutrients they stock or supply) but the super high-quality ones which are the only ones I will put into my body.
   You can, of course, get supplements and nutrients anywhere, but decades of clinical practice with various types of nutrients have taught me that the quality of the supplement is critically important to the outcome.

   Personally, those are the only ones I would even consider using since I understand the impact of fillers, preservatives, coloring agents, excipients, and poorly sourced, contaminated nutrients. Frankly, I will economize elsewhere rather than act against my own best interests by taking something inferior into my body that is in enough trouble to require me to take something to deal with that trouble.
   Knowing that they are expensive, I have set a permanent discount on my Fullscript dispensary and have arranged for free accounts for anyone who wants to go there and purchase these high-quality supplements as they choose. As with Nano Soma, I have a financial connection with Fullscript: when you make a purchase there, it helps to support my work by giving me a small percentage of that purchase without any extra cost to you.

   
   Now, I take a great many nutrients on a regular basis, and I am not going to list them all here. However, after rather extensive product and literature research, I have constructed a program of specific eye-related nutrients that I would like to share with you.

   Remember, though, as I said above, I am a “mega dose and mega nutrient kind of gal” and have constructed an intense nutrient program for myself which I am providing for information and education purposes only.

   Here is a list of the specific eye-related nutrients and the amounts I am taking. Please remember that these are the sums of what the total regimen provides as no one supplement product can supply them all:

   Alpha Lipoic Acid Ascorbyl Palmitate Astaxanthin Alpha Carotene
   850 mg 20 mg 27 mg 19,000 IU

   Bacopa Extract Beta Carotene Bilberry Extract Biopterin
   400 mg 7500 mg 450 mg 25% 5 mg

   Biotin Black Current Extract Boron Elderberry

   700 mcg 50 mg 2 mg 335 mg

   Calcium MCT Catalase Carotenoid Blend
   300 mg 252 mg 70 mcg 2.25mg

   Choline Chromium Citrus Bioflavonoid Copper
   60mg 320 mcg 250 mg 4.5 mg
   Cryptoxanthin Crocus, Safranin Folinic Acid Folic Acid
   39 mcg 14 mg 1.6 mg 800 mcg

   Gingko Biloba Grape Seed Extract Iodine L-Glutathione
   350 mg 50 mg (92% Polyph.) 225 mcg 50 mg
   Lemon Balm Lutein Lycopene Magnesium

   125 176 mg 19.5 mg 300 mg
   Manganese Maqui Berry Meso-Zeaxanthin Molybdenum
   2.5 mg 200 mg 12.2 mg 125 mcg
   NAC Phos. Serine Quercetin Resveratrol
   1400 mg 50 mg 200 mg 45 mg

   RR-Zeaxanthin Saffron Selenium SOD
   3 mg 20mg 395 mcg 70 mcg
   Taurine Turmeric Vanadium Vit A
   650 mg 300 mg 50 mcg 39,037 IU
   Vit B Vit B-1 Vit B-2 Vit B-3
   65 mg 67.75 mg 75.75 130 mg
   Vit B-5 Vit B-6 Vit B-12 Vit C
   325 mg 115 mg 750 mcg 2720 mg

   Vit D Vit E Vit K1 Zeaxanthin
   1400 IU 1080 IU 120 mcg 33 mg
   Zinc Vision Greens* Eye Integrity* Copper

   70 mg 258 mg 112 mg 1.5 mg
   Manganese Boron Vitis Vinifera (Common Grape Vine)
   5 mg 1 mg 30 mg
   *Proprietary Blend

   NOTE: I take other supplements for my general well-being and for specific preventive purposes (for example, I include Co-Q 10, 400 mg in my daily regimen, Vitamin D, 10,000 IU, etc.) What I have listed above are the specific oral nutrients that I have added to deal with my diagnosis of Age-Related Macular Degeneration and I am not offering medical advice, or prescription pertaining to anyone’s needs but my own.

“Why is she making such a big deal out of that disclaimer?”, you may well ask. The answer is interesting: when the Codex hoax burst on the scene, we were told that people in the age range that I am in (I am 81 now, so 5 years ago I was 76) were in the greatest danger of dying from this new and terrifying disease.
I reported in a blog, asserting my 1st Amendment Rights, that I was not afraid of the new and terrifying disease because I supported the normal structure and function of my immune system with daily use of a mineral suspended in water at very tiny particles size. This mineral has been associated with health for more than a millennium or two.

Now, it turns out that in order to grant Emergency Use Authorization to something untested and -imagine!- possibly neither safe nor effective, there has to be nothing else that could be used.

Nothing.

No ivermectin, no hydroxychloroquine, no Vitamin C drips, no Nano Silver, alas, nothing at all but the desperately hoped for goodness of the untested miracle-in-the-making.

By strange coincidence, in pretty much no time a-tall, we were blessed with “3 beautiful vaccines” that burst on the scene in a flurry of warp speed wonder and EUAs were granted because there was nothing at all that could provide any safety or health promotion against this new and terrifying disease. Amazing, really, that there were no other agents that could be used, requiring the immediate granting of those handy, dandy EUAs!

To make sure that my opinion was never expressed again, despite the massive amount of research, including some by the US Department of Defense’s own Defense Threat Reduction Agency on supporting the normal structure and function of the immune system with that particular mineral in that particular formulation, the FDA dragged me, the Trustees of the Natural Solutions Foundation and the Foundation into Federal Court (Third Circuit) accusing us of making claims of cure based on my opinion.

Ultimately, lacking the huge amount of money necessary to pursue the case, we signed a consent decree saying that we would not in the future do what we had not done in the past and complied with the requirements of that decree very precisely. And my extensive disclaimer is the direct, lineal descendent of that horrifying experience. The new and terrifying disease did not scare me, but the FDA sure as Hell did!

However, I am a licensed physician and if someone wants my specific advice and input on their health situation in a consultative relationship, that is within their right to seek and my right to provide.

We establish a doctor/patient relationship protected by all the applicable confidentiality protections and I am then empowered to make specific statements and offer specific advice, including learned opinions about things like exemptions, for that patient in the same way that the information in this stack is specific to me and me alone.

I have practiced medicine and psychiatry, as many of you know, without the use of pharmaceuticals so people looking for refills or new prescriptions would do better to look elsewhere. My approach to health and well-being is based in applied biochemistry (otherwise known as “nutrition”), getting rid of things that are creating illness and/or preventing health and healing, dealing with relationships, emotions and expectations as they impact health and wholeness. My approach is always an encounter with an individual, not a diagnosis.

That takes time, the patient’s time and my time. Most of the work required is on the patient’s part, since the patient is, after all, the world’s leading expert on that person.

I would be pleased to open the few slots I have in my schedule to people who want consultations or on-going treatment if they are eager to take responsibility for their own health in a consultative, engaged partnership with me via telemedicine.

Most people ask at this point if I accept insurance. I do not, so all of my services are out of pocket to the patient.

If you are in a health network and NOT receiving Medicare, you may be able to receive partial reimbursement for our work together. If you ARE receiving Medicare and/or Medicare secondary, neither you nor I will be able to submit my statements to them since I am not in the Medicare system.

As I mentioned above, I have a follow up appointment with the ophthalmologist in July, and I am looking forward to it.

Let’s assume the ARMD is gone. The doc can either say, “Hmmm…. That’s interesting! Tell me more!” or. “Hmmm…. I guess it was an artifact after all”. In either case we rejoice.

He can also say, “Hmmm…. It looks about the same.” or “Hmmm… it has gotten worse.” In either case, we reassess and readjust.

By the way, the group that I tried to set up for discussion of AMD had two problems: first, there were technical difficulties setting it up. Second, people insisted on filling the chat with totally unrelated discourse no matter how intensively I asked them to stop. So please use the comments or email me at releyes3@gmail.com.

To set up a consultation, please use CONSULT as the subject of the email, tell me in one page or less what your situation and needs are, and I will send you a letter of engagement. You fill it out, return it to me and we’ll go from there.

1. Send an email with CONSULT as the subject to releyes3@gmail.com outlining briefly what you want the consult for (1 page or less, please) and I will write back to you. I do not accept any form of insurance.