posted
My youngest son (30) was told he has a cataract today. Anybody know if TBD can cause this. We do have cataracts in grandfather, grandmother, myself. This son did not do hyperbarics so not the source.
Posts: 366 | From Kalamazoo, Michigan | Registered: Jun 2008
| IP: Logged |
gmb
Unregistered
posted
I had a cataract removed at age 36. It's not common but it happens. This was way before my tick bite and lyme treatment. I think lyme does other types of damage to the eyes.
poppy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5355
posted
Lyme is known to be in the eyes, a privileged site. So, I wonder what happens when a cataract is removed. Doesn't sound like it would be a good thing to have surgery there when it is infected with lyme.
Didn't know hyperbarics had anything to do with cataracts!
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
oxygenbabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5831
posted
Informally, lymies have more floaters and cataracts. Lyme likes collagen and the vitreous membrane is made of collagen so maybe the spirochetes degrade it. The vitreous protects the lens from oxygen, and oxygen is what slowly leads to cataracts.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
Many years ago, my tick bite was on my left arm, and within days severe pain developed in my left jaw and then behind my left eye. That eye pain remained for six years, until my doc (at the time) finally believed the positive test and let me have 30 days of doxy. Of course that did not get rid of the bacteria, and it took another six years to find more effective treatment from my current LLMD.
The cataract later developed only in that left eye, and the neuro-opthamologist my LLMD recommended felt that the cataract could have been a result of inadequate sun protection while on the high dose doxy, and other abx. However, the other eye was also exposed to those same abx, with no cataract surgery necessary. My LLMD seemed to feel lyme played the major role, and I feel it was the effect of lyme and the abx.
Posts: 287 | From Northern California, USA | Registered: Oct 2000
| IP: Logged |
Phoiph
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 41238
posted
Many factors can contribute to cataract formation, but low glutathione is found in the majority of cataract cases studied.
Low glutathione is also very common in Lyme, and may be a contributing factor.
Early cataract formation can sometimes be helped with diet, etc. Here's some more info:
oxygenbabe
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5831
posted
You can't get extra glutathione into the lens very easily, though, because it's by passive diffusion. And once a cataract is there, by the nature of the lens, it will be even tougher.
I do think the key is the vitreous (collagen) membrane and borrelia colonization, degrading the vitreous in some folks, and leading to floaters and possibly cataracts.
If you remove the vitreous surgically, a cataract always forms within 2 years. It is there to protect the lens.
Posts: 2276 | From united states | Registered: Jun 2004
| IP: Logged |
poppy
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 5355
posted
And I had vitreous separations in both eyes.
Posts: 2888 | From USA | Registered: Mar 2004
| IP: Logged |
nefferdun
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 20157
posted
I was told I have cataracts in both eyes and urged to set up surgery immediately. I questioned the dryness of my eyes and was dismissed. I am sure it is caused from the infections. Bartonella is the worst infection for the eyes.
Carnosine is supposed to help if he wants to try it. I only took it a short time and decided to concentrate of the infection instead.
-------------------- old joke: idiopathic means the patient is pathological and the the doctor is an idiot Posts: 4676 | From western Montana | Registered: Apr 2009
| IP: Logged |
The Lyme Disease Network is a non-profit organization funded by individual donations. If you would like to support the Network and the LymeNet system of Web services, please send your donations to:
The
Lyme Disease Network of New Jersey 907 Pebble Creek Court,
Pennington,
NJ08534USA http://www.lymenet.org/
UBBFriend: Email this page to someone!
Printer-friendly view of this topic