Eye problems & Fibro?: Good morning to... - Fibromyalgia Acti...

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Eye problems & Fibro?

Castlepoint profile image
19 Replies

Good morning to everyone on here & thankyou for this great place to come to for advice and support. I am sorry this is a long post & apologies in advance. I would just like to ask if there is anyone out there who has similar problems so that I can make sense of what is happening to me. About two & a half weeks ago my eyes became more blurry with floaters & achy eyes then I had a strange episode where I had a black shape down one side of my eye for a few seconds & like I was going to faint. I didn't & went home but felt unwell & unbalanced for a few days oh & so exhausted I couldn't hardly talk. My balance improved slowly ( I had menieres 10 years ago & have never had anything for a long time.) went to the docs he sent me to the stroke clinic for all the tests & I was fine. My eye blurriness persisted so went for my eyes tested all they found was increased pressure in my eyes & I have to go back next week for a recheck. In the meantime my eyes ache have loads of floaters & yesterday the sun was too bright for my eyes. Has anyone ever had this? Apologies again for such a long post I just can't make head nor tail of it.

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Castlepoint
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19 Replies
Ginsing profile image
Ginsing

Morning Sorry to read you are having such problems with your eyes

I have been through a similar episode where I became troubled with double

vision and when my vision in my right eye went well it topped working.

The otptician sent me to the hospital where I saw a brilliant eye surgeon

he was quite brilliant and he re --

stored my eye sight and my faith in human being!

This week I am off to get new glasses, so I would suggest you rest your eyes make an appointment to have them checked over You may be just straining them.

Best of luck

xgins

jillylin profile image
jillylin

Hi,

Poor you. It's always good to check these things out. My optician did tell me that she has noticed her patients with Fibro do have fluctuating problems with their eyes but it doesn't always mean it's serious. I have high pressure in both my eyes and have been to the hospital eye clinic for monitoring. It's just wise to check on these things with the experts

Hugs

Jillyxx

Good morning. my vision seems to change on a regular basis often 2 or 3 times a day, I constantly try cleaning my glasses, which doesnt help and inspite of having byfocals i often find that i can see best by peering over the top of them.

Sue xx

skit profile image
skit

I get very ichy eyes dry eye and that impairs vision I am light sensitive I wear prescription lenses all day thatreact to light.I receive Celluvisc eye drops on script which help. Try your GP for drops?

panda60 profile image
panda60

When your eyes were tested did they put drops in to have a closer look at your floaters? Worth asking them if they didn't. I developed floaters a year ago but the eye hospital reassured me it was nothing to worry about. I also had treatment to make my eyes work together as I had given up reading and close work because getting headaches.

Hope you get some answers soon. Eyes are so complicated.

TheAuthor profile image
TheAuthor

Hi Castlepoint

I am so sorry to read that this is happening to you, and I genuinely hope that you can find some resolution and relief to this issue. I have had similar experiences to you, and I went to the opticians whereby she said Fibro played a big part in the eye muscle. I have pasted you a link to a post I placed about it below:

healthunlocked.com/fibroact...

I want to wish you all the best of luck and I genuinely hope that you can find the answers that you so desperately desire and deserve.

All my hopes and dreams for you

Ken x

clare_hart profile image
clare_hart

I have always had poor eyesight and worse in right eye (amblyopia - one eye weaker than other). I've had floaters for a long time too, no big deal. But 3 years ago, I all of a sudden had one come across my right eye, so large that I could barely see out of it.

My mind has gradually gotten used to it, though not always, and lately my vision has become more blurry than it would between new Rx. The optician said it's probably nothing - it sure doesn't seem like nothing to me. I will be going to an opthomologist this week for a more specialized diagnosis.

I hope you have some news to share of what you find out soon. I would not be surprised if this is as a result of FM.

Castlepoint profile image
Castlepoint

Thankyou I will let you know & good lick to you too x

jellynpain profile image
jellynpain

Hi,

I have frequent sudden changes in eye vision. Optician tested, said very likely to do with the muscle problems within my CFS/ME/FM.

However, I also had a photo taken, by chance when I was on a particularly bad day. In the pic my worst affected eye showed a straight part across the bottom of my iris. No idea on that. I read an article a while back that it can be connected to cortisol issues (that is relevant to my previous tests).

Make sure you have regular tests xx

Jjudith profile image
Jjudith

Hello there - my problems started with my eyes, my first symptoms of fibro and myofascial pain. I had acute angle closure glaucoma but it was aggrevated in a big way because at exactly the same time I developed myofascial pain syndrome, which most fibro sufferers also have, causing blurriness of vision, double vision, photophobia, severe eye pain, some visual disturbances associated with pain which was probably floaters. It particularly affected my left eye. When the pain was really severe I often went to an eye casualty and they didn't know what was happening, in fact one consultant told me that I had nothing wrong with my eyes and did I want her to make up a diagnosis to please me!!!! When they prescribed drops for high eye pressure I had a paradoxical effect, ie., it caused my eye pressure to rise rather than fall. In the end I was rapidly losing sight in my left eye so I had an operation exactly the same as cataracts although I didn't have cataracts and the eye has been wonderful ever since - 4 years of low pressure and no pain - what a pity the pain then spread to my face, neck, shoulder, arm, and then on to the rest of my body! I think that fibro and myofascial pain aggrevate conditions that cause high eye pressure and that is the opinion of my consultant at Moorfields too. But it can be solved, and I am sure in the end it will be with you too. Hugs x

Castlepoint profile image
Castlepoint in reply to Jjudith

Thankyou for your reply and to alleviate some of my concerns, everyone on here are so supportive.

Castlepoint xx

Mdaisy profile image
Mdaisy in reply to Castlepoint

Thank You for the lovely feedback of the FibroAction community :) It is great to hear it appears to be achieving it's aims :)

The problem with Fibro is it will attack every muscle in the body- including the heart and brain. Eyes always get it one way or another, don't be alarmed by it- but I will tell you all this- Fibro is not blood or muscle detectable.. it attacks the nerves, muscle and ligaments- Bi-ops won't give answers, just make you more sore than before. Lack of sleep is because the brain is a type of muscle and needs rest to mend.. so here is what I have learned to do- Buy Nytol 2 a night, take one only 15 mins before bed. keep to a time line of sleep and getting up- mine is 11:30 bed, up for 7:30 to 8am.. after 3 days stop the nytol, stay up until late and tired enough to sleep..get up when the body says to. Rest won't mend you, hard work won't kill you, but Fibro makes life dam hard all the time.. pain is there, but not what you expect it to be- the body multiplies the senses 100 times, so a slight scratch feels like a sword cutting instead. Understand that pain killers will also make you ill elsewhere.. Kidneys, liver, stomach etc.. so get used to the pain, the body will eventually ignore it and you can do more.. Hospital will try to help, but no one person has the same affliction as the next.. but most have similar explanations- take cod liver oil capsules, one a day.. be aware that today is bad- but tomorrow will be better. take one day at a time and don't let self pity keep you in bed- its easy to do and makes it harder to get going next time- your running on low oil, keep moving slowly and all is well- stop and you seize up.. any Q's send me a message thru here... kazzgirl.

Mdaisy profile image
Mdaisy in reply to

Hello Kazzgirl,

I wondered can you provide any evidence based research that Fibro attacks the Heart muscle & the Brain please? Or if not, could you could provide a link to where you read this information please? If you could send this to me via private message I'd me most grateful.

Best Wishes

Emma :)

FibroAction Administrator

in reply to Mdaisy

Hi Hun.. Sorry can't really say where the info came from.. talking to so called specialists at hospital, doctors, and off the web- most info mainly usa sites- all kind of gave me the answer- just that having fibro from 1994 I've learnt a few things in life- and brain fog isn't new.. just not recognised by anyone- heart is a working muscle, so it is going to have a blip every now and then.. mine does. best wishes- Kazz.

Mdaisy profile image
Mdaisy in reply to

Hello Kazzgirl,

Apologies for the late reply, however I have been doing some investigation work to see if I could find anything that supports that 'Fibro attacks heart muscle and the brain'

I wondered if I may mention that I have not found anything that suggests that Fibro damages Heart Muscle or the Brain as a disease process.

RE: The Heart

I believe your find the heart muscle is not fibrous tissue as Fibro (fibrous tissue) affects. it has a fibrous layer but the muscle itself does not contain fibrous tissue but does have minimal connective tissue. I could only find evidence that Fibro has the symptom of Dysautonomia (please see link) and a possible link to Mitral Vavle prolapse with one paper of research (please also see link below)

Dysautonomia

Dysregulation of the HPA (hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal) axis, which is a complex set of interactions between the hypothalamus, the pituitary gland, and the adrenal gland. The HPA axis controls reactions to stress and regulates various body processes including digestion, the immune system, mood, and energy usage (Lindsey Middlemiss Founder & Chair of FibroAction 2009)

fibroaction-public.sharepoi...

Research Article Mitral Valve Prolapse

ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/274...

The research seems to be limited to this one article at the present time and with all research collective studies which propose the same outcomes are usually more beneficial as evidenced based information. You may know about research but is not , here's a post about research from a while ago;

healthunlocked.com/fibroact.......

RE: The brain

I have found that there is some evidence that people with Fibro may experience accelerated brain grey matter loss, please see our website (link below) and one of the research articles to support this;

fibroaction-public.sharepoi...

Research Article Accelerated Brain Grey Matter

jneurosci.org/content/27/15...

The paper suggests accelerated brain grey matter loss unlike say Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) which causes brain damage that worsens over time say.

The research reported that fibromyalgia patients showed a reduction in gray matter and total brain volume compared with healthy controls. There was no difference in the volume of white matter or CSF between groups and also concludes by saying these findings reveal for the first time that patients with fibromyalgia have brain gray matter atrophy. Interestingly, the normal age-related decrease in gray matter was accelerated in fibromyalgia patients and related to disease duration (Kuchinad et al 2007)

The paper suggests the cause as a possible explanation for the decreased gray matter density in these disorders might be atrophy secondary to excitotoxicity and/or exposure to inflammation-related agents, such as cytokines (Apkarian et al., 2004) and pointed out the need for further research as stated on conclusion - Longitudinal studies are indicated to determine whether the observed structural changes are the cause or the consequence of the disorder(Kuchinad et al 2007)

jneurosci.org/content/27/15...

Are these findings what you may have read about online? I think this is probably what the Healthcare Professionals if specialists in Fibro may have may have been referring to.

Apologies for the long reply, however I wanted to clarify to our members the research I have found as, as you mention when you mention these possible problems - it does sound quite alarming.

I hope this has helped explain further the research I have found on this subject. If you do find any other sources of research to support there is heart muscle or brain damage related to Fibro please do post, but I am unable to find any at this present time.

Thank You for your contribution as it has brought up and interesting point to discuss.

Best Wishes

Emma :)

FibroAction Administrator

in reply to Mdaisy

As I have had fibro for 20 years, and finding it harder and harder to concentrate, (I used to have a photographic memory, whereas I could read a book twice and remember most if not all of the contents-)

I have heart palpitations starting about 6 years ago.. pretty much adds up what I have learnt from living the life compared to doctors looking into it- its going to be a long time before so called specialist look into the link as there is no reward for them to do so.. but we judge our problems by those with the most to talk about- we concern ourselves if the demand is there from the masses. We don't concern or worry about a few hundred people with a strange disease that has no relevant desire to be cured.. by those professionals. So in saying this, I do read a lot when I can, I do absorb information from medical forums etc.- and like you; find that most of the information gleamed isn't from someone doing their Theseus, But from someone who works for the good of the people with no concern for a reward of any sort- best wishes..

Carville profile image
Carville in reply to

Like many here, I have the all over body pain and have had it for several years, getting worse with time. I thought it was something I was eating but sorted through that and that was not the case. I worked for a neurologist for 26 years and we had several patients with fibro, so I have some experience with seeing it in other people. I dealt with the aches until on March 21, 2017 I had a "flare" of this stuff and was in such excruciating pain all night that I have no memory of some of the things that happened. It apparently lessened toward morning when I found my dogs outside, (no idea how they got there and I was in bed with my slippers on!!!). Also, I had floaters in my right eye and a black area obstructing my vision in the corner of my right eye along with flashing lights and large floaters which are white that go across the top of my eye occasionally. The morning of March 22 I got an email from a health site that I belong to talking about the relationship of fibromyalgia and magnesium. Long story short, magnesium helps calm the nerve endings and in many people help. I did more research and found that just any magnesium won't help. You need an absorbable magnesium, not mag oxide which is not absorbable at all. I read that a lot of people take magnesium malate and it really helps. I immediately got some and expected that I would have to take it for about 30 days to see a difference, as the posts said. I found that within 48 hours my aches were much better and now I take it regularly and have no more aches unless I overdo. I do still have occasional brain fog and have found if I go too long between magnesium doses that the aches return. My eye problems are either stabilized or I am getting used to them as they are much better, although still there. I posted this in the hope that this might help someone else out there with this pain.

jules12 profile image
jules12

hi you seem to have many issues with your health. i found it really helpful to research fibromyalgia on the internet. the health sites will explain all of the side effects to expect. this way you can isolate the symptoms from other health problems you have. good luck and stay well. jules

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