Alcohol (drinking) and dry eye

[brd888]

I know alcohol causes dehydration and this can obviously reduce tear secretion but has anyone read of any longer term affects excessive alcohol consumption has on tears and lipid levels?
In my long search for the cause of my dry eye I am looking at nutrition and have noted my alcohol intake is about 30 units per week compared to the 21 units safe level.
Have not seen anything specific on this matter on the web but am about to reduce this intake.
Regards.

[Tony Barnes]

Alcohol interferes with fatty acid metabolism, which is one of the reasons it will promote dry eyes. At best it will only effect the polar lipids in your tear film, though I imagine it may get in the way of other contributing pathways that I am unaware of.

[Guest]

I have never really bothered with the Alcohol theory whilst I am sure it is an issue, I just consume loads of water when I decide to have a drink of alcohol.

We have to have some pleasures in life, this is tough enough on its own.

I guess everything in moderation, I personally find that if the artificial tears don't work, the alcohol helps to take ones mind off the eyes.

Cheers

IanP

[brd888]

Indeed

Yes Ian but this is a catch 22 if you ever saw one! I think whilst being under growing strain from having dry eye in recent months I have also increased booze intake. The "sensible" level is 21 units per week which I do not intend to exceed in future.

Tony - Still persevering with Clarymist but after a boozy pre-easter break last week had a lot of dryness.

[Tony Barnes]

lol, I remember at uni we were all made to register with a doctor and get checked up. The inevitable alcohol units question came up, and after doing a fair bit of mental arithmatic, I realised I was hitting well over 200 units a week... Not good... but you're only young once I guess

Ian - but as I was saying, it's more than just dehydration, the biochemistry is pretty well laid out!! If you do other things to ensure maximum fat metabolism - zinc, biotin, vit B5, phytosterols, efa intake, etc, etc, then you will lessen the effect.

brd - lol, easter went well this end too... Bought a load of pear cider from Ikea, very happy!!

[Guest]

Goodness me, I didn't realize there was such an issue.

I wouldn't have any idea of how many "units" I hit in a week, maybe I should take note for a week or two, but I'm guessing it's several over the recommended allowance.

I don't remember "giving up red wine" being anywhere on my laser consent form - I will take that up with the clinic next week when I'm there.

Thanks for the info, will pay a little more attention to this, interesting topic though, could be my downfall.

Cheers and have a great day!

IanP

[elaine]

alcohol

30 units a week? A unit being one beer, a glass of wine or one ounce of hard liquor?? That wouldn't be good for general health, if not dry eyes. But by the same token, the only thing that helps me sleep when the pain is bad is Trazodone, which I limit to once a week or less, because I am miserable the next day. My eyes are noticibly worse...I like the one glass of wine/two glasses of water rule.
And speaking of drugs, Vicodan helps dull the eye pain with the side effects of queaziness, and marijuana was also drying (maybe better injested, to avoid smoke. I wonder if I can find my Alice B Toklas brownie recipe from 1975?)


Elaine

[charmee]

I like your math!

Hi,

I didn't want to start a thread on this, but since you mentioned it I've been wondering if marijuana is bad for dry eyes.

People suggest it to me, probably because of its reputation for easing glaucoma pain. However, since it causes dry mouth and red eyes I always thought it would be a bad idea.

Any thoughts?

Charmee

[Tony Barnes]

Elaine - a pint is about 3 units if you're having a Stella, so that's only 10 a week. With regards to general health, modest alcohol intake is generally shown to be beneficial as fermented foods are often good sources of things like antioxidants, etc.

With regards to Marijuana, smoking it is associated with blephritis, with chronic use being more of a problem. During use it will promote dry eyes through a combination of the actual smoke, and through a not very well understood pathway. There is an endogenous cannboid that we produce in nerve cells that is related to sleep patterns, the workings of it is very confusing, something I've only read through a little, however it is shown to be made in the eyes as well. This is where speculation enters the room!! If it works as a neuro supressant in other nervous cells, it's reasonable to postulate that it could do the same in your eyes, in particular the meibomian glands that are under nervous control, effectively sending them to sleep = dry eye.... maybe!! This would be powered a lot more strongly by the large amount of cannaboids in Marijuana.

lol, someone needs to do some more research on it, but it's a very intriguing connection!

There are a few papers on Pubmed about this sort of thing, but I had difficulty finding full text articles (I was researching "stoners" as a target group..!!) - but someone with better publications access may have more luck.

[elaine]

medicating

Tony, 30 units doesn't sound like so much now. I thought it was 30 oz...But you're right, esp about red wine.

I had good luck with pot for pain when I broke my elbow. It also helped when I broke my wrist (my hobby is horseback riding...) But you're right Charmee about the dry mouth. I have a dry mouth problem already, and if you got some smoke in your eyes, ouch! It's tempting to try these things, though, because not much does help with the pain. I mean, compresses help for the 5 minutes I use them. And some mornings are better than in the evening, but pain day and night gets wearing. Maybe someday they will have pain clinics for DES. I use self-hypnosis which helps me relax and take my mind off the pain through visualizations, but a better quality of life would be nice...

Elaine

[charmee]

Ohhhh

Oh, now I get it. When you said 21 units a week is safe, I thought that meant 21 drinks a week. Which is why I said I like your math.

In the States, we say a glass of wine, 12oz of beer, or a cocktail = 1 oz of alcohol = "a drink." So, when Tony said 200 units I thought that had to be a typo! BTW, what sort of a beer is a Stella? Shall I assume that a pint of lager is about 3 units?

Thanks Tony, for the info on marijuana.

Charmee

[brd888]

beer

Charmee,
Stella is a strong lager from Europe, it is 5.2% vol. A pint of normal strength lager is 2 units.

The safe limit of 21 units per week (for a man) is really quite low if you have a drink every day. Someone who has 1 pint at lunchtime and 1 pint in the evening would be past the safe level by 6 units. I suppose they are telling you not to have a drink every day of the week

Bruce.