HealingWell
Search Close Search
☰

Daughter's said vision seems dimmer

Support Forums
>
Lyme Disease
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply
❬ ❬ Previous Thread |Next Thread ❭ ❭
Posted 1/11/2022 12:25 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, my 14 year old daughter has been dealing with Lyme and bartonella for over 6 years. We were seeing Dr J in CT but he is retired now. We are searching for new doc.
She told me Saturday her vision seemed dimmer. Took her to just a regular eye doctor who took pictures of her optic nerve and said everything looked good. Blood vessels were fine. Thinks it just a prescription change
I can't help but worry it's from the Lyme.

Does anyone have experience with the dim vision but nothing in is seen on eye tests.

We have a history of being told it's nothing when it's not nothing
Posted 1/11/2022 1:56 AM (GMT 0)
I had this exact symptom on Disulfiram treatment for Lyme/Bartonella.
Is she on Disulfiram?

It went back to normal when I stopped.
Also, this supplement seemed to help:

Jarrow Formulas, Lutein, 20 mg, 120 Softgels

It has:

20 mg Lutein.
4 mg Zeaxanthin.

I also took Vitamin A which helped.
Posted 1/11/2022 2:13 AM (GMT 0)
A prescription change has nothing to do with "dim" vision.

Prescription is focus, dim is a brightness (lack of it).

Yes I had this. I'd guess one morning I woke to 80% dark vision. No tunnel vision, or blur, it was very dark even looking at a light bulb. I first though something was wrong with the electricity in my house. Then I looked outside at the sun at 9AM and it was also darker, looked like sunset.

Major improvement in two days, completely improved in a week. No explanation.

I was not seeing an LLMD yet and had it with regular Drs.
Posted 1/11/2022 3:40 AM (GMT 0)

RainyCloud said...
I had this exact symptom on Disulfiram treatment for Lyme/Bartonella.
Is she on Disulfiram?

It went back to normal when I stopped.
Also, this supplement seemed to help:

Jarrow Formulas, Lutein, 20 mg, 120 Softgels

It has:

20 mg Lutein.
4 mg Zeaxanthin.

I also took Vitamin A which helped.


She is not on any antibiotics right now. Tj's is for the suggestions.
Posted 1/11/2022 6:22 AM (GMT 0)
Hi, Megan:

I'm sorry to hear about your daughter suffering with Lyme and Bartonella for so long and at such a young age. And now, having a trusted doctor retire, needing to find a new one, and trying to sort out this vision issue. That's a lot to deal with at one time.

See Jarrow Formulas' Vision Health page: https://jarrow.com/collections/vision-health

On this page, you'll find the Lutein product that RainyCloud mentioned. It's also available on Amazon.com and elsewhere. I buy mine at Whole Foods Market, out of convenience.

To echo RainyCloud, Vitamin A might also be helpful. But, note that Beta Carotene is not Vitamin A -- it's a precursor. Beta Carotene has to be converted into the active form of Vitamin A. When it's convenient, please take a few minutes to review the following article.

14 Differences Between Retinol and β-Carotene
https://www.publichealthnotes.com/14-differences-between-retinol-and-%ce%b2-carotene

Basically, Beta Carotene (the precursor to Vitamin A) is in plant foods and Retinol (the active form of Vitamin A) is in various animal foods in varying amounts. It may be worth ensuring your daughter gets some of each.

Finally, and perhaps most importantly, when it comes to the active form of Vitamin A, more is NOT better. In fact, it can be dangerous. [Ref.1] [Ref.2]

Here, I'm mainly referring to animal foods (like liver) or animal-based supplements (like cod liver oil) which have high concentrations of the active form of Vitamin A. Plant foods aren't of concern, as the worst that might happen is the skin turning orange. It's a condition called "Carotenosis" and will resolve on its own by lowering the intake of those same plant foods.

Vitamin A Foods: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/foods-high-in-vitamin-a

My apologies for the lengthy post. Context and details matter. It's not only important to know what to do, but why we're doing it.

Wishing your daughter success, recovery, and lifelong health.

Dude
_

Post Edited (The Dude Abides) : 1/11/2022 8:23:16 AM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/11/2022 3:10 PM (GMT 0)
i have noticed a dimming of my vision due to this illness.

for me its a dimming of colour mainly and some loss of resolution and contrast.

i have noticed that when treating on the better days colours are noticeably more vivid - like the blue of the sky or the green of the grass - and that when i notice how greyed out it has been a lot of the time.

my guess is that this is cased by microcirculation issues in the eyes and brain due to small vessel disease caused by bartonella - this reduces blood flow to critical areas and this in turn slows nutrient delivery to cells and waste removal from those same cells - reducing their function.
the eyes and brain regions that process images are some of the highest energy consuming cells in the body - so its no surprise they are susceptible to any interruption of the energy delivery system.

this type of issue where cells are not dead - just slowed down and operating in sub optimal fashion is i fully reversible when the disease is treated

Bart can also cause abnormal growths of blood vessels inside the eye and on the retina - and lesions in the optic nerve - and this can cause permanent damage - or at least very hard to recover damage to vision - so its a good sign that her eyes have been checked and given the all clear - the optician should also be able to do a prereferral vison check is they haven't already as that could help detect any small blind spots ( its part of most standard eye tests here )

whilst proper nutrition is very important - and addressing any overt nutritional deficiencies is a given - vitamins and supplements will unfortunately do very little to treat bart infections and some form of active treatment is likely to be needed.
Posted 1/12/2022 2:14 PM (GMT 0)

Garzie said...
the optician should also be able to do a prereferral vison check is they haven't already as that could help detect any small blind spots ( its part of most standard eye tests here )

Garzie,

Did you mean peripheral vision check?
Posted 1/14/2022 10:07 PM (GMT 0)
Dim vision here for sure. Along with other visual symptoms. It does improve a lot when I have better stretches.

My vision symptoms have been my very first symptoms. They are extremely frustrating.
Posted 1/15/2022 5:16 PM (GMT 0)
fwiw my dim vision and night vision got better after treating toxoplasmosis. mangosteen juice seemed to help also ...

astro is sorta right - rods n cones affect light input and color . so one must ask the question which pathogens can infect and interrupt the optical nerves?
Posted 1/16/2022 3:39 PM (GMT 0)

bluelyme said...
fwiw my dim vision and night vision got better after treating toxoplasmosis. mangosteen juice seemed to help also ...

astro is sorta right - rods n cones affect light input and color . so one must ask the question which pathogens can infect and interrupt the optical nerves?

but as above its been pretty well demonstrated that small vessel disease can affect any part of the brain - or any other part of the nervous system - and as a result in my view it isn't necessarily the case that only pathogens that infect the optic nerve need be considered.
Posted 1/18/2022 4:24 AM (GMT 0)
chicken or the egg Garzie , if that small vessel disease was predicated and antagonized by say pathogens such as bartonella or mycoplasma or others that have affinity for endothelial linings . this coming from someone who had a vasculitis diagnosis, hpa bp and heart inflammation sure played a part in the wonky vision but i believe if one chops the roots and the tree will fall . as with systemic pathogens and symptomology branches ...

fwiw looking at the sun with my eyelids closed help me gauge which eye was acting darker in perception and also acted like a little uvbi for vessels there , idk seemed to help . as did silver eyedrops when they were still on the market ...

Garzie is also correct in the advice to make sure eyes are copacetic by an eye doc and rule out cysts growth or other problems

Post Edited (bluelyme) : 1/17/2022 9:28:49 PM (GMT-7)

Posted 1/18/2022 11:21 AM (GMT 0)
yep that was my meaning - that bart defo causes small vessels disease in the brain
and vision perception happens in the brain so anything that effects the brain must also be considered - along with anything that causes damage in any of the systems feeding that visual information into it - eg eyes - retina - optic nerve etc
✚ New Topic ✚ Reply