Eye Floaters - Anyone Else On Here Have Them?

[lindsay]

So I've recently noticed (while out riding cruising on my bicycle it became apparent), that I have eye floaters. For those of you who have them, I'm sure you know what they are - like little squiggles (which I first mistook for hair on my sunglasses) that kind of float past your eyes on a regular basis, especially in bright light.

I don't wear glasses and have always had very good eye sight, except when I used to work at the Apple Retail store staring at bright screens all day. But now my vision is good and sharp, though I would categorize my eyes as being very sensitive to bright light. But these darn eye floaters are a nuisance.

Any ideas what causes them and if they can go away? I am on a mission to find a way to incorporate liver into my diet (I REALLY dislike the stuff and don't digest it well), but in the meantime, I've ordered some Retinol to supplement. I get a decent amount of Vitamin A in my diet from high fat dairy and eggs, but I think I may need a little more? Just a note, I rarely get headaches or migraines, so I am guessing this is just vision related.

Thoughts greatly appreciated. I'm guessing I should also plan a visit to an eye doctor in the future......

 

[Makrosky]

So I've recently noticed (while out riding cruising on my bicycle it became apparent), that I have eye floaters. For those of you who have them, I'm sure you know what they are - like little squiggles (which I first mistook for hair on my sunglasses) that kind of float past your eyes on a regular basis, especially in bright light.

I don't wear glasses and have always had very good eye sight, except when I used to work at the Apple Retail store staring at bright screens all day. But now my vision is good and sharp, though I would categorize my eyes as being very sensitive to bright light. But these darn eye floaters are a nuisance.

Any ideas what causes them and if they can go away? I am on a mission to find a way to incorporate liver into my diet (I REALLY dislike the stuff and don't digest it well), but in the meantime, I've ordered some Retinol to supplement. I get a decent amount of Vitamin A in my diet from high fat dairy and eggs, but I think I may need a little more? Just a note, I rarely get headaches or migraines, so I am guessing this is just vision related.

Thoughts greatly appreciated. I'm guessing I should also plan a visit to an eye doctor in the future......

Hey lindsay.... Again obsessed with health forums ? Go out and take some nice pictures!!!
I'm kidding.

Eye floaters are considered to be related to liver in traditional chinese medicine. Don't know what Ray thinks about them. It doesn't mean your liver is in bad shape in western terms, it means it's not working optimally.

I have found my eye floaters have increased A LOT after started using tianeptine every other day.

That's all I can say. Please share with us if you find more information!!!

 

[lindsay]

Hey lindsay.... Again obsessed with health forums ? Go out and take some nice pictures!!!
:) :) :) I'm kidding.

Eye floaters are considered to be related to liver in traditional chinese medicine. Don't know what Ray thinks about them. It doesn't mean your liver is in bad shape in western terms, it means it's not working optimally.

I have found my eye floaters have increased A LOT after started using tianeptine every other day.

That's all I can say. Please share with us if you find more information!!!

LOL Makrosky :) I know - I need to spend less time on here! But, I have taken a lot of photos lately (and now need to edit them and send them off to people), so at least that's still going for me.

The eye-floaters are of course a concern for me, since my eyes and sight are a huge part of my work. I think I really need to just deal with eating liver then - probably the best thing I can do for myself! Why would tianeptine cause more eye floaters? I don't take tianeptine, but I'm curious.

I think I will email Ray Peat this week and ask him about these little floaters :) And I'm guessing he will probably tell me to be sure I get 80 grams of protein every day (which I have been trying to do lately) and to make sure I eat shellfish and liver regularly - LOL :) But I'm curious if he will offer me some different insight!

Thank you :)

 

[burtlancast]

Had them for 20 years.
They appeared at around 25, after a period of intense mental efforts.
Peating seems to have reduced them, but not completely.

An eye specialist won't be able to help ( done and tried).

 

[CoolTweetPete]

I think a lot of the common modern day eye problems are related to constant viewing at close distances (looking at your phone, computer, television, books) with very little or no viewing at long distances. This can change the shape of the eye over time.

Good info on this,

Pumpkin Eyes (and Pelvic Floors) – Nutritious Movement

I had some very annoying floaters as recently as a year ago, and began distance gazing (objects > 30 feet away) more. They seem to have cleared up completely.

Once I started doing this I realized how difficult it had become for me to focus on objects that are far away. My ability to do so has improved dramatically from this. Also a good excuse to be outside. :)

 

[Peata]

One evening about ten years ago, I had been drinking really heavy. I used to drink a lot everyday, but that evening was especially heavy. When I went to bed, I noticed something off about my vision from what little I could see in the dark room. The next morning, I opened my eyes to a tangled explosion of eye floaters.

I went to the eye doctor full the full exam and things were fine. He talked about it being an age thing and went on with the normal explanation of aging causing the gel in the eye breaks down and becomes more liquid. But I do believe there is a liver component there. And stress of course -whether from poisoning oneself with a substance (in my case at the time - alcohol) or diet or mental stress.

I still have them but they are much less than the dotted, stringy, clumpy dark mess I was looking through back then. So maybe the Peat stuff has been reducing them for me.

I'll be interested in what you hear back from him if you email him, Lindsay.

 

[javin]

I have eye floaters and have had them since I was a child. They come and go. Old ones fade and new ones appear after a while. Sometimes I have more, sometimes less.

I've read before that it's the type of eye floater you should pay attention to. Eye floaters can manifest themselves in different shapes, colors, appearances. Some are nothing to worry about, while some can be more problematic.

 

[burtlancast]

The next morning, I opened my eyes to a tangled explosion of eye floaters.

Wow.
So you went from no floaters at all to plenty of them in a space of 12 hours.
Incredible.

 

[Peata]

Wow.
So you went from no floaters at all to plenty of them in a space of 12 hours.
Incredible.

I had a small amount before, what I would say is the "normal" amount where you notice a straggle or dot going by now and then. I do think I'd had a small increase over time before that -probably "aging" and all the drinking, but yeah, that morning was a mess and it drove me nuts for a while. I didn't enjoy looking at the sky or white walls anymore, let's just say.

I was also under a tremendous amount of mental and emotional stress during that time (and had turned to alcohol, particularly the hard, cheap kind, to try to help myself.

 

[Dan W]

I'm interested in this too.

Peat has mentioned the idea that T3 eyedrops might be beneficial for eye health, though I've not heard of anyone trying that.

jag2594 mentioned very-high-dose niacinamide (4g) helped with his floaters. I tried 2g a day for a few weeks and didn't notice any improvement.

I think a lot of the common modern day eye problems are related to constant viewing at close distances (looking at your phone, computer, television, books) with very little or no viewing at long distances. This can change the shape of the eye over time.

I suspect something like that is true. Switching from a monitor 20" away to a TV-used-as-a-monitor 40" away seemed to help my vision in general situations, and may have decreased the number of floaters I get.

I have found my eye floaters have increased A LOT after started using tianeptine every other day.

That's really interesting, I'll see if I notice a correlation.

 

[Makrosky]

LOL Makrosky :) I know - I need to spend less time on here! But, I have taken a lot of photos lately (and now need to edit them and send them off to people), so at least that's still going for me.

The eye-floaters are of course a concern for me, since my eyes and sight are a huge part of my work. I think I really need to just deal with eating liver then - probably the best thing I can do for myself! Why would tianeptine cause more eye floaters? I don't take tianeptine, but I'm curious.

I think I will email Ray Peat this week and ask him about these little floaters :) And I'm guessing he will probably tell me to be sure I get 80 grams of protein every day (which I have been trying to do lately) and to make sure I eat shellfish and liver regularly - LOL :) But I'm curious if he will offer me some different insight!

Thank you :)

Please share it with us if he answers you!

Don't know about the tianeptine. I would say any chemical substance that is metabolized in the liver would put some burden on it ??? I'm not sure since it would also relieve the liver of having to detoxify more estrogen

I'm interested in this too.

Peat has mentioned the idea that T3 eyedrops might be beneficial for eye health, though I've not heard of anyone trying that.

jag2594 mentioned very-high-dose niacinamide (4g) helped with his floaters. I tried 2g a day for a few weeks and didn't notice any improvement.


I suspect something like that is true. Switching from a monitor 20" away to a TV-used-as-a-monitor 40" away seemed to help my vision in general situations, and may have decreased the number of floaters I get.


That's really interesting, I'll see if I notice a correlation.

Dan, keep in mind I used 50mg of tianeptine as a single dose. Sometimes that ammount 2 x day, 3 days a week. That was from January to March. Now I use 50mg 1 x day, 2 or 3 days per week. I was overserotonized at the beginning now I don't need that much. I have broken the deadlock loop I guess.
I am telling you this because that's not the way one is supposed to take it. But for me it has worked.

 

[lvysaur]

My floaters have noticeably reduced after peating.

Vitamin k in high doses brought them back temporarily, but low doses (1 mg every few days) dramatically improves my farsight.

 

[X160]

Zinc Gluconate - 30 mg daily for a month reduced my eye floaters significantly. They are not gone completely though.

 

[haidut]

Riboflavin deficiency is one direct and common cause of eye floaters. Aside from that, stress and hypothyroidism are the most common cause. T3 has been shown to completely clear them in isolated case studies. When you are under stress, the first things to go are mood, libido, and eyesight. Anti-serotonin drugs and especially lower dose (1mg - 4mg) ondansetron can also clear them temporarily. I saw the reference to tianeptine actually causing them. Tianeptine, as it turns out, is not an anti-serotonin drug. It is more of an anti-glutamate drug but even that is an incomplete mechanism of action. It is fair to say that right now nobody really knows how tianeptine works exactly. If it has anti-serotonin effects they are indirect.
Just my 2c.

 

[Stilgar]

If it helps, I asked Ray a year or two ago about eye floaters :

They will probably gradually be dissolved by enzymes. Fragile capillaries can leak small amounts of blood during times of stress when there's a high ratio of estrogen and cortisol to the protective steroids. A lot of leaked blood could cause collagen to increase, but small amounts probably don't have a noticeable effect on collagen. Even a visually noticeable hemorrhage, that leaves a slightly moveable black blob, is likely to shrink and fade over time. Vitamin K is very important, along with thyroid and generally good nutrition, for reducing capillary leakage. Did you notice any easy bruising or small red dots on your skin during the time the floaters were appearing? It's fairly common for those signs of fragile capillaries to come and go with the menstrual cycle.

 

[800mRepeats]

I had floaters for years. Easily 20s into my 40s.
But, reading this thread just now, I realize that I don't have them any more!
I have no idea when they went away; I can't remember having seen any in quite awhile.

I will also add that over the past year+ of eating Peaty, my eyes have become less bloodshot (a condition that's similarly bugged me for many years). This I noticed within the past couple of weeks.

 

[GAF]

Serrapeptase seems to have helped my gf

 

[lindsay]

Riboflavin deficiency is one direct and common cause of eye floaters. Aside from that, stress and hypothyroidism are the most common cause. T3 has been shown to completely clear them in isolated case studies. When you are under stress, the first things to go are mood, libido, and eyesight. Anti-serotonin drugs and especially lower dose (1mg - 4mg) ondansetron can also clear them temporarily. I saw the reference to tianeptine actually causing them. Tianeptine, as it turns out, is not an anti-serotonin drug. It is more of an anti-glutamate drug but even that is an incomplete mechanism of action. It is fair to say that right now nobody really knows how tianeptine works exactly. If it has anti-serotonin effects they are indirect.
Just my 2c.

I just started supplementing small doses of Riboflavin powder (I drink A LOT of espresso and get a decent amount there as well). That being said, I have never had real eye problems - this is the biggest eye problem I can think of. I am a photographer and have a good eye for even manual focusing through my lens. If anything, I am slightly far-sighted. However, I am definitely hypothyroid and am stress-intolerant. I think they might have started when I ran out of Cynoplus. I need to learn to like Liver. I have tried and tried and tried and I hate all of it. Got some new beef liver recently. I think I will try cooking it this week - it needs to become a weekly habit. I realize I am lacking so much by not eating weekly liver and oysters. Thanks you for your 2C :)

 

[dd99]

Hi Lindsay, have you tried a less pungent liver like chicken? I make a pate out of 250-300g chicken liver, an onion and 5 pinches salt that my 3 year old devours out of the jar. So simple to make.

Also, you could try smoked oysters. I know they're pretty much universally preserved in sunflower oil, but you can drain it and wash them - I guess it's better than not eating them at all. Again, my son loves them - they can't be that bad!

 

[Tarmander]

I just started supplementing small doses of Riboflavin powder (I drink A LOT of espresso and get a decent amount there as well). That being said, I have never had real eye problems - this is the biggest eye problem I can think of. I am a photographer and have a good eye for even manual focusing through my lens. If anything, I am slightly far-sighted. However, I am definitely hypothyroid and am stress-intolerant. I think they might have started when I ran out of Cynoplus. I need to learn to like Liver. I have tried and tried and tried and I hate all of it. Got some new beef liver recently. I think I will try cooking it this week - it needs to become a weekly habit. I realize I am lacking so much by not eating weekly liver and oysters. Thanks you for your 2C :)

I don't like it either. I freeze it into ice cubes, take one out, cut it into little frozen pieces, and then drink those pieces down with a fork like they are pills with coffee. Occasionally you'll taste a little blood but it's no biggie.