Gluten Intolerance & Dry Eyes

[KellyB]

I've been suffering from a variety of problems related to my eyes for the past several years--recurrent episcleritis, severely dry eyes, Ocular Rosacea, recurrent subconjunctival hemorrhages, MGD, corneal abrasions, and eye misery. I tried many of the typical things I've read about in this forum--punctal plugs, restasis, goggles, many lubricating drops, etc. Some things did help but they weren't changing the course of the disease. However, I've been gluten-free for nearly 4 months now-initially suggested by my GI doctor as a trial addressing a malabsorption issue. The unanticipated outcome of that has been that my dry eye symptoms are dramatically improved--the DES is not gone, but it's more at a moderate level now. The hemorrhages have completely stopped. My eyes are whiter than they've been in years. If I eat something with gluten, my eyes hemorrhage within hours. The severity of the hemorrhages are directly proportional to the amount of gluten ingested. It's bizarre. I've found no connection between gluten and dry eye disease in the literature. My specialists can't explain it except possibly by a link to my immune system. Whatever the explanation, my fingers are crossed that the improvement continues!

[grant555]

ive recently wondered about this connection. I started an allergy elimination diet and my eyes improved too. For awhile I thought it was gluten, but I think for me, it was simply more about cutting out simple carbs and sugar and replacing them with vegetables (ie a low inflammatory diet). But I haven't definitively determined what has caused the improvement yet as my diet got interrupted by non-stop travel this summer.

Keep us posted! How long was it before you noticed an improvement in your eyes?

[waterbee]

ive recently wondered about this connection. I started an allergy elimination diet and my eyes improved too. For awhile I thought it was gluten, but I think for me, it was simply more about cutting out simple carbs and sugar and replacing them with vegetables (ie a low inflammatory diet). But I haven't definitively determined what has caused the improvement yet as my diet got interrupted by non-stop travel this summer.

Keep us posted! How long was it before you noticed an improvement in your eyes?

Yes I'd like to know also, I did gluten free for 5
weeks but gave up last weekend ( as it seemed to not changing anything), wonder if I should of given it a bit longer.

[KellyB]

Honestly, Grant and Waterbee, the gluten-free diet was the last thing I expected to help my eyes. I would definitely encourage others to explore all options and keep an open mind. The change for me was immediate but it took me a week to realize that my eyes were better. Then I went to a dinner party and broke my diet two weeks into the diet and it took my eyes 10 days to 2 weeks to recover--hemorrhaging was immediate. That was my "ah ha" moment. My eyes are my barometer for gluten now. They are incredibly sensitive and I'm adjusting to it because it's not a fun diet to maintain. Eating out is a real trial. I don't know whether gluten simply causes a inflammatory reaction for me or whether as my doctors seem to believe, it causes more of an immune response. I'm not willing to eat gluten to find out more about the why part, as I'm sure folks in this community understand. My ophthalmologist said my eyes are better than they've been the entire time he's been treating me. Waterbee, my wild guess would be that if you don't notice any positive change in 5 weeks of a diet--and you're maintaining that diet as closely as possible, I don't know if it would be worth it to continue (but then, I hate diets)...

[fourchimneys]

thanks for sharing kellyb.

how did you find out gluten caused you problems, just trial and error?

thanks

[KellyB]

thanks for sharing kellyb.

how did you find out gluten caused you problems, just trial and error?

thanks

I don't think gluten caused the eye problems, but it definitely makes them much worse. As I wrote initially, I tried the diet related to another health issue. The improvement in my eyes was a happy surprise. In addition to Dry Eye Syndrome, MGD, and Ocular Rosacea, I'd been having the subconjuntival hemorrhaging pretty much non-stop since Jul-Aug 2014. While that's typically a benign problem and not associated with DES, it added another terrible symptom to deal with. The hemorrhaging stopped with the gluten-free diet, the veins in my eyes look better and the dryness is not as bad. I've tested it a number of times by eating something containing gluten and had a negative eye reaction within hours. Initially, I was planning on trying the diet for 3-4 weeks and then going off of it for a week. The results of the early weeks were too obvious to ignore, so I haven't done that.

[BeckaG]

Thanks for posting! With all of the recent attention going gluten free has gotten I have wondered if that could help dry eyes!

[fourchimneys]

thats great to hear

[byebye3]

Dont understand why this topic havent got 5 stars actually ...

As i said in my topic in the same section, since i had stop the gluten ( and from 1 years, reduce drastically dairy ) my eyes feels really really better.

In comparison, my eyes feels better than with voltaren who is an anti inflammatory ...

There is a correlation between the stomach, who is the "second brain" and the eyes.

I have some idea about how it was happen :

Maybe an immune disease.
Maybe we havent got some recoil about gluten in our life.

Of course, the "eye-specialist" ( quotation marks are really important ) didnt understand whats the cause of red eyes, and he just gave me some stupid anti inflammatory ... business is business.

The real question is why i gave 40 dollars for this guy ...

[KellyB]

Honestly, there's a lot they don't know in medicine. Sometimes (or much of the time) we have to track down our solutions to medical problems--especially ones that are so disruptive to our lives. I believe we're incredibly lucky when we find something-anything--that either slows or changes the course of a disease. Lucky for you that you happened upon something (gluten-free) that improved your eye problem!