Problem with my eyes, do you think raw food can help?

[Dorian20]

Hey,

as I've already stated in my introduction thread (http://www.rawfoodtalk.com/showthread.php?t=62340), I have very dry eyes since ~3 months. I was drinking protein shakes at the time which I believe resulted in this problem.

My eyes hurt all the time now, especially when I'm on the computer or reading. I can't wear contacts anymore as well. The artificial tears my doctor described me aren't helping at all. There are some red blood vessels visible as well now and my eyes are not white like they used to be at all! :(

Now I'm 100 % raw since 1 week and I was wondering if anyone had the same problem and cured it with raw food.

I heard of some people reporting that there eyes became whiter which also means they became less dry, right? :)

I also do oil pulling and take 4 grams of MSM by the way.

[michigan roman]

ive seen people with dry eyes apply raw virgin food grade coconut oil on lids to help

ide also juice raw carrots , cantelope , etc for vitamin a

ide also put face into bowl of clean cold water and open them to rinse a few times each day

and juicing / eating alot of dark greens is a basic good health move in my opinion

[DebB]

You might like to research Evening Primrose Oil. *Ü*

[belleadonna]

I don't SEE why not. PUN INTENDED. Especially good for eyes is carrot juice as someone already mentioned. Just give it some time. Don't expect results overnight.

[Cottonball McFluffy]

Blueberries. Blueberries are good for eyesight, so you might benefit from them even though your case isn't really about eyesight but about eye-health in general.

Oh and tomatoes and watermelon.

So basically, yes, eat loads of fresh fruit and veggies. :D

[MelanieBear]

I want to start by saying that I am not a "superfood" person, but an herbalist.

Dry eyes almost always point to a syndrome identified by Traditional Chinese Medicine as "deficient liver yin." This doesn't so much refer to the anatomical liver as we understand it in western medicine, but to the smooth flow of energy throughout the body's meridian systems. The yin component refers to the fluids, the receptive capacity of the emotions, and the smoothness of the flow of energy. You can look this up online or check out the wonderful (though not a raw-food book, per se) Healing With Whole Foods by Paul Pitchford for more information.

Goji berries are *not* the "most important" herb in Traditional Chinese Medicine, as some sellers of the berries would lead you to believe. (There is no such thing as a ranking of herbs in this way in the TCM system. It is foreign to their way of thinking!) However, they ARE specific tonics for re-building liver yin. This is a long way of saying that gojis might really help you.

Make sure to also incorporate movement into your day, especially flowing movement like Tai Qi, Qi Gong, or yoga. Walking is also helpful, especially out in nature surrounded by green.

Good luck,
Melanie

[AllergyGirl]

Severe dry eyes can also be one symptom of a severe gluten allergy, so that's something else to consider. If that's the case, going raw and avoiding sprouted grains that contain gluten will help, if that was the cause.

[healthywealthy]

yes,raw food will heal you
have fruit only and fruit juice in the mornings.

[Dorian20]

Thank you for all the replies!

ive seen people with dry eyes apply raw virgin food grade coconut oil on lids to help

Yes I have heard that castor oil is supposed to help in that way as well and I'll try one of them out (depending on which I can find raw).

But my opinion is that the problem is inside my body and not in my eyes, so when I put something on/in my eyes it will only give me temporary relief and fight the symptoms as opposed to really fixing the problem that is causing the lack of tear fluid.

Basically what I am saying is that I believe I have some kind of condition and the decreased productionof tear fluid is only one symptom that is visible.

You might like to research Evening Primrose Oil. *Ü*
I drink two teaspoons of hemp oil every day, I guess that would have the same effect?

I don't SEE why not. PUN INTENDED. Especially good for eyes is carrot juice as someone already mentioned. Just give it some time. Don't expect results overnight.
You're probably right, but I still hope everytime I go to sleep that the next day when I wake up my eyes will be healthy again. And maybe it will take a year, a month or it will be tomorrow, who knows? :)

Blueberries. Blueberries are good for eyesight, so you might benefit from them even though your case isn't really about eyesight but about eye-health in general.

I love berries, so every reason to eat them is very much welcome but it will have to wait till next year. :o The only (fresh and affordable) fruit I can get here consistently this time of the year are orange-type fruits, bananas, apples and (strangely) persimmons and pomegranates.

Severe dry eyes can also be one symptom of a severe gluten allergy, so that's something else to consider. If that's the case, going raw and avoiding sprouted grains that contain gluten will help, if that was the cause.
Since I started being raw I have not been eating anything containing gluten anyway, I just can't bring myself to eat sprouted grains, because when I raise them I get too attached to them I guess. Once I planted the sprouts I raised into the pot of one of my flowers but sadly they died after growing very quickly for the first couple of days.

The gluten allergy thing sounds plausible, but if that's the case the problem should've gone away already though after a week of not eating grains right?

EDIT: I have just looked it up and it appears that I fit some other symptoms for example underweight (I've been underweight all my life) and unexplained severe iron deficiency which I had to take medication for.

And the dry eyes appeared when I started eating large amounts of whole grains because I started working out (same reason I drank those disgusting protein shakes in the first place)! I think maybe we're on to something here? Thank you very much for bringing it up, another reason for me to hope it will go away!


yes,raw food will heal you
have fruit only and fruit juice in the mornings.
That is very nice to hear, in the morning I eat only fruit and self-made orange juice. Then later in the day I eat more vegetables.

**
Thank you, what you wrote sounds very intriguing. To be honest I know very little of TCM and only had very brief encounters with it until now. I looked liver yin deficiency up on the internet but I don't think I can really understand it if I don't first learn more about the foundations of TCM.

I think I will go with a book instead of the internet because it's easier on my eyes these days. I have a question concerning the book you recommended, do you think it is really the best choice for learning about TCM in general? Because it seems from the title that it's emphasis lies with the nutrition part and that this is perhaps not that relevant to me because "whole foods" are not strictly raw? Or does whole foods not imply that the food is not raw?

Concerning the movement, walking in the green (especially forest) is one of my favourite things to do and yoga I do for 10 minutes or so after working out, but not really structured, it would be great if you could point me to a good book about that as well.


Thank you all for the help again!

[healthywealthy]

your eyes indicate that you are a little dehydrated too.
the water in your fruit and veggies will rehydrate you and the healing will come at rapid rate.

I am cured from bells palsy :)
and from asthma


good luck :)or...good LOOK hehehe:p

[Dorian20]

That's great to hear that you are healed from these conditions. :)

Concerning dehydration, my lips are always dry as well. I drink massive amounts of water but it doesn't seem to do anything. I read that gluten allergy can cause dehydration too, so that's another symptom I fit.

Thank you for wishing me luck. :)

[healthywealthy]

the water from fruits and vegetables is much easier for your body to absorb and use than drinking actual water.


best of luck :)

[betty boop]

definitely yes!

I suffered with dry eyes for years and went from doctor to doctor to doctor to specialist and back to doctor again just to get a diagnosis and then all they did was give me numerous drops and steroids and flipflop between dry eyes and allergies.

After a short time raw, not even 100% raw, they went away and never came back. I don't recall exactly how long it took but it was only a few months before I had huge changes in my health.

[BlackKat]

I'm sure it can help you a lot. A little different then your eye issue but I noticed my vision was affected on the days I ate SAD (my mess up days). When I'm all raw, my vision seems clearer and more precise. My old prescription glasses seem like my new ones. Weird, I know. But your diet CAN greatly affect your eyes. I also don't get headaches from eye straining.

[momof6]

You may want to begin looking up the autoimmune disorder called Sjogrens,
pronounced show-grens.

I had been suffering with severely dry eyes that would feel as though I had
a foreign object in them. I'd even wake up at night with my eyelid stuck to
my eyeball, horribly painful and crazy sounding. I've been to several physicians,
who look at me like I am nuts for wasting their time, that have only been able
to recommend eye lubricant drops, ditto for my optometrist. Only when I began
having strange out of the blue muscle pains, first this arm-then that hip- then
this shoulder, did I get tested for Lyme's and the autoimmune thing. Low and
behold tests came back positive for Sjogrens.

Now I had read about this disorder over the past years but thought it couldn't be my problem because USUALLY you also have a very dry mouth. The glands don't produce moisture like they should because your immune system is attacking them even though they are healthy. But Sjogrens it was.
Other symptoms include fatigue (I have but thought, "Doesn't everyone?")
muscle and joint pains (check, I have those too), dry eyes, mouth and/or
vagina. There are other symptoms I believe, sun sensitivity maybe?

Anyhow, as for your original question as to whether raw foods will help, I say
there is no way they will hurt the situation!

Hope this helps and do look into it. Just knowing what is the underlying cause is so worth it. I am not one to just treat the symptoms either.

[Dorian20]

You may want to begin looking up the autoimmune disorder called Sjogrens,
Thank you for sharing this with me, actually I have heard of Sjogrens when I researched what dry eyes can be caused by and I dismissed it because I don't have a dry mouth too (only dry lips)! Maybe I need to reconsider. I just read that Sjogrens mainly (90%) affects women and I'm male but if the eyes don't improve in the next few weeks/months I'll get tested.

That sounds horrible with the eyes at night, I haven't had that problem yet. They feel like there is absolutely no moisture on them in the morning but they don't stick to the eyelids. I hope that doesn't happen to you anymore?

At the moment I think I have gluten sensitivity like AllergyGirl suggested in this thread. There is a disease called Celiac's which as I understand is basically the same as gluten sensitivity and an autoimmune disorder like Sjogren's. I've read that it is connected to other autoimmune disorders and people who suffer from Celiac's and have other autoimmune disorders seemingly found relief from those by cutting gluten out of their diet as well. Are you raw at the moment and if so, gluten free? If not maybe it could help you too... I'm raw and gluten free since two weeks now and my eyes haven't drastically improved yet but I've read that it can take a very long time for the symptoms of Celiac's to go away.


the water from fruits and vegetables is much easier for your body to absorb and use than drinking actual water.


best of luck :)
Thank you. :) That's great especially now that the cold time of the year is starting which comes hand in hand with very dry hands and lips for me usually. But hopefully not this year. I hate using lotion etc. on my skin it always feels like they make my skin even drier in the long run.

definitely yes!

I suffered with dry eyes for years and went from doctor to doctor to doctor to specialist and back to doctor again just to get a diagnosis and then all they did was give me numerous drops and steroids and flipflop between dry eyes and allergies.

After a short time raw, not even 100% raw, they went away and never came back. I don't recall exactly how long it took but it was only a few months before I had huge changes in my health.
That's very encouraging, thank you for telling me this.

It's so annoying with doctors, they never seem to really try to actually find out why a specific symptom is there and only prescribe useless stuff that gives temporary relief such as eyeyedrops that perhaps even worsen the situation.

Can I ask, did you cut food containing gluten out of your diet when you became raw?

I'm sure it can help you a lot. A little different then your eye issue but I noticed my vision was affected on the days I ate SAD (my mess up days). When I'm all raw, my vision seems clearer and more precise. My old prescription glasses seem like my new ones. Weird, I know. But your diet CAN greatly affect your eyes. I also don't get headaches from eye straining.
I noticed that too, everything seems sharper now (and I'm only 2 weeks raw). It's really great. I've also read about some people who didn't need glasses at all anymore after being raw for a long time. Maybe that will happen to us too in the long run?

[momof6]

Sounds like you have gotten a lot of great advice.

No, I am not 100% raw, BUT over the last couple of years I have increased my raw food drastically and continue to make a conscience effort to do so.

I also have sensitivity to wheat gluten. It mostly causes my energy level to drop and digestive issues. I hadn't linked it to my eye condition but maybe there is something to that.

My eyes have improved, bothering me mostly after doing lots of yard work. (maybe debris not being washed away like it should) Two years ago the optometrist was shocked at the condition of my eyes, I had little scratches all over them (I had just been working with mulch). She said to use lubricating drops during the day and this petroleum based ointment at night. Treating the symptoms wasn't feeling right and sticking vaseline like goop in my eyes felt very wrong. So I stopped. I now make an extra effort to include
EFA's into my diet, I love olive oil and use it freely in my diet, I also try to include flax and borage oil on regular basis. Recently since macular degeneration runs in the family I have been upping the berries and kale and include a good quality green powder as part of my daily regime.

To make a long story short, at my last optometrist visit she said my eyes looked much better than the last time she had seen me. It wasn't because of the eye drops and ointments that's for sure. I think it was the change in food choices. I have always eaten pretty well but this board has really shown me how it can always get better and better. By continuing to just keep at my efforts to add more and more fresh veggies and fruit and to choose raw oils over cooked my eye health has improved. Slowly but surely.

As for the Sjogrens, the nice part of the diagnosis for me was knowing.
I hope this is not what you are experiencing and it is just some sort of annoying symptom of something you will tackle.

[betty boop]

No, I haven't weaned myself off gluten yet. I still have an occasional bowl of bran cereal with brazil nut or almond milk, garlic bread with my bruschetta. Most days it's raw fruit and veggies, green smoothies, romaine salads, handful of nuts, nothing fancy - nothing complicated. I'm almost raw, not 100% yet, but I will get there :)

My dry eyes were very severe, they would also feel like there was a foreign object in them, the pain and burning, the tearing, the redness, the itch, wouldn't even start to let up till I got this long stringy thing out, found out from a girl at the opthamologist office (not ever a Doctor) that it was mucus.