Macular degeneration is an eye disease affecting the central vision.  It is the
leading cause of blindness and the most common eye disease for those aged
55 and older, affecting more than 10 million Americans - more people than cataracts and glaucoma combined.  The American Macular Degeneration Foundation

Most Ophthalmologists believe macular degeneration is a steadily deteriorating, irreversible condition for which there is no known cure. Ophthalmologists in
the U.S. offer only hope of delaying the disease process.  Any claims of curing
or reversing macular degeneration are almost unknown and definitely outside mainstream medical eye care.

A few maverick Ophthalmologists (I believe no more than a dozen) are
performing an expensive involved procedure with electrical micro stimulation around the edges of the eye socket. With a series of such treatments (costing
more than $2000) they claim to reverse vision loss, or improve the vision of
some patients.

In contrast to mainstream medical beliefs and the above treatment for
macular degeneration, I submit the following letter about a very simple,
inexpensive acupuncture treatment from China that I learned 20 years ago,
but haven't used until recently because of false information I was given by
an Ophthalmologist.

22 January, 2004

Concerning: Dry Macular Degeneration

To whom it may concern:

I used to have very good eyes and was very involved with a lot of  hobbies
such as doll making, painting, sewing, etc.  Gradually my eyesight began to
fail me.  When I could see nothing but hazy fog, I went to Salt Lake City to
an eye clinic.  They told me I had dry macular degeneration and that it was
not treatable.  This really frightened me.  As I progressively got worse I
couldn't sew to do my hobbies anymore.  That makes the days really long
when you are used to being so busy.  I am 86 years old. Ilove to fill my time working on projects and in the yard.  The thing that made it the worst,
though, was that I could no longer see my little great grandchildren's faces
or the flowers or the trees.  I was praying daily that I would still be able to
tell daylight from dark because the fog was getting thicker and darker and a
lot worse.  When I would go for a ride I couldn't even tell when we turned
onto my street or see my house.  When you just feel your way around it is
very discouraging and frightening.  

My back was hurting, and a friend told me about Darrell Stoddard, and how
he could take pain away in just one visit. So, my daughter took me and sure enough, I left pain free.  I made the comment to him about how good it felt. 
Then I said, "Now if you could just help me see again."  I  hadn't  intended
to say  that, but I was just feeling relieved about my back pain gone and
feeling extremely desperate to be able to see again.  He asked me what was
wrong with my eyes.  I explained the problem, and thatI had been declared
legally blind.  You can't imagine my joy when he said, "Oh, I thinkI can help
 you."  I began making visits to him about 2-3 times a week.  I noticed improvement in just a few weeks.  I noticed after about a month that I could
see objects and the fog had cleared considerably.  I could have probably
stopped going at that point but I was so excited about my progress that I
decided that as long as I could see improvement I would keep going.  It was
so fun to ride down the street and say, "I can see the Y on the mountain." 
Or "I can tell those are trees and they have trunks and branches and leaves."
I could notice flowers again and I could  see colors again.  I could even tell the brick fences from the picket fences.  This Christmas I was able to make 20 children's quilts for my great grandchildren and grandchildren, and ceramic
horses for my grandsons and grandsons in laws.  I can see the print in my
curtains and the pattern in the carpet and even the lines in the tile. I can see
things like my ring and ear rings. This is such a blessing.  You really realize
it much more after not being able to see anything. I can even see now when
Darrell, his wife, and their daughter-in-law Patty, smile at me. (they do the treatments)  We just drive up in front of his house and they come right out
to the car to do the treatments. I don't even have to get out of the car. 
They place a small needle in my pointer fingers just below the half moon on
my fingernail. Then I go home and then about 1 1/2 hours later I remove the needles and drink a lot of water.  You're done for the day. With my back not hurting and my eyesight returned to me you can just imagine how my quality
of life has changed.  I just love life and am so grateful.  I just can't say thank
you enough.

Love,
Alta

Note: The above treatment is based on the following research that I read in
anacupuncture journal nearly 20 years ago.  I was so impressed by the 97%
cure or improved rate that I went to a trusted ophthalmologist to ask him
about "Exudative Central Chorioretinopathy."   He said, "We never see that
in the United States, almost never."  I wondered in my mind how they could
get 600 patients with the disease in China if the disease is so rare.  In my
own mind I thought it must be because they have a billion people. This ended
my search. 

Years later I learned about wet and dry macular degeneration and that both
types caused the loss of central vision.  It occurred to me that Exudative
Central Chorioretinopathy was probably just wet type macular degeneration,
the most common eye disease known.  I've tried it out on just a few patients
for both wet and dry macular degeneration and have seen near miraculous
results. One man couldn't see my house when we started and after
just five treatments he could see the numbers on my house.  After nine
treatments he could see a bug crawling across the floor clear across his living
room. For all I know this may be just the placebo effect.  If placebos will
restore eyesight, then we need a lot more placebos. 

I have a lot more to learn about macular degeneration.  My success rate is
not as good as the 97% in the study below.  The results for two patients,
however, were so impressive that I'm posting the letter and study here for
those who would like to do more about this life altering eye disease.

Exudative central chorioretinopathy is one of the common ocular diseases. 
The early impairment of the central vision and protracted clinical course may seriously interfere with the life of those suffered.  Various remedies have been advocated by authors of different countries with certain beneficial results,
though far from being satisfactory.  On account of the lengthy therapeutic
course and great expense needed, their practical use has not met with general approval.

Since the mid 1970 we began to treat this disease with acupuncture of
"Xiangyang" point and the clinical results attained were encouraging with an
overall cure or improved rate up to 97.66%.  From the accumulated clinical experiences for more than 7 years, it has shown that acupuncture of
"Xiangyang" point in the treatment of exudative central chorioretinopathy is
the method of choice.  It is efficacious, with shorter therapeutic course,
simple, safe and almost painless with a low cost and less equipment needed.

Analysis of 600 cases with exudative central chorioretinopathy undergoing acupuncture therapy showed an overall results of cured or improved in 586
cases (97.66%) and unsatisfactory in 14 cases(2.34%).

The role of acupuncture might be postulated as that the favorable effects
of needling "Xiangyang" point perhaps transverse through the distribution of
cervical plexus and sympathetic chains.  More recently the fluorescing
angiography of the fundus has demonstrated definite changes in the
permeability of choriocapillaries.  One would anticipated that the mild
stimulation by needling may regulate the malfunctioned cervical sympathetic
plexus, reduce the permeability of choriocapilaries and promote the
resolution of edema and exudation.  

As regards the nature of channel, whether it does designate nervous system
still remains unsolved.  For the time being we would assume that channel may intimately correlate with nervous system.
     

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