posted
I've read some other posts about contact lens intolerance. I wear gas permeable lenses and am having difficulty wearing them for any length of time.
What I'm finding is that after having them in for a short period of time (which varies considerably), one of two things happens - make that three:
1) My eyes are so dry, red, swollen, and irritated (often with glasslike pain), that I have to remove them. I get a lot of thick yellow or bright yellow-green eye 'goo'.
Sometimes they are glued to my eyes from the lack of tears; other times they fall right into my hand as if there was no moisture whatsoever holding them on.
or...
2) My eyes are so dry, red, swollen, and irritated that they start tearing profusely - sometimes one-sided. It often feels like I have glass in my eye.
Often times it seems sunlight or perfume or scent exposure triggers the tearing episode.
After tearing for awhile, it literally looks like I have pink eye.
3) When either of these happens, I start having pain in one or both temples, and my pupils are not only tiny no matter what the light, but also not perfectly round either - almost jagged.
My sinuses many times get all congested as well, and I may have trouble catching my breath.
I am wondering if perhaps my body reacts like this because my immune system is so messed up that it sees my contact lenses as a foreign invader and begins to attack my eye?
posted
Whoa, I can hardly believe it! I lost my ability to wear gas permeable and also soft contact lenses a few years ago. It's just impossible. So this is another sign of Lyme!
Kayda
Posts: 582 | From midwest | Registered: Nov 2006
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posted
i just found out i have lyme last month (sick for 2 years).......i may have had it for many many years. Anyhow, i started trying to wear contacts about 3 years before becoming ill. I CANT TOLERATE THEM. SO....IF in fact it is due to lyme...that may mean that i have had lyme for much longer than i thought. interesting correlation
Posts: 160 | From california | Registered: Dec 2006
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GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
Bartonella and Babesia both had infected my eyes. I stopped wearing the lenses to avoid reinfections. It is pretty tough to get the infection out of the eyes. So it's wise to be careful.
It took me several years and many different therapies, but I am fine today.
Take care.
P.S. Heavy metal and other neurotoxins also affects the eyes.
Posts: 9834 | From Washington State | Registered: Oct 2000
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tailz
Unregistered
posted
I'm more convinced than ever that I have something other than Lyme here.
I never had problems with contact lenses - never. In fact, I many times would fall asleep with them in and be totally fine the next morning, though I would clean and rewet them.
I'm not on any meds for babesia or bartonella. I do see a new doc next week though - hoping he'll check me again for coinfections and treat me regardless of the results.
But this is DEFINITELY a Lyme/coinfections symptom. I've worn contacts since I was 16, and I didn't start to have problems until about 3 years ago - within the last year or so it's become unbearable though.
But I swear - my body is attacking my eyes. Maybe the 'bugs' get upset by sunlight and perfumes and then my body goes nuts on my eyes?
This stinks though - my vision is 20/600 without contacts.
Do you think bad eyesight (nearsightedness) is caused by Lyme? I've had glasses since like 3rd grade and my vision has always been bad.
GiGi
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 259
posted
Everchanging eye sight is typical. Good one day, worse the next, etc. Then crystal clear; then floaters, etc. etc. It can be very painful also. I went through a time I could literally not open my eyes. Ended up with abx into eyes directly.
The damage, whether permanent or not permanent, is brought about by many factors. If you assume that Lyme is the sole cause of everything that bothers you today, you will have a rude awakening ahead of you. Because unless you address all - the accumulated neurotoxins of all types - Lyme will hang on for a very long time. I learned to accept that shortly into my journey. The preexisting problems will not go away and the Lyme will not go away. One won't budge without the other. They exist in our system together - all have to be addressed. It is one eco-system. It is best to work on all, but always keeping in mind not to put too much burden on the eliminating organs. That really can turn sour - . You want to protect your liver/gallbladder and kidney as well as the rest. The only way to do that effectively is with colonics, cleanses of all sorts, lymphatic drainage, therapies that open up all channels that are blocked now.
Read my doctors "Lyme Disease: A look Beyond antibiotics" on www.neuraltherapy.com/articles. There is some great info there. Mostly what I went through.
Take care.
Posts: 9834 | From Washington State | Registered: Oct 2000
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tailz
Unregistered
posted
I know. Lyme isn't going to budge unless they get ALL coinfections. I thought I was there when they found staph in a blood culture. But I'm continuing my spiral downward.
It's 7am and I have not slept. My current LLMD takes my negative coinfections too seriously. I see a new LLMD this week. I need to sleep, so I hope he does something here.
I tried the link you posted, but it disappeared on me? I do know I need to go slowly though - my liver enzymes cried out within less than 2 weeks when I first started my treatment. Thanks!
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map1131
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 2022
posted
I've had ever changing vision problems for over 6 years. Just recently I seen a new eye doctor that was very familiar with lyme. Her whole family including herself are/have battled this illness.
She thinks my true vision problems are due to inflammation from the lyme. Not my vision perscriptsion changing every few months.
She's treating me for inflammation/dry eye. I'm doing 2 weeks of abx drops in the eyes and also another steroid drop for inflammation. She told me this a long term treatment. Just as sometimes no easy fix for lyme, sometimes treating the eyes properly takes as much as 6 mths or longer.
She asked if my eyes water alot and told me that is a sx of dry eyes. She explained the way the eye is suppose to water itself and people with lyme have moisture problems and so the flooding goes on.
Even after 4 yrs of alternative treatments and much success with treating lyme, eye problems were still a concern for me. So I feel I'm really blessed to find this knowledgable eye doc.
Pam
-------------------- "Never, never, never, never, never give up" Winston Churchill Posts: 6480 | From Louisville, Ky | Registered: Jan 2002
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posted
Are you putting drops in your eyes to keep them lubricated? I don't know what you'd use for the gas permeables, though.
For regular soft lenses a lot of eye doctors (including mine) recommend Refresh Tears.
Also, yellow or bright-green eye goo needs to be discussed with your eye doctor. It sounds like you may have some sort of infection or inflammation going on.
quote:...In the early stage of the disease, many persons have conjunctivitis. In this condition, commonly called pink eye, the eyes are red and uncomfortable, and there is a discharge of pus. Unlike many forms of conjunctivitis, the type that occurs in lyme disease is not contagious.
In later stages of the disease, inflammation of the eye may develop. Parts of the eye that may be affected include the uvea, the middle layer inside the eye, the cornea, part of the outer coat of the eye; the iris, the colored circle around the pupil, and the choroid, a layer of blood vessels in the eye. Ocular symptoms can include sensitivity to light and floaters (spots in front of the eyes)...
There are many different types of conjunctivitis, some of which are brought about by dry eye.
Dry eye can also be a symptom of changing hormones due to menopause.
But regardless, you need to get to your eye doctor ASAP. The feeling of glass in your eye is not a good sign.
Your eye doctor should be able to come up with a protocol for dealing with dry eye while you're undergoing treatment for LD.
-------------------- Linda Posts: 749 | From New Hope, PA | Registered: May 2002
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Marnie
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 773
posted
Lack of oxygen to the eyes or decreased delivery (vessels inflammed) is very, very damaging to the eyes.
Hence, wearing contact lenses... although they SAY oxygen can go "thru" them, in reality... IMO, they DO reduce the amt. of oxygen exposure.
I know because my "Scotish" husband would wear his contacts too long and it got to the point he was told he couldn't EVER wear them again.
Since his vision was so bad (think Coke glass thick eyeglasses), he finally had lasix surgery (which I watched in absolute amazement). It is INCREDIBLE. It works! No glasses, no contacts...vision back to complete "normal" 20-20 immediately.
When my sister was battling lyme (now dx'd "autoimmune"), she developed uveitis. She started out with "dry eyes" and everything the doctor tried didn't work. It got to the point where all she could see was the big "E" on the chart. She was scared to death, obviously.
She was ON abx. at the time to fight lyme.
She HAD to resort to steroid shots IN HER EYES on 2 occasions to halt permanent damage. It worked. She has a LITTLE permanent damage, but not enough to stop her from driving a car. She went to a uveitis specialist in a major midwestern city for the treatments.
She was very, very reluctant to "allowing" steroids (even locally) since they (orally) got her into a lyme mess in the first place (misdx'd RA and given oral steroids = zoom to stage 3 lyme and right into a LOT of pain and bedridden).
But...LOCALLY, the steroid shots did indeed work to save her sight which is, of course, extremely important.
Uveitis general "definition" follows:
"Uveitis: Inflammation of the uvea, the part of the eye that collectively refers to the iris, the choroid of the eye, and the ciliary body.
The uvea provides most of the blood supply to the retina.
Uveitis as a rule signifies inflammation involving the iris, choroid, and ciliary body -- all three components of the uveal tract.
The symptoms of uveitis may be redness of the eye, blurred vision, unusual sensitivity to light, and eye pain.
The causes of uveitis are many, including autoimmune disorders and infections.
Autoimmune diseases associated with uveitis include ankylosing spondylitis, Behcet's syndrome, psoriasis, Reiter's syndrome, rheumatoid arthritis, and ulcerative colitis.
Infections associated with uveitis include AIDS, cytomegalovirus (CMV), herpes zoster (shingles), histoplasmosis, syphilis, toxoplasmosis, and tuberculosis.
Treatment depends on the cause."
So, if you are a contact lens wearer...heads up. It might be "wiser" to go back to wearing glasses for the time being.
Posts: 9430 | From Sunshine State | Registered: Mar 2001
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posted
Yes eye problems here also.
Posts: 15 | From New Castle,Pa. | Registered: Dec 2006
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Geneal
Frequent Contributor (5K+ posts)
Member # 10375
posted
Good morning all.
I too have had significant issues with dry eyes and actually having contacts tear as I try to remove them as they are literally stuck to my eyes.
I have changed from extended wear (which I took out every night) to daily wear as I was replacing contacts every day due to protein build up.
I still have very dry eyes but am coping. I just saw an opthomologist and he could not explain why my eyes are so dry.
Lyme again....Go figure.
Geneal
Posts: 6250 | From Louisiana | Registered: Oct 2006
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Monica
Frequent Contributor (1K+ posts)
Member # 224
posted
The first eye issue caused by LD in my case was elevated eye pressure. The pressure was reduced after a short course of abx.
Then I developed the eye gook and couldn't wear my gas permeable lenses. Had lasik eye surgery in Feb of 2000.
Still have good vision although my left eye is a little worse than the 20/20 it was. Floaters are awful, however.
Posts: 1757 | From Somerset County, NJ | Registered: Oct 2000
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