Eye Aches Related To Gluten?

[CMCM]

My 21 year old son has complained of pain behind his eyes since he was around 6 years old. I've had everyone check him out....no one can find any reason for this. I just had him gene tested (a recent blood test was normal). He has my celiac gene, and a gluten sensitive one from my husband.

I'm wondering if ANYONE out there has ever heard of eye aches etc. as a result of gluten.

[tarnalberry]

For me, they don't correlate with glutening, and I haven't seen it listed specifically as such. But pain that I would *call* eye-located is related to my migraines, which can be celiac related. I take it that his doctors haven't been able to discover anything via blood tests, MRI's/CT's, optometry exams, etc.?

[gf4life]

I have eye "aches" too, but mine are migraine related as well. never noticed a corrolation between gluten and the eye pain. Of course the migraines can be caused by gluten (or damage from the gluten). My eyes are fine, the eye doctor checks them every year, but when I get the eye ache pain I know I need to take it easy, and it I get even the slightest headache with the eye pain then I take my migraine pills to keep the migraine from getting severe.

Does your son complain of headaches?

Also eye pain can be cause by sinus problems, the upper sinuses are located behind the eyes and pressure can cause eye pain.

[Ursa Major]

I used to have awful pains in my left eye. I went to eye specialists, and had brains scans as well, but nobody could ever find a thing. Since starting on the gluten-free (and a lot of other things free) diet, I haven't had those pains. And they were really bad, sharp pains, it felt like they were right in the eyeball.

[spunky]

I am a self-diagnosing type person and avoid doctors at all costs, so my perspective on this is highly subjective. But I have had eye aches, aching behind the eye, for years. It's especially bad in the left eye. I believe in my own case this is related to a TMJ problem, a jaw tension problem. How I sleep, how I work at the computer and other things seem to be able to bring on this pain. I think there is neck involvement too, but mainly comes from tension in the jaw joints.

I've been gluten free for a year now, and this whole tmj problem has seemed better. I still have mornings when I wake up and have some pain in the eye or around my neck or jaws. It does seem to be less freqent. So I am wondering if the tension has lessoned during my gluten free year. I don't know any of this for a fact, though.

[sspitzer5]

My 21 year old son has complained of pain behind his eyes since he was around 6 years old. I've had everyone check him out....no one can find any reason for this. I just had him gene tested (a recent blood test was normal). He has my celiac gene, and a gluten sensitive one from my husband.

I'm wondering if ANYONE out there has ever heard of eye aches etc. as a result of gluten.

Hi Carole,

I definitely get eye aches when eating gluten. It hits my sinuses pretty badly and I would describe this as pain and pressure around my eyes. Maybe your son has a food allergy (gluten or otherwise) that is causing his pain.

S

[brendygirl]

Night Blindness is a side effect of celiac. I have it as well as sensitivity (pain) to bright light. It's apparently due to Vitamin A deficiency due to malabsorption from our messed up intestines.

[CMCM]

Well, we've gone thru so many things with my son. He had headaches at a young age....at around 6 he had a cat scan to be sure there was no brain tumor or anything. He had a kind of tic with his eyes when he was in the 9, 10, 11 age range...I even researched tourettes to be sure it wasn't that....we also checked out the idea of TMJ (he even had a mouth appliance made for that...no help). The eye twitch stuff went away, but his eyes still bug him. When he was very young, he just couldn't articulate what the pain was. Now he says they just ache, kind of behind the eyes. He's been checked by an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, an allergist, no one has an answer except to suggest that this is an effect he produces himself. Well, possibly, but we all know that doctors, when they can't figure something out, tend to suggest it's in your head. This happened to my mom for years before she was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Thru stuff I'm reading, I do see some suspicious things....occasional bouts with canker sores in the mouth, back aches, muscle & joint aches. Sometimes constipation. I mean, celiac/gluten reactions can be like so many things, but given his gene test rests I have to look at this more seriously now. The most problematic thing for him is the eye pain, though. It really dominates his life.

[gf4life]

Night Blindness is a side effect of celiac. I have it as well as sensitivity (pain) to bright light. It's apparently due to Vitamin A deficiency due to malabsorption from our messed up intestines.

I have this and the eye doctor said there was a name for this conditon. I forget what it is called though. Has anyone had their night blindness/sensitivity to light improve on the gluten-free diet? Mine hasn't really improved that much, but I don't get the migraines quite so fast with the flashing lights anymore. I will still get one if I don't avoid flashing lights, but they just don't come on as fast. I wonder if taking additional Vit. A would help withthis or if the damage is done and can't be made better?

[gf4life]

Well, we've gone thru so many things with my son. He had headaches at a young age....at around 6 he had a cat scan to be sure there was no brain tumor or anything. He had a kind of tic with his eyes when he was in the 9, 10, 11 age range...I even researched tourettes to be sure it wasn't that....we also checked out the idea of TMJ (he even had a mouth appliance made for that...no help). The eye twitch stuff went away, but his eyes still bug him. When he was very young, he just couldn't articulate what the pain was. Now he says they just ache, kind of behind the eyes. He's been checked by an ophthalmologist, a neurologist, an allergist, no one has an answer except to suggest that this is an effect he produces himself. Well, possibly, but we all know that doctors, when they can't figure something out, tend to suggest it's in your head. This happened to my mom for years before she was diagnosed with celiac disease.

Thru stuff I'm reading, I do see some suspicious things....occasional bouts with canker sores in the mouth, back aches, muscle & joint aches. Sometimes constipation. I mean, celiac/gluten reactions can be like so many things, but given his gene test rests I have to look at this more seriously now. The most problematic thing for him is the eye pain, though. It really dominates his life.

So has he only had the gene test? Has he been tested for Celiac/gluten intolerance? Is he gluten free? (Sorry about all the questions. )

If he is gluten intolerant or Celiac and needs the diet, then that would explain why he is still having the problems so badly. The twitching could be caused by lack of calcium. If he isn't absorbing properly then he probably isn't getting enough vitamins and too little calcium can cause muscle twitching. This used to happen to me a lot, my eye would twitch, my legs, arms, just some random muscle here or there, but my eye most often and usually it was the right eye. It would bother me so badly. I also spent most of my life having pain somewhere in my body EVERYDAY. Recently a friend of mine commented on how healthy me and my kids are now that we have been gluten free for a while. Then she admitted that she thought I was a hypocondriac when she first met me because no one could be sick and feel bad that often. Want to bet! Gluten is a horrible poison to our bodies and can do terrible things to it.

If your son isn't gluten free it sure soulds like he could benefit from the diet.

[Michelle M...]

Just a thought around my non-gluten related eye-pain....

I've had two different "types" of stabbing eye pain behind my left eye, both of which baffled drs. and specialists.

One ended up being "iritis" which is inflammation of the iris in the eye - pain similar to but more excruciating than migraine. Took an opthamologist to diagnose it after multiple trips to ER, cat scan, blood work, etc... was told by ER it was migraine but it turned out not to be.

Second type was daily stabbing/aching behind eye for 15 months straight. Went through the entire "chronic headache" workup (neuro, cardio, etc..) and had everything from the waist up scanned. Was told I was just one of the unlucky ones who develop chronic daily headache and take this medicine, possibly for the rest of my life as they had no idea if it would spontaneously remit. Finally decided it wasn't normal for anyone to have a headache/eyeache everyday and saw a chiropractor - reluctantly. Turned out I had a misalignment in my neck that was screwing with nerves/blood flow etc... After my first adjustment (activator method - very gentle and non-invasive) I was pain free and off medication. I've had to continue with occasional adjustments to retrain muscles, etc.. and really focus on posture, stretching and stress reduction but well worth it.

M.

[Michelle M...]

Oh, and by the way, the neurologist had done a neck/back exam early on and said I was "perfectly aligned" and wasn't contributing to the headache.

[CMCM]

I'm appreciating all your replies on this. As for my son, he had a celiac blood test a few months ago....negative. So beyond that, he has just had the gene test. We've seen several ophthalmologists over the years. He went to a chiropractor too. Nothing ever helps, it's just the weirdest thing. No one can ever find anything, so of course they say it's an effect he produces himself. Yeah, right. Doctors are so poor and so lazy at diagnosis. No curiosity, either. If they can't figure it out, they either try to load you up with various meds or just send you on your way. I hate to be so negative towards doctors, but honestly, my life experience is that they are all twits and their knowledge is not impressive. They've been unable to diagnose my mother for most of her life, me for most of my life, and no one has ever helped my son. I figure there's a doctor here and there who can help, but gosh, it's a needle in a haystack to find that doctor!

I'm trying to convince him to go 100% gluten free for at least a month or so, just to see if his eyes improve. He seems motivated somewhat...I hope he'll stick with it.

[almostnrn]

Headaches are my first sign that I've eaten something with gluten in it. There have been times that it is in minutes of eating something. Generally it is a constant pain on the right side only but I do feel pain in my eye(s) as well. I used to take ibuprofen daily and chalked the constant headaches to stress, etc but as soon as I went gluten-free they went away. I also have issues with night blindness (improves with no gluten) and I am very sensitive to bright light, red in particular like brake lights. I hope your son can stick with it and find some relief because constant head pain is just horrible!