Topic: Anyone else with severe vision symptoms? Bright flashes of light, floaters etc...
lymielauren28
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Member # 13742
posted
My eyesight, along with every other square inch of my body, seems to be badly effected by Lyme and co..
I have tons of floaters and yes, what looks to be actual spirochetes in my field of vision.
What is really bothering me however are these bright flashes of light - like fireworks going off inside my eyes. I also get a bright blue light that almost blinds me but only lasts for a few seconds. Strange.
I am in a full-blown relapse right now and this symptom always gets really bad for me when I'm really sick. When I'm doing well this issue is pretty much non-existant.
Anybody else have this? Anybody know if this is definately Lyme or is caused by another co-infection?
Lauren
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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Starfall1969
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posted
YES!!! I have a lot of strange visual disturbances too.
Floaters, weird light thingies that kind of look like pulsating dosco balls or soccer balls, things that look like glowing flowers, blurred vision, inability to focus, dilated pupils...
Some days it's so bad I'm afraid I'm going blind.
I'm not officially diagnosed yet, so I don't know if it's Lyme or something else.
But I have seen 2 optometrists and an opthamologist, and none of them can find a thing wrong with my eyes.
It's very unsettling, to say the least! Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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It's a good idea to get the bright flashes of light checked out right away as it can be a sign of retinal detachment.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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Keebler
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posted
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There are many good threads here on this issue.
You might do a search with the above feature for terms such as "floaters" - "eyes" - "vision"
Floaters are debris from damage. Antioxidants can really help clear them up. "EyeBob" has written many good posts. He is an eye doctor - you can search by his web name above, too.
Still, while these are common to lyme, these can indicate a serious problem and you should make an eye appointment as soon as possible.
lymielauren28
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posted
Just googled retinal detachmnet. YIKES! The idea of going blind is a little scary! A blind Lymie? I cannot imagine...
I don't think it is retinal detachment though because this has been going on with me for about three years. Like I said, when I relapse I experience this symptom, but when I have my disease under control, I don't.
I'll make an appointment with my eye doc just in case...
Lauren
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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Keebler
Honored Contributor (25K+ posts)
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posted
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Good. See if you can find an eye doctor who is LL. Does your LLMD have a referral list?
If not, any good eye doctor can assess for this. Still, if one happens to be LL and you can see that doctor, all the better.
Magnesium can help decrease flashes if from NMDA over excitability. Fish oil, too.
Bilberries are good.
Be sure to do a search here as there have been many good posts but I'm too tired to dig up all my research.
Floaters are deposits of various size, shape, consistency, refractive index, and motility within the eye's vitreous humour, which is normally transparent.[1][2] They may be of embryonic origin or acquired due to degenerative changes of the vitreous humour or retina.[1]
The perception of floaters is known as myodesopsia, or less commonly as myiodeopsia, myiodesopsia, or myodeopsia.[1]
Floaters appear as shadow-like shapes that appear alone or together with several others in one's field of vision. They may appear as spots, threads, or fragments of cobwebs, which float slowly before the sufferer's eyes.[2]
Since these objects exist within the eye itself, they are not optical illusions but are entoptic phenomena.
. . .
Vitreous syneresis
The most common cause of floaters is shrinkage of the vitreous humour[6]: this gel-like substance consists of 99% water and 1% solid elements. The solid portion consists of a network of collagen and hyaluronic acid, with the latter retaining water molecules.
Depolymerization of this network makes the hyaluronic acid release its trapped water, thereby liquefying the gel.
The collagen breaks down into fibrils, which ultimately are the floaters that plague the patient. Floaters caused in this way tend to be few in number and of a linear form.
posted
Sorry to hear what your going through lauren.
I have alot of vision problems as well. All the vision stuff are some of my worst symptoms. I have trouble focusing, floaters, after images, swirly hazy vision, and many others.
I know what u mean about seeing the actual spircohetes or bacteria. Ive made posts about this too. Its not the floaters but when i look at the sky i can see thousands of tiny bacteria swimming all around like something you would see under a microscope. Weird. I think we got bit by the sam tick. we seem to have so many of the same symptoms.
Anyways, Im sorry your having a rough time. Unfortunately i have no idea what causes teh vision stuff. I hope its just a herx. It definately could be.
lymielauren28
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posted
Hey Joe,
You're such a sweety! I think we got bit by the same tick too!
Speaking of ticks, guess what was on my shoe yesterday?! A freakin tick!!!!! I visited a friend yesterday and she lives on about a hundred acres. I literally only walked about ten feet from my car to her front porch.
When I got inside I glanced down at my shoes and saw something black crawling up my right shoe. "It can't be..." is what I'm thinking, but as I look closer I realize that it can be and it is!! "Oh my God, get it off me!!" I scream and Beau goes to pick it off and then I scream at him, "Don't touch it!!"
He's looking at me like I've lost my mind (I have, LOL!) and I try to calm down a little. I ended up taking off my shoe and taking a lighter to the tick. I've never experienced so much joy from burning something to death, haha!
I stared at that dead tick for a long time, amazed that something that tiny can cause so much grief...
Anyways, it seriously freaked me out b'c had I not happened to glance down, no doubt that evil sucker would've ended up crawling up my leg and attching to me somewhere,probably infecting me with twelve other diseases! Gives me the willies thinking about it!!
Lauren
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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Lymeorsomething
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Yes, the floaters have been driving me crazy. The eye doctor said my eyes were fine. However, the floaters are there in both eyes and seem to change orientation at times. Weird.
-------------------- "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Posts: 2062 | From CT | Registered: Jul 2008
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quote:Originally posted by jocus20: I know what u mean about seeing the actual spircohetes or bacteria. Ive made posts about this too. Its not the floaters but when i look at the sky i can see thousands of tiny bacteria swimming all around like something you would see under a microscope. Weird.
I have EXACTLY the same thing. I have tried to explain this to non-lymies so many times (only to be met with a blank stare or a look of horror), it's actually very reassuring to read these posts!
I have the floaters, blurriness and "stars" too but the "tiny, wiggly worms swimming in my eyeball jelly" is the most disconcerting vision symptom.
I'm leaving for Bionc 880 tx in Germany soon. I figure I should be able to tell if it is working if the wigglies disappear from my visual field.
posted
wow, i am thankful to have found this post. I thought I was the only one with this going on, by do I feel a bit better now knowing I am not the only one. I see flashes of light, mostly blue. When I look at the sky or out in an open area I see clear atom like looking circles moving all around, even when I am wearing my glasses, I get double vision here and there, and I see little black dots randomly, I also see what looks like small rain like mist when it isnt even raining. I just got an mri last night, but yes the doctors look at me blankly and are just like yeah right I can see it in their eyes,
Posts: 8 | From st.michaels, Md | Registered: Jan 2009
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posted
wow, i am thankful to have found this post. I thought I was the only one with this going on, by do I feel a bit better now knowing I am not the only one. I see flashes of light, mostly blue. When I look at the sky or out in an open area I see clear atom like looking circles moving all around, even when I am wearing my glasses, I get double vision here and there, and I see little black dots randomly, I also see what looks like small rain like mist when it isnt even raining. I just got an mri last night, but yes the doctors look at me blankly and are just like yeah right I can see it in their eyes,
Posts: 8 | From st.michaels, Md | Registered: Jan 2009
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posted
I'm very sorry for what you're going through. I got those exact symtoms too. I saw bright flashes of light, the blue light, wiggly-things in my periferal vision and I also saw vibration on vertical lines like drapes and the backs of chairs.
This is what helped me alot. First Dr. Singleton's book suggested vitamin C; I take 2000mg a day in 4 equal doses.
Next, Resveratrol. This supplement is in Dr. Singleton's book too. Japanese Knotweed is contained in the supplement (75mg) and it really helped the vision problems when I began taking it. I take one capsule a day at dinner.
Finally, Grapefruit. I eat a whole grapefruit each day by pealing it and then having a section or two during the day. The grapefruit really helped my eyes and anxiety that I get as well.
Hope this helps, GOD bless you.
Posts: 54 | From New Mexico | Registered: Nov 2008
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feelfit
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Member # 12770
posted
Hey Lauren,
Blue lights here, or more like one blue dot, royal to sky blue in color. comes and goes.
Ketes swimming in my eyes too....at least looks like the pics of ketes that I have seen.
Some days myvision is good for most of the day and then I have trouble focusing and after images.
The floaty things are always there, right eye only.
I also get what I call geometric designs or kaleidascope vision. They say these are occular migraines, but I don't get a migraine with them??? My migraines come without a warning.
I am sorry you are relapsing. You were doing so GOOOOOOOD. At least you know that getting well is possible, you've had a taste. I'm still waiting.
Good luck, thinking of you, Feelfit
Posts: 3975 | From usa | Registered: Aug 2007
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Starfall1969
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posted
feelfit--As for ocular miggraines, I have had those in the past myself.
The first one I had when I was pregnant the first time, and then a couple shortly after finally sent me to the eye doctor.
I never got headaches with these, just a bright light in the corner of one eye (my good eye) that grew into a blind spot. It lasted about 4-5 hours before going away.
I was checked for retinal detachment and all the other good stuff, and when they found nothing, that's what she diagnosed.
Now almost 5 years later, I'm dealing with all this other crap too.
Anyway, I googled ocular migraines, and there was this one site that had an illustration that showed EXACTLY what I experienced. Weird.
Posts: 1682 | From Dillsburg, PA | Registered: Sep 2008
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Keebler
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posted
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Spirochetes are far too small to see in eyes but the debris that make ups floaters can certainly be squiggly.
Oh yes, I have the floaters. Just today I was thinking how they look like the spirochete.
Posts: 258 | From San Diego, CA USA | Registered: Sep 2002
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nenet
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Member # 13174
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I think there are several different things being discussed here. Floaters are shadow-like/darker (as far as I know they act as an occlusion to incoming light) and can be in many different shapes and sizes and can stay in one place or kind of drift about the eye and even eventually disappear or disintegrate.
I definitely have floaters. One I have had since the onset of my worst symptoms and debilitation in 2004. It is a black dot in the center of my vision in my left eye. It has never changed or moved.
The opthalmologist could just barely see it in 2004, and said it should dissipate on its own. I need to go back I guess, if I ever get well enough to deal with my non-life-threatening issues. I also have other items in my eyes that I recall from a young age always being intrigued by but then forgetting about/not worrying about.
I also get flashing vision, as if the whole image I am taking in is on a strobe effect. Or I get weird colors/static effect. Sometimes tiny pinpoint flashes of light.
But I ALSO get those strange *BRIGHT* tiny worm-shaped objects (organisms?) in my field of vision when I look at a light background - especially the sky. They do not float but appear to move/swim with intent, some slow, most very fast, and they wiggle their "tails" as they move.
They fill my field of vision, and are constantly moving, stopping, turning, wiggling and swimming. They also seem to have a "head" which is a tiny bit larger and brighter - and is always leading in the direction of travel, while the back wiggles/swims like an eel.
These are NOT floaters as I have heard them defined by eye doctors, but are bright objects that, considering all the observations I listed, *appear* to move of their own volition. Perhaps some kind of symbiotic organism?
nenet
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Member # 13174
posted
quote:Originally posted by Keebler: - While some floaters are black and can appear in many shapes, here's a photo of some that are bright and squiggly:
Thank you Keebler - but those are not similar - I actually have gotten the type in that picture as well.. but they are not the ones I am talking about. The ones in the photo are obviously debris and do not exhibit a head or tail.
Thanks though- that's a nice picture and definitely helps us explain similarities and differences.
I should clarify I am NOT claiming or suggesting that these are spirochetes.
I have had a few in-depth university Biology courses, so I am fairly confident with my ability to compare debris with living motile organisms under microscope, and the effect of heat from the microscope lamp on slide material vs. purposeful movement. It is still very possible, or even likely, that I am wrong - I only claim expertise in being wrong.
I would love to have the explanation, because it is a curious phenomenon. Maybe it is a type of "floater" that just hasn't been described yet.
posted
That picture of floaters is quite interesting but what ever it is that I see looking at the sky are complete perfect circles, tons of them everywhere, moving in every kind of direction each with their own speed. Its odd but kinda interesting.
Posts: 8 | From st.michaels, Md | Registered: Jan 2009
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Lymeorsomething
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posted
I think one guy mentioned bee venom eye drops in here at some point. Has anyone tried those? It seems kind of scary but I wonder if it does anything.
It would be definitely something to try one eye at a time
-------------------- "Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." Posts: 2062 | From CT | Registered: Jul 2008
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posted
Floaters, flashing lights, eye pain, double vision, and lots of bllod shotting, and migraine auras here. I have had my retinas checked twice, and they are fine.
Posts: 455 | From Was in PA, then MD, now in the Midwest | Registered: Nov 2008
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I'm leaving for Bionc 880 tx in Germany soon. I figure I should be able to tell if it is working if the wigglies disappear from my visual field.
I could tell it's working by how much better I felt, but it was no help whatsoever for my floaters.
Mine also look like spirochetes and the cysts. I know people tell me it cannot be, but when I first saw pictures of spirochetes and cysts, that was when I was certain I had Lyme. I wonder if there's some kind of magnification that happens when something is actually IN the eye. I know what I'm told, but I also know what I see.
-------------------- sixgoofykids.blogspot.com Posts: 13449 | From Ohio | Registered: Feb 2007
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lymielauren28
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posted
Six,
I am totally with you on that one! People can throw all the scientific jargon at me that they want but I know what I'm seeing.
I too see the cyts and the spirochetes and also something else that is really dense in the middle with a lighter jelly like substance around it (maybe bartonella?)...
The spirochetes move around and I've even seen them almost bounce across my eye. I think that they are somehow magnified when inside the actual eye. Interesting that so many of us see the same thing!
Lauren
-------------------- "The only way out is through" Posts: 1434 | From mississippi | Registered: Nov 2007
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posted
I don't know why some of our floaters can't be bacterias. Those spirochetes are in our vitreous humour, as floaters do, in fact Borrelia hides there. I can't ensure that I am not seeing something relaten on the inflamatory proccess which is taking place in my vitreous.
Posts: 1 | From Spain | Registered: Oct 2017
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Brussels
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This is an old thread... I used to have floaters, but they were completely gone when lyme went dormant.
They never returned.
Whatever caused these floaters, they were totally related to lyme disease (and/ or coinfections??)
Posts: 6199 | From Brussels | Registered: Oct 2007
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posted
My former partner gets ocular migraines (visual disturbance but no pain.) I get both the pain and the visuals. Treatment for migraines (sumatriptan) does help ease this -- but it is a pretty constant state for me, sadly.
-------------------- "Looks like freedom but it feels like death.. It's something in between, I guess"
Leonard Cohen, from the song "Closing Time" Posts: 822 | From California | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
I treat any Lyme eye symptoms by drinking mangosteen juice, an anti-inflammatory juice. I like the Mango-Xan variety as it's the most tart. Available at health food stores and online. I drink about an ounce a day.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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randibear
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posted
anybody see dark people, like a humanoid black shape? or better yet, one with a scythe?
now that's scary? or scorpions crawling on the wall or a waving ceiling?
I think I've had them all. dr said migraines hut, nah, I say lyme.
-------------------- do not look back when the only course is forward Posts: 12262 | From texas | Registered: Mar 2007
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quote:Originally posted by lymielauren28: My eyesight, along with every other square inch of my body, seems to be badly effected by Lyme and co..
I have tons of floaters and yes, what looks to be actual spirochetes in my field of vision.
What is really bothering me however are these bright flashes of light - like fireworks going off inside my eyes. I also get a bright blue light that almost blinds me but only lasts for a few seconds. Strange.
I am in a full-blown relapse right now and this symptom always gets really bad for me when I'm really sick. When I'm doing well this issue is pretty much non-existant.
Anybody else have this? Anybody know if this is definately Lyme or is caused by another co-infection?
Lauren
Lauren I too get the blue flashes. Are you also light sensitive?
Posts: 5 | From Leicester UK | Registered: Nov 2017
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posted
So the number one vision symptom that I have when Lyme is flaring or the worst is those bright sparkles in the sides of your vision, especially happens when standing up from a laying or reclining position. Goes away when my Lyme is well treated with antibiotics. It is just about absolute proof I have Lyme because nothing else causes this and responds to antibiotics. So much so that on the rare occasions I see the light show these days, I know Ive slacked somewhere on my treatment and lyme diet.
Posts: 173 | From USA | Registered: Aug 2015
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posted
I've also had floaters. When I was really sick it seemed like when I got the floaters my brain would go blank for a minute-sort of like a mini seizure. I also would see weird things that weren't there when I was at the hospital. I think it was some kind of medication that caused it.
The floaters went away for a long time, but when I started antibiotics they came back again, so I figured the antibiotics weren't killing the Lyme.
Since I stopped the antibiotics they seem to be going away.
-------------------- chronic Lyme/Bartonella
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