Posted by Okyanos on October 12, 2015
Dr. Caren, 60
Whittier, CA
Diagnosis: Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Wet AMD)
Treated in November, 2014
http://okyanos.com/patient-success/carens-cell-therapy-for-macular-degeneration-amd/?utm_source=MC&utm_medium=newsl&utm_campaign=oct2015
A doctor herself, Caren has dealt with the personal challenge of issues with her sight for years. At the young age of 58 and with vision in only one of her eyes, she was faced with the shattering reality that her other eye was also losing sight as a result of wet macular degeneration.
With this shocking news, Caren began a regimen of painful treatments which held her disease progression at bay. At the recommendation of her primary care physician, Caren started looking at the option of adult stem cell therapy at Okyanos. After taking the time to understand the science, she decided to undergo cell therapy in November, 2014.
Now almost 1 year post-cell therapy, Caren is seeing a much clearer future.
Caren’s Life-Changing Diagnosis
Caren began noticing changes in her left eye in June, 2013. She went to see a doctor who gave her a highly unexpected diagnosis of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).
“I have had no vision in my right eye since I was nine months old, and when I started to notice some distortion I thought that my left eye was only tired,” she says. “It was very shocking at first. The possibility I would go blind was very scary.”
Caren was soon forced to cut back on work and be more conscious of physical demands such as lifting and carrying which made her eye bleed—a challenging shift for a hands-on doctor like Caren, who busily manages her thriving chiropractic practice full time.
Holding Her Symptoms at Bay
Although conventional macular degeneration treatments cannot halt or reverse the damage caused by AMD, there are some options for temporarily resolving symptoms. Caren began such a regimen, doing Avastin injections into her eye.
“It was very good at first. I would get the injection and it would last for about 3 months. My vision was cleared up, but I had to work my schedule around the treatments because whenever I had an injection I was down for about 2 days. It was painful, it was hard to do. But it worked. But eventually it started to require more and more—instead of every 3 months, it was every 2 months. And finally I was doing them about 4 weeks.”
Her vision would clear up temporarily, but at the expense of her well-being as well as lifestyle and schedule interruptions every 4 weeks. Dr. Caren adjusted her work schedule around these treatments, which caused swelling and discomfort as well as blood at the site of the injection. Her eye continued to bleed and the Avastin was not clearing it up, but rather holding off symptoms.
“The doctor told me that I would probably have to get these injections every 4 weeks for the rest of my life, and that’s when I became proactive. I couldn’t live like that. I had to do something else—I thought, there has to be something else. I went online and started putting questions out there, and I came across stem cell therapy. It just so happened that I was going for my annual physical and I asked my doctor about stem cell therapy. She referred me to Okyanos.”
The Evolution of Medicine: Cell Therapy, the Next Phase
At that time, Okyanos had not yet established a protocol for ocular cell therapy and the treatment of macular degeneration. The facility had been open 30 days, and the medical team initially denied Caren treatment, telling her that we would get in touch with her after a year or so when a protocol and reasonable expectations had been better established.
Caren Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Macular Degeneration
Caren describes her Okyanos experience: “It was wonderful! My husband and I were greeted at the airport and taken by car to the hotel.”
A few weeks later, the Chief Cell Therapy Officer at Okyanos called Caren back. He had spoken to a consulting ophthalmologist who, understanding both the disease and the mechanisms of adipose-derived cells, encouraged us to take on Caren’s case and move forward with treatment. It would be the first time stem cell therapy would be done in this kind of clinical setting to treat macular degeneration, a circumstance for which Okyanos obtained special clearance from the Bahamian government to proceed.
It wasn’t a walk in the park for Caren. While her general practitioner was in favor of this new option, her eye specialist in California was not in favor of exploring the potential of cell therapy to improve her eye condition.
Nevertheless, Dr. Caren pushed through. She was hopeful at the possibility of regaining and maintaining her sight, and with her medical background found it easy to grasp the healing capabilities of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells—a strong deciding factor in her moving forward with Okyanos Cell Therapy.
“It had the possibility of healing. Being a doctor, I know about cell regeneration and the science behind it. I had done research on it. I went on the website and read the success stories, and I was willing to try it to see if it would work. I didn’t have any other options, and I really wanted to just go for it and hoped for success with it. It was exciting and scary at the same time,” she reveals.
A Calm, Comfortable Atmosphere
Dr. Caren’s initial encounter with the Okyanos team set the tone for her overall experience.
“It was wonderful! My husband and I were greeted at the airport and taken by car to the hotel.” The Okyanos Patient Concierge helped them get settled and prepared for a pre-operative exam the following day. “It was great,” she says, “and we were very comfortable. I was very impressed.”
Caren and her husband were picked up the next day for her exam at the Okyanos facility.
“The staff there—everyone is wonderful. They’re so friendly, so kind. It’s just a very nice atmosphere. And I felt very at ease with everyone, which was very important because I was nervous.”
Visions of a Clearer Future
Today Caren and her family celebrate the adventurous decision to try cell therapy. Now about 11 months post-treatment and seeing today in a much brighter light, she says, “I’m doing fabulous!”
After leaving Okyanos, Caren says the medical team prepped her on a reasonable timeline of when she might expect to see sustained improvements. “They had told me I might start to notice positive changes within 9 to 12 months—if it was going to work, it would be somewhere within that time,” she says. But one month after she returned home from Okyanos in The Bahamas, Caren’s eye specialist was surprised to see how well Caren was doing. She had only a very little bit of fluid in her eye and didn’t need an Avastin injection.
Her progress continued with some ups and downs, which were to be expected. “A few months later I did have a little fluid—no blood—and some slight distortion, so I had an [Avastin] injection.” She continued regular checkups, monitoring her progress—each visit showing gradual improvements compared to how things were before cell therapy. However, at a checkup about 8 months post-cell therapy is when she and her doctor were overwhelmed at the results.
“I went for my regular 6-week checkup and after my exam, I as told my eye was completely clear. I had no blood, I had no fluid—nothing in my scans or visually. It was very exciting, after 2 years, to be completely fluid-free in my eye. My doctor was very surprised. He couldn’t account for it, he was stunned! I was very happy, my family was very happy. We all celebrated—it was a big win for us.”
A Little Hope Goes a Long Way
Though Dr. Caren admits she had high hopes for cell therapy, the good news of her improvements was still a very welcome surprise.
“I’ve always had the hope that this would be the answer, because it made sense to me,” she says of the the treatment. “There was a possibility there that I was going to go blind, and that’s very scary. So when somebody does finally tell you, ‘You’re clear, your eye looks great,’ you don’t expect to hear that! It was very overwhelming in a great way.”
Dr Caren - Stem Cell Treatment Wet Macular DegenerationApart from the improvement in her eye condition, Dr. Caren says she feels an overall sense of better health as a result of cell therapy, and can’t recommend this treatment enough to patients who, like her, live with macular degeneration or other degenerative medical conditions.
“You have nothing to lose but to try this treatment and it will have benefits. My overall well-being is great,” she observes. “Because the treatment is systemic, meaning it goes all over your body, it helps other parts of your body. My joints feel better, I have more energy and the macular degeneration clearing up was just the big bonus! I feel great! And I’m able to see so much better.”
Cell therapy had such a positive effect on her life that Dr. Caren firmly believes this treatment will bring hope and a better life to others facing difficult diseases. “Cell therapy at least gives you hope that some of this can be reversed,” she says. “It can really improve the quality of your life. There is hope for older, more mature people who have this condition.”
“There is hope for their future.”
Dr. Caren, 60
Whittier, CA
Diagnosis: Wet Age-Related Macular Degeneration (Wet AMD)
Treated in November, 2014
http://okyanos.com/patient-success/carens-cell-therapy-for-macular-degeneration-amd/?utm_source=MC&utm_medium=newsl&utm_campaign=oct2015
A doctor herself, Caren has dealt with the personal challenge of issues with her sight for years. At the young age of 58 and with vision in only one of her eyes, she was faced with the shattering reality that her other eye was also losing sight as a result of wet macular degeneration.
With this shocking news, Caren began a regimen of painful treatments which held her disease progression at bay. At the recommendation of her primary care physician, Caren started looking at the option of adult stem cell therapy at Okyanos. After taking the time to understand the science, she decided to undergo cell therapy in November, 2014.
Now almost 1 year post-cell therapy, Caren is seeing a much clearer future.
Caren’s Life-Changing Diagnosis
Caren began noticing changes in her left eye in June, 2013. She went to see a doctor who gave her a highly unexpected diagnosis of wet age-related macular degeneration (wet AMD).
“I have had no vision in my right eye since I was nine months old, and when I started to notice some distortion I thought that my left eye was only tired,” she says. “It was very shocking at first. The possibility I would go blind was very scary.”
Caren was soon forced to cut back on work and be more conscious of physical demands such as lifting and carrying which made her eye bleed—a challenging shift for a hands-on doctor like Caren, who busily manages her thriving chiropractic practice full time.
Holding Her Symptoms at Bay
Although conventional macular degeneration treatments cannot halt or reverse the damage caused by AMD, there are some options for temporarily resolving symptoms. Caren began such a regimen, doing Avastin injections into her eye.
“It was very good at first. I would get the injection and it would last for about 3 months. My vision was cleared up, but I had to work my schedule around the treatments because whenever I had an injection I was down for about 2 days. It was painful, it was hard to do. But it worked. But eventually it started to require more and more—instead of every 3 months, it was every 2 months. And finally I was doing them about 4 weeks.”
Her vision would clear up temporarily, but at the expense of her well-being as well as lifestyle and schedule interruptions every 4 weeks. Dr. Caren adjusted her work schedule around these treatments, which caused swelling and discomfort as well as blood at the site of the injection. Her eye continued to bleed and the Avastin was not clearing it up, but rather holding off symptoms.
“The doctor told me that I would probably have to get these injections every 4 weeks for the rest of my life, and that’s when I became proactive. I couldn’t live like that. I had to do something else—I thought, there has to be something else. I went online and started putting questions out there, and I came across stem cell therapy. It just so happened that I was going for my annual physical and I asked my doctor about stem cell therapy. She referred me to Okyanos.”
The Evolution of Medicine: Cell Therapy, the Next Phase
At that time, Okyanos had not yet established a protocol for ocular cell therapy and the treatment of macular degeneration. The facility had been open 30 days, and the medical team initially denied Caren treatment, telling her that we would get in touch with her after a year or so when a protocol and reasonable expectations had been better established.
Caren Adult Stem Cell Therapy for Macular Degeneration
Caren describes her Okyanos experience: “It was wonderful! My husband and I were greeted at the airport and taken by car to the hotel.”
A few weeks later, the Chief Cell Therapy Officer at Okyanos called Caren back. He had spoken to a consulting ophthalmologist who, understanding both the disease and the mechanisms of adipose-derived cells, encouraged us to take on Caren’s case and move forward with treatment. It would be the first time stem cell therapy would be done in this kind of clinical setting to treat macular degeneration, a circumstance for which Okyanos obtained special clearance from the Bahamian government to proceed.
It wasn’t a walk in the park for Caren. While her general practitioner was in favor of this new option, her eye specialist in California was not in favor of exploring the potential of cell therapy to improve her eye condition.
Nevertheless, Dr. Caren pushed through. She was hopeful at the possibility of regaining and maintaining her sight, and with her medical background found it easy to grasp the healing capabilities of adipose-derived stem and regenerative cells—a strong deciding factor in her moving forward with Okyanos Cell Therapy.
“It had the possibility of healing. Being a doctor, I know about cell regeneration and the science behind it. I had done research on it. I went on the website and read the success stories, and I was willing to try it to see if it would work. I didn’t have any other options, and I really wanted to just go for it and hoped for success with it. It was exciting and scary at the same time,” she reveals.
A Calm, Comfortable Atmosphere
Dr. Caren’s initial encounter with the Okyanos team set the tone for her overall experience.
“It was wonderful! My husband and I were greeted at the airport and taken by car to the hotel.” The Okyanos Patient Concierge helped them get settled and prepared for a pre-operative exam the following day. “It was great,” she says, “and we were very comfortable. I was very impressed.”
Caren and her husband were picked up the next day for her exam at the Okyanos facility.
“The staff there—everyone is wonderful. They’re so friendly, so kind. It’s just a very nice atmosphere. And I felt very at ease with everyone, which was very important because I was nervous.”
Visions of a Clearer Future
Today Caren and her family celebrate the adventurous decision to try cell therapy. Now about 11 months post-treatment and seeing today in a much brighter light, she says, “I’m doing fabulous!”
After leaving Okyanos, Caren says the medical team prepped her on a reasonable timeline of when she might expect to see sustained improvements. “They had told me I might start to notice positive changes within 9 to 12 months—if it was going to work, it would be somewhere within that time,” she says. But one month after she returned home from Okyanos in The Bahamas, Caren’s eye specialist was surprised to see how well Caren was doing. She had only a very little bit of fluid in her eye and didn’t need an Avastin injection.
Her progress continued with some ups and downs, which were to be expected. “A few months later I did have a little fluid—no blood—and some slight distortion, so I had an [Avastin] injection.” She continued regular checkups, monitoring her progress—each visit showing gradual improvements compared to how things were before cell therapy. However, at a checkup about 8 months post-cell therapy is when she and her doctor were overwhelmed at the results.
“I went for my regular 6-week checkup and after my exam, I as told my eye was completely clear. I had no blood, I had no fluid—nothing in my scans or visually. It was very exciting, after 2 years, to be completely fluid-free in my eye. My doctor was very surprised. He couldn’t account for it, he was stunned! I was very happy, my family was very happy. We all celebrated—it was a big win for us.”
A Little Hope Goes a Long Way
Though Dr. Caren admits she had high hopes for cell therapy, the good news of her improvements was still a very welcome surprise.
“I’ve always had the hope that this would be the answer, because it made sense to me,” she says of the the treatment. “There was a possibility there that I was going to go blind, and that’s very scary. So when somebody does finally tell you, ‘You’re clear, your eye looks great,’ you don’t expect to hear that! It was very overwhelming in a great way.”
Dr Caren - Stem Cell Treatment Wet Macular DegenerationApart from the improvement in her eye condition, Dr. Caren says she feels an overall sense of better health as a result of cell therapy, and can’t recommend this treatment enough to patients who, like her, live with macular degeneration or other degenerative medical conditions.
“You have nothing to lose but to try this treatment and it will have benefits. My overall well-being is great,” she observes. “Because the treatment is systemic, meaning it goes all over your body, it helps other parts of your body. My joints feel better, I have more energy and the macular degeneration clearing up was just the big bonus! I feel great! And I’m able to see so much better.”
Cell therapy had such a positive effect on her life that Dr. Caren firmly believes this treatment will bring hope and a better life to others facing difficult diseases. “Cell therapy at least gives you hope that some of this can be reversed,” she says. “It can really improve the quality of your life. There is hope for older, more mature people who have this condition.”
“There is hope for their future.”