posted
Hi all, Just got back from an eye exam. The eye doc says I have healthy eyes and the floaters I have are "normal". Not sure about that.
He said he found no inflammation but I have been on Doxy for 6 weeks so maybe that's why. Several years ago a different eye doc said he could see a lot of stress and trauma in my eyes.
He even asked me how often my husband beats me. Told him I have a lot of stress in my life but a bad husband is not my problem. This doc today said he didn't see any of that.
Don't know if the other eye doc knew to look at iridology type things or not.
So, I'm wondering if anyone here has had eye exams that showed the Lyme stuff. Thanks in advance!
-------------------- Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired Posts: 185 | From Colorado | Registered: Sep 2006
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posted
What Lyme stuff are you referring too, floaters, flasing lights, uveitis?
No, I have had numerous testing done and besides all of the my floaters they could not find anything wrong with my eyes.
Posts: 649 | From United States | Registered: Dec 2003
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tdtid
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 10276
posted
I've had eye issues, including the "floaters" along with double vision and vision that goes from one extreme to the next in how well I can see.
When it started getting really bad, I have a girlfriend with M.S. and it was actually her eye doctor that first found signs, so since I didn't know what was going on and my eye sight was going down right insane.....
I decided to get it checked out. I had had lasik surgery long before I got ill, so I do know what "bad vision" is like, but what I was suffering was not like that at all.
Sooooooo.....I get eye tests and told I might have slight pressure in one eye but nothing that would cause troubles. When I mentioned these "floaters",
I was told and I quote, "EVERYONE has those". I'm not sure if he thought I was talking of something else or what, but that was the response.
Nothing was found in my eyes. A few weeks later I got my positive Igenex test back, so I'm surely not convinced it is always seen by ALL eye doctors even when you are "COMPLAINING".
Oh yes, I was told I needed glasses and I said, that's fine, but my vision changes daily. I don't think he believed me or something. By the time I picked up these glasses that were suppose to help, they weren't even close, so I give up.
Hope others have better luck than I have. Some days my vision is crystal clear and others....I was told it was migraine due to the double vision and mini seizures on my EEG. Go figure.
Cathy
-------------------- "To Dream The Impossible Dream" Man of La Mancha Posts: 2638 | From New Hampshire | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Totally understand......at my very worst, I could only describe my vision as the videographer in the Blaire Witch move.
I was 3 degrees away from reality.....as if looking through a distorted lens. Could only see what I was concentrating at. The rest was all blur and out of focus.
When I went to the optom. , they told me I had perfect 20/20 vision. Posts: 867 | From PA | Registered: Jan 2006
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posted
My eye doctor tells me she sees what is called
"monofixation syndrome"
which happens in childhood and is about the brain not being able to use one of the eyes.
She says this same eye is slightly crossed.
She also sees through her testing, my double vision.
she doesn't see the floaters I see!
She says there's nothing I can do about it all except use my glasses.
She doesn't want to hear about the explosions behind my eye and the inflammation in my head there too and the seizuer like activity I get and all the instability and shakiness...blah blah.
She is originally from Massachusetts where I got the lyme in mid 1970's. I just talk with her about my eye, not the lyme.
posted
My vision fluctuations are definitely crazy-making. My eye doctor had Lyme for 10 years and is very sympathetic to the changes. She sees the floaters and is uncertain as to which are "a normal part of aging (grrr...)" and which may be Lymish.
I have glaucoma range pressure in each eye. She has noted that this is something she sees in many a Lyme patient, although she's never seen a study or documentation about the phenomenon.
My eye pressure went back to normal on Rocephin. Now, on oral zithromax, it's up high again.
I, too, have had no luck in achieving a good prescription for glasses. My vision changes so much from day to day that a prescription is impossible to pinpoint!
For a while, my right eye was worse than my left -- but today, they've switched and the left is worse than the right!
My night vision in pure dark can be really scarey bad. But that is inconsistent too.
Sympathy to all -- as they say, "you couldn't make this stuff up..."
wiserforit
Posts: 508 | From Banks of the Hudson | Registered: Jul 2006
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posted
I have mucho eye issues. My biggest complaint is due to visual disturbances.
Same story as all the rest. I went and saw three different opthmologists (sp?). All of whom say the eye is perfectly healthy.
Oh and the floaters... those are normal. Everyone has those. However one of the docs was able to see them in my eye and tell me how many I have. This is good, because we recorded it and can check back to see if any new floaters are forming. I'm 28, so I hardly belive it is due to age.
When I asked about the visual afterimages that I was seeing EVERYWHERE, he told me it was due to stress and I needed to take more vitamins. Ha.
Hang in there. Your visual stuff isn't going to be picked up by any eye doc. Stick with the LLMD and it will clear up.
-------------------- 26 months of treatment. And counting....... Posts: 298 | From Northeast Kansas | Registered: Oct 2006
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posted
Hey all! Thanks so much for all the replies. I had a typical eye exam including the dilation. I still can't see very well so I don't know how long that is supposed to last but my vision is much worse since going in this morning.
When he used the bright light to look inside my eye it really hurt. I told him about being on Doxy and it making me more light sensitive but I don't know how much he really understood. My normal eyesight has not yet returned from that.
And I had to tell him that when he was going from the "which is better, one or two" and doing the switch to do it slowly because my brain cannot process the change fast enough to tell the difference.
I mentioned after images and he didn't seem to think that it was important. I don't think he talks to his eye patients about their general health problems much even though his paperwork asks about that.
So anyway, thanks again for all the responses.
-------------------- Sick and Tired of Being Sick and Tired Posts: 185 | From Colorado | Registered: Sep 2006
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Michelle M
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 7200
posted
quote:Originally posted by Visual Afterimage Man: When I asked about the visual afterimages that I was seeing EVERYWHERE, he told me it was due to stress and I needed to take more vitamins. Ha.
This is scary but true and happened to me, too. It's a sad state of affairs when a patient has to figure out a diagnosis of 'palinopsia' on their own because an eye doctor and a neurologist don't know what it is.
Instead of just admitting they don't know what it is, they minimize it or outright make something up.
It can be brought on by an infectious process in the brain, i.e., lyme disease.
Treatment will fix many, though perhaps not all, eye problems.
Michelle
Posts: 3193 | From Northern California | Registered: Apr 2005
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posted
This is all so nutso. I went to a reputable neuro-opthalmologist for a complete check-up of my eyes which were hurting and not focusing well. He had to anesthetize me so I could even look at bright light. And couldn't find anything wrong in all the tests he did with me.
Then the next day my chiro suggested I try mangosteen juice, and voila, all eye problems cleared up in 24 hours! I am on the juice to save my eyes from Lyme(plus drink lots of water). I drink the Ultra mangosteen brand. Others drink other brands.
You know, I guess this means they cannot see the Lyme bacteria or its effects in our eyes. Darn it.
Posts: 13116 | From San Francisco | Registered: May 2006
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posted
I have had so many vision-tests and seen an optom. but they all say my eyes are fine.
I have this weird thing going on with my left eye that for some reason it gets tired easily, doesn't seem to want to cooperate with my right eye. It is strange - it is not like having two eyes that work like one, but two eyes trying to work together. Unfortunately my eyes don't seem to like each other very much.
Lately my eyes have started unfocusing a lot as I read. Annoying cause I read a lot of errors. But it also gives me many a good laughs. (i.e. "you are right" turned into "youghurt")It feels like my eyes are jumping around.
It's all about Lyme I suppose.
Posts: 155 | From Norway | Registered: Jan 2006
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Marnie
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 773
posted
To determine if toxins are causing eye damage sometimes doctors do a specific test called a contrast sensitivity test.
For floaters, I, PERSONALLY, have found that increasing selenium (taking one 200mcg) helps. It takes about an hour to "kick in"...for me.
Toxins, are "acidic" according to ancient medicine.
Too many acids/negative charges harm healthy cells and our eyes are especially vulnerable.
Those toxins/acids/negative charges can come from pathogens (endotoxins released from the pathogen) OR are simply overproduced BY US to try to fight the pathogens.
We can either "downregulate" one acid/negative charge using another acid OR we can use minerals to counter them (all it takes is a little).
We have a "built in" protection from the very strong blue wavelength which is present in "daylight". You know that white light is made up of various "colors" with different frequencies and wavelengths, right? This we only "see" after storms as "rainbows"....for complicated reasons. But, white light contains all the colors.
When we see a "red" rose, we are seeing the REFLECTION of the red wavelength.
Black, ABSORBS white light. Black asphalt gets hot... when the sun "shining" on cloudless days...even in the winter.
Our skin "darkens" (tans) in response to overexposure to sunlight. It is a natural process to prevent FURTHER damage from more exposure. Too much exposure to sunlight and you've set up skin cancer. Too many "negative charges" does indeed harm healthy cells.
Look very closely at what is IN sun sreen lotions. And...if you are a water skier, you already know that coating your nose with zinc oxide will prevent a burned nose and the resultant tough, hard, tan damaged skin layer on your nose.
In our eyes we have natural "blue blockers" to protect our eyes from the harmful potentially dangerous rays in sunlight.
Melatonin production is triggered by sunSET. So we can FALL asleep. Melatonin comes FROM serotonin + 2 enzymes. Sunlight, morning sun, triggers melatonin to convert BACK to serotonin. Without light exposure, we get "SAD" (seasonal affective disorder...too little serotonin). We only need a relatively short exposure to sunlight (about 10-20 minutes) for the conversion to happen. Without some light exposure, all life on earth would cease.
Melatonin is one of the powerful ANTIOXIDANTS. It looks to trigger bicarbonate release. It looks like, in lyme, a lot of this hormone is being produced for PROTECTIVE reasons. Sleepy, I bet.
Eyes need specific nutrients. Leutin and zeanthanin are 2. These supplements are available OTC from many sources. They are also in eggs.
Or...you might find "blue blocker" sunglasses helpful. You will find they "sharpen" your vision while protecting your eyes when you are out in the sun for an extended period.
Because of the angle of the sunlight, persons living in Florida, for one, are much more vulnerable to developing cataracts. We have eye doctors on many "street corners" ;-)
Uveitis is not common in lyme, but DOES happen. As a LAST RESORT, steroid shots IN THE EYES will stop PERMANENT damage from too much inflammation of the blood vessels sending nutrients to the eyes (too much inflammation = not enough nutrients able to reach the eyes).
Go here for additional information (once there, use your edit button to find the words, "eyes" or "eye"):
Keep in mind, the fat soluable vitamin A is dangerous, toxic, if OVERDOSED. So stick with the RDA in your daily "multiple".
The other suggestions,including CoQ10, should help.
When taking vitamin E, from what I have read, it is important to get the natural, not man-made synthetic, form, and apparently taking CoQ10 with vitamin E at mealtimes (with food) is best.
The antioxidants and antioxidant enzymes are very important in lyme (and in other diseases as well). Too many damaging "free radicals".
posted
I also have visual disturbances. I had my eyes checked by an opthomologist just last week (I had been in January)for the plaquenil check. Aside from the fact that I now have cataracts developing in both eyes (weren't there in Jan), he says my eyes are fine. Yeah, right. He did change my prescription, but only by a little. Couldn't account for the weird stuff going on. And I do have floaters too.
My daughter, who also has Lyme, saw an op. the other day and he actually put about 1/4 of scotch tape on the inside of her glasses - and it helped with her overstimulation problem. She used to have nystagmus very bad, but that has let up except for bad days. He also recommended light therapy for her. He told her that her nervous system was really out of whack! Sounds like an opthom. that really knows something - too bad I don't live near him!
-------------------- "Few of us can do great things, but all of us can do small things with great love". Mother Theresa
posted
The eye doctor was the first of many doctors on my journey to discover I had lyme. He did lots of tests, couldn't find what was wrong and recommended that I see my regular doctor so she could send me to a neurologist. He even wrote the doctor a note. Unfortuantley neither neurologist or my regular doc could find anything wrong at the time...............After listening to a friend a year later talk about her lyme a light bulb went on and I got tested.
The eye thing is really bothersome. I didn't realize so many of you had the same problems though. I'm actually afraid to go to the eye doctor right now because if its a bad day when the eyes are out of focus then I'll get a prescription that is too strong. I really don't know what to do.
Posts: 547 | From Maryland | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I had many problems with my eyes and still do that are related to Lyme. The MD's thought I might have MS but my last MRI proved that is not the case. With Lyme disease after treatment has begun most symptoms can reverse themselves where in the case of MS that does not happen. I have had uveitis, retinal vasculitis, optic neuritis, optic neuropathy, macular edema,scleritis and many many floaters to name a few. I was legally blind about 3 1/2 years ago only able to count fingers at 2 ft in my left eye which is now 20/30 without any corrective lenses. I can't think my LLMD enough she is so wonderful and supportive she is over a 2 hour drive from me and is well worth every penny spent in gas.
Posts: 75 | Registered: Aug 2003
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