Floaters and Vitamins

[wilycoyote]

Hello all,

I am very new to the board and have developed an issue within my vision. I have searched the forums to see if any posts related to the topic so I am not double posting. I have researched this issue on the internet very much since these objects started appearing in my eyes. Spiderwebs, dots, a wiggly line, these spots and objects follow my vision. From researching online of course these lead to "floaters" so far, I am making an appointment with my doctor and will follow this all the way through.

However I wanted to post on when exactly these floaters started appearing. I read alot about thinning hair and I was advised to take some vitamins. A pill of all your basic vitamins, E, B6, C, Soy Lecithin granules in milk or water. I picked these vitamins up at GNC and began taking them once a day. I also took my Mens one a day. I was just going to take the individual vitamins and skip the mens one a day until the GNC employee who seemed to know what he was talking about told me the 1 a day daily vitamin is actually only 50% of what your body really needs. So I figured it would be ok.

The amounts of the vitamins seemed to be in the normal dosage not anything crazy.

B-6 100 mg, B-Complex 50mg, E 400 IU, C 500 mg, Flaxseed Oil 1000 mg, and the Soy Lecithin Granules 2 teaspoons each morning in milk or water. I also began eating better, more fish, vegetables and less Caffeine alot more water.

about 2 weeks into taking these vitamins I developed the floaters, sat down at the computer and there they were not so many of them. It did not dawn on me it was the vitamins because vitamins are good for you! Well the floaters got worse the next day and so on and so forth, probably 3 days in of the floaters I knew I had to start reversing any changes to myself I made recently and the vitamins were the only thing.

I know there are other posts regarding floaters but I did not find one that stated what occurred before they showed up. I understand its a breakup of the gel in your eye and develop as you grow older but I have a huge hunch the vitamins did not help me. I will be bringing the vitamins to my doctor and possibly a nutrionist and whoever the doctor recommends me to for my floaters to seek more information. I also found some stories online where people taking large doses of vitamins developed floaters.

I also ran into a few stories about the retina, floaters having to do with detached retina and even worse floaters , static floaters then what I am experiencing. I must say these are extremely annoying and I feel for anyone who is experiencing anything in there eyes worse then this.

I would love to ask anyone out there if you have any information on this vitamin/ floater issue or was it just truly a coinidence?? I appreciate the time you took to read my story and will certainly post my doctor visit experiences on what they said about my story as I strongly feel its related. Have a great week everybody. Sorry for such a long post on what could be something minor compared to other medical issues that someone could be growing through.

[Eagle]

Son of a gun! I never heard of this but now that you mention it, I too am having more floaters, spider web ones, thought it was from shoveling some snow in Feb., 8 mo. after cataract surgery. They're certainly been a lot worse since then.

I hate taking my vitamins anyway, so now I can slow down on that!

You sure you didn't also do something too strenuous? Thanks for telling us about this and promising followup information. Good luck.

[wilycoyote]

Nope nothing else strenuous at all. I have been unemployed for the past few weeks and besides starting the vitamins, I wakeup watch tv, do small computer jobs and thats all. I also get recommended nights sleep 5-7 hours. No other toxins in my body either. Doctors appointment Monday at 10AM then will probably be referred to a optomologist. I also was told by my doctor I have a thyroid issue and will be going to a thyroid doctor as well. Besides that I am healthy

So my on-set of floaters is def thyroid related, vitamins or just normal aging floaters and a coincidence.

[Eagle]

Originally Posted by wilycoyote

I also was told by my doctor I have a thyroid issue and will be going to a thyroid doctor as well. Besides that I am healthy
So my on-set of floaters is def thyroid related, vitamins or just normal aging floaters and a coincidence.

Thyroid problems are not well understood at all by most doctors. You're lucky to have one who even acknowledges. Want some short-cut tips?

To get him to do a blood test for TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) and diabetes Monday, and send it out to a lab, results in 2 or 3 days, or send you as an outpatient to the nearest hospital, You'll have to be fasting, nothing after midnight (11:30 fine) just water that morning. I'd assure him that you studied up online during the weekend and know it's that simple.

If your TSH (thyroid stimulating hormone) is very low, you're probably okay or if you still have symptoms of low thyroid, muscle pain, etc., maybe you're not utilizing it very well, I learned by googling.

Many people can't take Synthroid, which most doctors start them on at first. Most say they studied thyroid about 5 or 10 min. in medical school. Endocrinologists don't seem much better at all and may go by "fads" as when the gov't lowered potency of some of the meds, levothroid that I was on at the time, about 2001, w/out notifying apparently even the doctors. Mine prescribed muscle relaxants instead of discovering the cause. He was a very good old-fashioned Dr. otherwise.

Some resent our consulting the internet, but by suggesting an endocrinologist, he was admitting he hasn't studied thyroid much and you're just doing logical homework to save another co-pay, and time and all. I've been to endocrinologists and personally don't feel it's worth it. Didn't find out about muscle problems there. Think it was online.

If your eyes are bulging and TSH is way way below .1, which is my BEST point, (some hypo's can have a TSH or 2 or 3 hundred when they first get tested) you're hyper-thyroid, over-active, and many say don't let them remove your whole gland.

There are a few other tests, I think I read online, and some people like alternative medicine, Dr. Wilson, can be looked up, can't use the usual word here, if you don't get improvement. He temporarily lost his license, I think, when he came up with "Wilson's Syndrome" but seems pretty popular now.

What if it becomes impossible for some reason to get thyroid replacement pills? And I forget what other reasons. I'm now on levothyroxine 300 and still have itchy scalp, slight muscle problems, advanced diabetes which has almost destroyed one eye. Somewhere I think I read that low thyroid can cause diabetes. Also avoiding sugar is supposed to help avoid getting it.

Hope this helps. Keep us posted re what you find out. Why not have him test for diabetes too? I'm having a relapse in one eye, I may have already said, maybe from carrying music equipment recently, after shoveling snow in February, too soon, 8 mo., after cataract surgery. There are new spiderweb floaters from that, still, 3 mo. later, especially when I'm tired. Would love to know WHY, if you find out. Are yours mostly when you're tired? I know that started with the Feb snow shoveling.

I don't think my retina doctor can really see in there well any more because a membrane formed, and she had to punch holes behind my pupils. Don't know if I should seek another opinion because I simply forgot to tell her about the snow shoveling and equipment carrying, and lifting heavy things. They only tell you to be careful a couple of weeks, not 8 mo. She used to do laser to seal off those rupturing tiny blood vessels of diabetic retinopathy, which continues of course after cataract surgery. If you ever have to have that, don't let them give you mono-focus implants, although the newer ones cost more. You lose your near vision, and worry that if your house was on fire and you lost your glasses or didn't have time to grab them you might not even be able to use the phone. I'm always thinking "what if". What if something mechanical should go wrong with the implants? Forty yrs ago they kept your natural lenses, though I'm sure the operation was more difficult for them then. IOW, the implants have only been tested for about that long! I wasn't even told there are multi-focal ones available, not that I'd want to be among the first to try new ones. Good luck.

[Bearygood]

Just wanted to comment as someone who has been treated for hypothyroidism for MANY years. My experience has been that it's one of the EASIEST things to diagnose although granted, often overlooked and not tested for. Your T3 and T4 levels will fall within a certain range. The TSH will tell the doctor how HARD your thyroid is working to GET to those levels. If you have low TSH levels, it does NOT mean you're automatically okay -- diagnosis is based on the full series of blood work.

I've been on Synthroid for many years and although I know that many people opt for Armour grains, I've never heard of extensive problems with the synthetic. As with I believe ANY synthetic hormone, Synthroid can contribute to bones thinning so you should be taking calcium (with vitamin D).

Re: your eyes, Lutein and Bilberry are two supplements that usually come up for strengthening the eyes -- don't know if they'd specifically help floaters but it's possible and would be easy to find by researching the internet. Also, as you mentioned, it does have to do with drying up so make sure you stay well hydrated!