Desperate For Info About Gluten And Light Intolerance

[Anise]

Okay, I'm completely serious about being desperate here... hang on while I try to explain.

I tested positive at Enterolab and negative on blood tests, and I'm going to try a gluten-free diet for a while and then do a challenge. If this is the problem, I feel that it's been kind of lurking around for some time but really got serious this summer. Early this year, I had a horrible amount of anxiety and stress. In June, I had the worst case of poison ivy EVER... covered from head to toe. THEN came another problem. I have a lot of visual floaters because of a car accident. For many years, though, I've been able to "tune them out." Starting about a week after the poison ivy incident, they all became horribly obvious, all the time. I don't think I could describe what hell this can be.

Well, I finally put two and two together (I'm quick that way!) and realized that about a week BEFORE the poison ivy, I suddenly noticed that I was VERY photophobic. Every light seemed unbearably bright. This hadn't happened before. (At about the same time, my GI symptoms took a real turn for the worse.) The more light sensitive you are, of course, the worse your floaters will seem. That's why so many people with panic disorders notice their floaters-- for whatever reason, they're very light sensitive.

So my question is, does anyone know anything about a possible link between gluten sensitivity and light sensitivity??? Y'all can't imagine how much I want to know this... please, please, all answers appreciated...

[aikiducky]

I don't know about the gluten connection, but a car accident (even a long time ago) and light sensitivity raises a red flag for me. Google "EEG Neurofeedback. " for a way to recover from head injuries.

Sorry to be short, i'm on my way to work...

Pauliina

[Rachel--24]

When my symptoms came on I also became extremely sensitive to light...I had to wear sunglasses in the house (even at night), couldnt drive because of the lights and couldnt even go to the movies. It was actually painful. I had been under a great deal of stress when all of this started. The dr.s said it was related to my overactive thyroid so they nuked it with radioactive iodine...which only made things worse.

Eventually with diet changes and time there was some improvement but I'm still sensitive. After 4 years I have just been diagnosed with Lyme Disease and the light sensitivity is a symptom of that. I think I got bit by a tick two years prior to developing symptoms because thats when I recall having a day of high fever followed by a strange looking bite that lingered for several weeks. The Dr. said I likely had the infection but was symptom free until stressful events weakened my immune system and caused the Lyme to spread. He actually asked me if I'd been in a car accident around the time the symptoms began....I hadnt been.....I was just under alot of stress. Apparantly any traumatic event that weakens immunity will allow a previously controlled infection to grow...thats what happened to me but it took 4 years to figure out what the cause was.

[chrissy]

anise, i have had tons of floaters for going on 18 years now. i also became very sensitive to light around the same time the floaters started------i was in the midst of some terrible stress and haveing horrible anxiety. it made me crazy for the first while----i painted the walls in my new house an off-white color mostly because i knew that plain white walls would make me see the floaters more. periodically, i seem to notice them more for some reason. i do not have celiac disease, but 3 of my kids do.

[Nantzie]

I also noticed light intolerance. It was one of the many thing that I didn't realize was happening until they went away after going gluten-free. I would squint really hard even just sitting in my house during the day. I'm not sure if the light sensitivity was causing the headaches I was having, or if the headaches were causing the light sensitivity.

I'd trust Enterolab over blood tests any day of the week. So if you have positive Enterolab, I think you're doing the right thing by trying gluten-free and then a challenge. Gluten intolerance can be just as bad symptomatically, in it's own way, as celiac is. Gluten intolerance isn't better or less symptomatic than celiac, it's just different.

As far as the floaters, I hadn't thought about that in a while. I just went and stared at a piece of white paper for a couple minutes and I don't see any of the floaters that I used to have, except there is one really faint one. There was one that was starting to get darker too, so that's weird. Wow. I'll have to add that to my list of weird stuff that went away. I'll have to keep an eye on it to see if they're really going away, or whether I wasn't seeing them today for some reason.

Nancy

[Anise]

Thanks for all the replies, y'all!

If it helps anyone... I'll share what my retinal specialist told me, and this also comes from research I did. Floaters will EVENTUALLY "sink to the bottom," so the situation can actually improve a lot with age. However, almost everyone has them-- it's really a matter of how much we're *noticing* them, and light sensitivity can play a big part in that. I haven't been able to find much specific info on gluten intolerance and photophobia, BUT there's a *lot* about it related to allergies in general. So it makes sense that the gluten problem could cause it, and the poison ivy incident could also play a part. Anyway... I'm getting acupuncture, and it really seems to be helping!