Floaters as a Lyme discriminator?

[Guest guest]

Ritch,

Plenty of floaters and I have Lyme

Nelly

[Guest guest]

Many floaters - my optometrist has commented on the number of them.

Been tested for Lyme - Negative.

Have had CFIDS (classic case according to Dr. ) since Sept, 1976 (that

is NOT a misprint).

FWIW - I also have recently been diagnosed with glaucoma and borderline macular

degeneration.

[Guest guest]

Bob and Rich,

My opinion for what it is worth. Floaters are floaters. Get your eyes

examined once a year and then focus on something else. As to testing for

Lyme, again my opinion, Igenex is the best place to get tested.

a Carnes

>

> As you know, we badly need a better way to distinguish long-term Lyme

> disease from other disorders that get diagnosed as CFS.

>

> Rich, welcome back. I don't know if you suggested we do a informal survery

on this list. sounds good to me.

>

> Yes, I have had floaters for years, maybe as long as I have been ill. I

have not been tested for Lyme. I am sending bood samples to Garth Nicholson

for testing and I think Lyme is one of his test. Bob

[Guest guest]

Yeah, Bob. That is why I said this was my opinion. My point was that no one

is ever going to use floaters as a difinitive diagnosis of any form of Lyme

disease. A lot of people have floaters. If one suspects floaters may be

serious or getting worse the place to go for treatment or diagnosis is an

opthamologist, not a Lyme specialist. Again, just my opinion. The only thing

I am an authority on is education, and I don't brag about that.

a

>

> Bob and Rich,

> My opinion for what it is worth. Floaters are floaters. Get your eyes

> examined once a year and then focus on something else. As to testing for

> Lyme, again my opinion, Igenex is the best place to get tested.

> a Carnes

>

> a, I feel if a dr believes this might be an indicator of Lyme, I want

to know his/her thinking. Not that I think a dr is anymore of an authority

than you are but if they have treated plenty of Lyme patients then maybe

they are?? Bob

[Guest guest]

Rich,

I have floaters, and have tested negative for Lyme through Igenex Lab's

three day antibiotic challenge test. My husband, who is healthy, has what he

was describing as floaters, but turn out to be a form of ocular migraine,

according to the top migraine neurologist at s Hopkins. I say this only

because he and I thought we were talking about the same thing until he was

asked to describe his " floaters. " Then we realized that what I had in fact

lumped together under the general description floaters, in my case, were

some of what you describe in your definition of floater, and some component

of ocular migraine also. My migraines began when I was in my early 20's (we

think, as I have had horrible headaches since I was 6), and were always

preceded by an " aura " . Over time the aura disappeared, or so I thought. What

replaced the aura were these things, at least some of which I called

floaters, that were actually now a form of ocular migraine. So the moral is,

not all floaters are floaters.

When I asked my optometrist about floaters, he said they are very common,

and from the standpoint of eye health, if any area within your field of

vision should become grayish, get thee to an eye doc quick. That's a good

time to be concerned about detached retinas, otherwise, floaters themselves

are not harmful. Granted he's no scientist, but is pretty open-minded, and

reads constantly, but he did reassure me.

I will note however, that I am positive on Shoemaker/Hudnell's VCS test,

both online and via card reader in person.

Donna in NC

Floaters as a Lyme discriminator?

> Hi!

>

> As you know, we badly need a better way to distinguish long-term Lyme

disease from other disorders that get diagnosed as CFS.

>

> Dr. Kit Humphrey (from another list) suggested to me that the

> presence of a lot of floaters in the vitreous humor (the gel inside the

eyeball) might serve as a way to distinguish chronic Lyme disease from

other disorders in the CFS bin. I wonder if anyone could shed some light

on their own situation in this regard. In particular, do you have many

floaters, and what is your Lyme testing status? (For those not familiar

with floaters, they are dark spots that you can see in your field of view

when looking at a white or light-colored background, such as a clear sky.

When you shift your gaze, they drift around some and then settle down.

They are thought to be caused usually by contraction of the vitreous gel

and separation of it from the retina, forming little fibers of material

that scatter light.

>

> I realize that many PWCs may have Lyme disease and haven't tested for it,

or haven't had a positive test, so the results of this will be a little

murky.

>

> But maybe if those who know they have Lyme show up with lots of floaters,

and there are also some other PWCs who both don't have floaters and don't

have certain knowledge that they have Lyme, this may be an indication that

it's worth following up on this as a hypothesis.

>

> Rich

[Guest guest]

> Boy, I'm glad you mentioned eyes b/c the whole time I was actually

thinking

> about stools!

>

Ha, ha, ha, had my laugh of the day. There is some research actually on what

makes them float or not float, but really who gives a ****

a

[Guest guest]

>

>

> a Carnes <pj7@...> wrote:

> Yeah, Bob. That is why I said this was my opinion. My point was that no

one

> is ever going to use floaters as a difinitive diagnosis of any form of

Lyme

> disease.

>

> a, Are you familiar with the VCS test for neurotowxins? Some Dr

discovered the vision problems people with neurotoxins had. If the VCS can

used to test for neurotoxins, why would it be impossible that eye-floaters

are symptoms of Lyme? I am open-minded to that possibility until proven

otherwise.

>

> Rich, would you tell tell us why this doc thought that floaters were an

indication of Lyme? Thanks, Bob

Floaters might get worse with Lyme. Trouble is virtually everyone has

floaters. The title of this post was " floaters as a Lyme discriminator. " A

discriminator is very different than another symptom. For instance NMH is a

symptom of cfs but not a discriminator.

a

[Guest guest]

In a message dated 1/11/03 8:31:43 PM Eastern Standard Time,

writes:

> Ha, ha, ha, had my laugh of the day. There is some research actually on what

> makes them float or not float, but really who gives a ****

> a

>

Seems like I got the whole group laughing on that one, even though it was

absolutely true. I remember from Keep Hope Alive site that floaters are good

as it is suggestive of digestive tract being in good shape with good bacteria

while " Sinkers and stinkers " and dark or black are bad.

[Guest guest]

floaters are good as it is suggestive of digestive tract being in good

shape with good bacteria while " Sinkers and stinkers " and dark or black are

bad.

When they start doing the backstroke is when you really gotta worry.

PJ

[Guest guest]

Hi: I have heard that floaters increase with age, I don't know if that helps

your question but just thought I would mention it.

Teena

Re: Floaters as a Lyme discriminator?

Bob and Rich,

My opinion for what it is worth. Floaters are floaters. Get your eyes

examined once a year and then focus on something else. As to testing for

Lyme, again my opinion, Igenex is the best place to get tested.

a Carnes

>

> As you know, we badly need a better way to distinguish long-term Lyme

> disease from other disorders that get diagnosed as CFS.

>

> Rich, welcome back. I don't know if you suggested we do a informal survery

on this list. sounds good to me.

>

> Yes, I have had floaters for years, maybe as long as I have been ill. I

have not been tested for Lyme. I am sending bood samples to Garth Nicholson

for testing and I think Lyme is one of his test. Bob

This list is intended for patients to share personal experiences with each

other, not to give medical advice. If you are interested in any treatment

discussed here, please consult your doctor.

[Guest guest]

I recently heard an advertisement for a supplement called " Ocular

Nutrition " , and they had a testimony from a person who said their

floaters disappeared a few weeks after starting the supplement. There

are many similar formulations, and here is a chart comparing the

ingrediants:

http://www.i-care.net/compare.html

Whether any of these really can help, I don't know. However, they do

contain a lot of quercetin, something which I found very useful for

stopping my corneal erosions (or perhaps it's the bromelain in my

supplement, or a combination of the 2). Ironically, my eye doctor had

been selling nutritional products for eyes for a while, but never

bothered to consider recommending it to me. I took quercetin for a

totally different problem, and was, of course, very happy that it

seems to have helped my eyes (corneal erosion problems are a 10 on the

pain scale of 1 to 10, not to mention not be able to use the eye).

What I'm saying is that basically eye doctors don't know a lot about

the use of supplements for a lot eye problems, so it may be worth

trying one of these supplements.

> Hi: I have heard that floaters increase with age, I don't know if

that helps your question but just thought I would mention it.

> Teena

> Re: Floaters as a Lyme discriminator?

>

>

>

> Bob and Rich,

> My opinion for what it is worth. Floaters are floaters. Get your eyes

> examined once a year and then focus on something else. As to

testing for

> Lyme, again my opinion, Igenex is the best place to get tested.

> a Carnes

>

> >

> > As you know, we badly need a better way to distinguish long-term

Lyme

> > disease from other disorders that get diagnosed as CFS.

> >

> > Rich, welcome back. I don't know if you suggested we do a

informal survery

> on this list. sounds good to me.

> >

> > Yes, I have had floaters for years, maybe as long as I have been

ill. I

> have not been tested for Lyme. I am sending bood samples to Garth

Nicholson

> for testing and I think Lyme is one of his test. Bob

>

>

>

> This list is intended for patients to share personal experiences

with each other, not to give medical advice. If you are interested in

any treatment discussed here, please consult your doctor.

>

>