One eye contact...................

[GreyGeek]

.... evidence for confusion among n-acetyl-l-carnitine, n-acetylcarnosine, n-acetylcisteine relative to their effects on the eye.

The confusion is all mine, due to my eroding memory. I absentmindedly typed "carnotine" when I meant "carnosine", the more active compound. Carnotine is a Butanoate and Carnosine is a dipeptide derivative of Propanoic Acid. Both are biologically active, therapeutic and available over the counter. Carnosine is more specific for cataracts.

N-Actyl-L-Carnosine is the active ingredient in CAN-C and similar products. The National Institute of Health published an article on it:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15139774

Lipid peroxidation and cataracts: N-acetylcarnosine as a therapeutic tool to manage age-related cataracts in human and in canine eyes.
This molecule protects the crystalline lens from oxidative stress-induced damage, and in a recent clinical trial it was shown to produce an effective, safe and long-term improvement in sight. When administered topically to the eye in the form of Can-C, N-acetylcarnosine functions as a time-release prodrug form of L-carnosine resistant to hydrolysis with carnosinase. N-acetylcarnosine has potential as an in vivo universal antioxidant because of its ability to protect against oxidative stress in the lipid phase of biological cellular membranes and in the aqueous environment by a gradual intraocular turnover into L-carnosine. In our study the clinical effects of a topical solution of N-acetylcarnosine (Can-C) on lens opacities were examined in patients with cataracts and in canines with age-related cataracts. These data showed that N-acetylcarnosine is effective in the management of age-related cataract reversal and prevention both in human and in canine eyes.

By the way, "Bright Eyes Lii", also shown in searchers on Amazon for NALC does not contain N-Acetyl-L-Carnosine and is merely an eye lubricant. Additives like Cinerari are unnecessary.

IF you use an NALC eye drop ... when you put a drop into your eye do not blink it for at least one minute to give the NALC a chance to absorb through the conjunctiva. Blinking after putting in a drop lets the eye pump it back into the throat via the puncta.

[Silent Observer]

Silent Observer


So THAT is a real term?! My ophthalmologist used it once. I had one such spot following an allergic reaction to a drug, I'm sure just a reaction to the fluctuating blood pressure; it resolved on its own, and that was that.

Yes, it's a real term; it refers to the actual appearance of the ischemic spots on the retina (presumably coined by a Brit, since they're the ones who call a cotton ball "cotton wool") -- soft-edged whitish patches (at least in the presumed enhanced contrast of the high-res digital photos they take through the dilated pupil). I have a number of them, clustered around the optic nerve, a pattern my eye doctor said was commonly associated with trauma (a blow to the head that puts the optic nerve in tension might cause clotting in the arteries that feed the retina -- my supposition) -- but the only experience I'd had that might be seen as trauma was a mighty effort to vomit (gag reflex) due to the breathing tube in my throat the first time I woke up from anesthesia and sedation after my surgery.

Cataract surgery carries various risks, not to be taken lightly (e.g., macular edema and other retinal problems).

(S-O, we share an interest in space/physics -- cosmology? I have been working through various popular books on the subject.)

No doubt, there are risks in having a hangnail excised or a boil lanced. Cataract surgery has been done, in various forms, for around two thousand years; the biggest risk with the modern version is blindness (which the patient was headed for anyway), followed by displacement of the insert lens due to things like a poke in the eye too soon after surgery.

I've read a little cosmology, but generally only what went by in Scientific American in the 1980s (when I read it regularly) or what shows up in the science headlines.

The confusion is all mine, due to my eroding memory. I absentmindedly typed "carnotine" when I meant "carnosine", the more active compound. Carnotine is a Butanoate and Carnosine is a dipeptide derivative of Propanoic Acid. Both are biologically active, therapeutic and available over the counter. Carnosine is more specific for cataracts.

N-Actyl-L-Carnosine is the active ingredient in CAN-C and similar products. The National Institute of Health published an article on it:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/15139774

The confusion is not all yours; I found many articles when I did my own search that seemed to confuse carnosine and carnitine (easily done, especially if you're an indifferent speller, which most folks are in this age of spell checkers in phones) and a few references that seemed to suggest cisteine was in some way related (well, being a dipeptide somewhat involved in eye health, I guess is is, vaguely). Your typing of carnotine vs. carnitine vs. carnosine didn't help, but I'd guess anyone who isn't a biochemist gets those crossed up.

BTW, my eye doctor and retinal specialist haven't said whether they think my incipient cataracts are age-related or diabetes induced (I spent a number of years with easy diet control, and hence wasn't testing my sugars when that control broke, probably a couple years before my heart attack, but also wore contacts without sunglasses for many outdoor activities for many years, giving me a relatively high lifetime UV exposure by today's standards); I don't know that the cause matters (the end result is the same). Either way, the clouding isn't noticeable yet, to me (possibly only because it's come on so gradually, over a period of years). It certainly sounds as if n-acetyl-l-carnosine is worth investigating further (especially in terms of whether I can find it in a form that costs less; $40/mo on top of the drugs I now take for my diabetes and heart management would be a strain on my budget during my "out of pocket" phase each year (before I've met my health insurance deductible, so have to pay 100%).

[GreyGeek]

... Your typing of carnotine vs. carnitine vs. carnosine didn't help, but I'd guess anyone who isn't a biochemist gets those crossed up.....

Well, it is my confusion, which is especially bad since I hold a Master's in Biochemistry and have done research in anti-cancer metabolites. My memory, which used to be photographic, hardly exists any more, which is why I resigned as one of the moderators of this forum and asked Steve Riley to replace me. I wish my memory was getting better, or at least not getting worse, but it is not.

[Silent Observer]

I wish my memory was getting better, or at least not getting worse, but it is not.

No doubt about it, getting old sucks. As a hobby photographer (and never mind the way I use my eyes in earning my living), my vision is of paramount importance to me, but with all the other things I do, my memory is just about equally so. I don't consider my memory photographic, but it's close; I virtually always remember at least the general sense of anything I've read that interested me at all; more frequently, I remember considerable detail. I have to wait a couple years or more to enjoy re-reading a novel, but it's a small price to pay.

It's been my experience, though, that even the things I know best are on a "use it or lose it" basis. The days when I could rattle off part numbers from tools I worked on regularly (to the point my boss once called me at home on a day off to ask for a part number -- and got it) are long gone. I like to think it's because I work on twenty (fifty?) times as many different tool models as I did then, but really, I've quit caring if I remember the numbers because I have to do all the electronic paperwork on the computer anyhow; may as well copy the numbers I need from the online parts breakdowns. I still marvel, though, at other technicians in my shop who can't put a tool together from memory two months after disassembling it -- how can they do this job if they can't remember the parts, individually and as assemblies?

All that to say, if you aren't actively working in biochemistry now, it's not surprising that the little bits and bobs slip away. I was away from tool repair for three years between jobs, and when I came back to it, it took quite a while to recall the little "tricks of the trade", like how to assemble the pusher catch on a Hitachi NR83A (very critical order of assembly and method, even with only four parts), or the manual technique of installing an inside O-ring deeper in a bore than a fingertip can reach. I was away from photography for a couple decades, and I had to be reminded by others of the "Sunny 16" method of judging exposure without a meter -- even though I'd made hundreds of good negatives in my teens before I ever owned a light meter.

All memory is a "use it or lose it" proposition. All of it. Don't talk to another human (or yourself) for thirty or forty years, you'll have trouble recalling how, exactly, to talk at all, even though, if you're like most people, you don't remember, at all, any significant part of learning to talk. Wear shirts with elastic cuffs for a decade, and when styles swing back around to button cuffs, you might have forgotten how to fasten a cuff button (or your fingers might have aged enough to make it almost impossible). Wear a clip-on bow tie for a few years, and see if you remember how to tie one (assuming you ever knew).

[GreyGeek]

It gets worse. I taught science & math at the HS level for a decade and at the college level I taught physics, general chem, organic chem, anatomy&physiology, microbiology, calculus 1 through 3, differential equations, analytical chemistry and computer programming for nearly a decade. But, I know exactly how my memory was destroyed and when. I am a member of that 10% of the population which has a negative reaction to Aspartame. When it breaks down in the body it releases phenylalanine and methyl alcohol.

The president of the college where I taught asked me to computerize the campus as well. To keep awake doing 60-80 hour weeks I decided to use Dr. Pepper diet (didn't want to get fat). It turns out that Aspartame triggers carbohydrate binging. Over three years I gained 40 lbs. The methyl alcohol attacks the brain, and internal organs. My external symptoms were a three year cracking headache, being beet red from the waist up, like I was sunburned, even with pealing, and sweating sebaceous oil.

When I found out what was causing the problem I stopped using products with Aspartame in it. Even today, 25 years later, if I drink a single can of diet soda, or eat a candy bar sweetened with Aspartame, the red face and the headache quickly returns. My memory got so bad I couldn't remember the names of my children. It gradually returned but never to the level it once was. Now, with memory loss due to old age, I'm lucky if I remember to zip up my jeans in the morning but, thankfully, my wife is there to check.

[woodsmoke]

LOVE this thread! BTW I had the "black spots" about ten years ago and my doctor/opthalmologist said that I could have "eye surgery" or "just get along with it"..and that "they" would kind of "dissolve"

I now have "the cotton wool spots".......yes they are there, but not a bother...........TO ME............. to others I can see.........oops....... see.......eyes......sea......seasick......anyway.. ....I can ..........comprehend.....how for some people ANY kind of "stuff" "in the eye" would just be devastating.......but........since I grew up with an Amerindian grandfather who was a hero in WWI.........the War to End All Wars....... and had one arm blown off and had to pull his pants up by standing against a wall.......a bit of cotton wool is no big thing...........

BUT..........I can comprehend where any kind of adverse situation with "the eye" would be distressing to some/many people.......

CONTINUE ON.....I love this thread!!

woodlovinitsmoke

[GreyGeek]

Just saw this list of acronyms that seniors supposedly use. It's obviously a hoax because I don't know of any seniors, including myself, who could remember all those abbreviations!

ATD: At The Doctor

BFF: Best Friend Fainted

BTW: Bring The Wheelchair

BYOT: Bring Your Own Teeth

CBM: Covered By Medicare

CGU: Can't get up

CUASC: See You At Senior Center

DWI: Driving While Incontinent

FWB: Friend With Beta Blockers

FWIW: Forgot Where I Was

FYI: Found Your Insulin

GGPBL: Gotta Go, Pacemaker Battery Low!

GHA: Got Heartburn Again

HGBM: Had Good Bowel Movement

IMHO: Is My Hearing-aid On?

LMDO: Laughing My Dentures Out

LOL: Living On Lipitor

LWO: Lawrence Welk's On

OMMR: On My Massage Recliner

OMSG: Oh My! Sorry Gas.

ROFL: Rolling On The Floor Laughing

TTYL: Talk To You Louder

WAITT: Who Am I Talking To?

WTFA: Wet The Furniture Again



WTP: Where's The Prunes?



WWNO: Walker Wheels Need Oil



and lastly,



GGLKI: Gotta Go, Laxative Kicking In

[Silent Observer]

Ten years or so ago I'd have said there weren't many for whom those phrases would be appropriate who used texting or chat software, but my, how things have changed (mostly, I just had my 55th birthday a couple weeks ago, and my primary communication with my parents, both past 75, is by e-mail).