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Anybody Else Sensitve To Light

srthomas21

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srthomas21 Explorer
srthomas21
Posted

especially at night. Car lights and street lights are especially bothersome. Been to optometrist and opthamologis and given clean bill of eye health. Seem to start when all the other weird symptoms started.

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mushroom Proficient
mushroom
Posted
especially at night. Car lights and street lights are especially bothersome. Been to optometrist and opthamologis and given clean bill of eye health. Seem to start when all the other weird symptoms started.

Do you get the halo effect, where the light seems to fractionate into hundreds of little lights around the light source?

This happened to me immediately after the event which I am sure triggered my celiac response. My eyes then became sensitive to light during the day despite sunglasses all the time and would just stream in response. They told me I had "inadequate tears". Of course at the time they made this diagnosis I was also taking a medication that also had a side effect of potentially "making you blind" so I am assuming it had significant effect upon the eyes and muddied the waters. After I stopped the medication and stopped eating gluten this sensitivity and fractionation has gone away and driving at night is no longer such a nightmare. I no longer have to put the "adequate" tears in my eyes to stop them tearing. You figure it out because I can't. I do believe the gluten had a lot to do with it :rolleyes:

ravenwoodglass Mentor
ravenwoodglass
Posted

The light sensitivity and night blindness could be a result of your not absorbing nutrients from your food. The night blindness can also be related to aging. Make sure you are getting enough vitamin A in your diet or in supplements. For me the light sensitivity has improved a bit but I am still effected by night blindness enough to have trouble driving at night but at my age the night blindness is unlikely to improve.

TrillumHunter Enthusiast
TrillumHunter
Posted

That's something that cleared up for me as I have healed. I do think it was related to deficiencies.

mommida Enthusiast
mommida
Posted

I had the sensitivity to light and fractionation of light after I had chicken pox at the age of 23. This had lasted for 2 years. I did have blood work done and found out I had an undiagnosed case of Mono with the antibodies in my system.

tarnalberry Community Regular
tarnalberry
Posted

I am light sensitive, but I suspect it's related to me having fibro, as that is a central nervous system sensitization thing. I'm also sound sensitive. I'm not always equally sensitive to these things, but it can be pretty annoying sometimes. Stress levels affect it for me, and I try to do my best about moderating light levels - introduce myself to brightness gradually, make it darker gradually, in whatever way possible. (Traffic tunnels in sunny weather are the worst for me - that relatively sudden change from dark to *BRIGHT*.)

srthomas21 Explorer
srthomas21
Posted
  • Author

Yes, I get that crappy fractional light thing. It stinks. I'm not sure what it is but it drives me crazy. Also, when a person is standing at a window and I'm facing the window talking to them the light from the window bothers me and it's hard to focus in on the person.

Whats the best way to check for nutritional d deficiencies?

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monkeypoo Newbie
monkeypoo
Posted

YES!! I am very sensitive to light and have found I am more sensitive after having consumed peppers, tomatoes, potatoes or especially oranges or anything containing orange rind.

The Fluffy Assassin Enthusiast
The Fluffy Assassin
Posted
especially at night. Car lights and street lights are especially bothersome. Been to optometrist and opthamologis and given clean bill of eye health. Seem to start when all the other weird symptoms started.

Very. In my case, it's more likely the Asperger's than the celiac sprue. Biggest problem is getting to sleep, rather than night blindness or fractionalization. I slept with my head under the blankets or under a pillow for decades. Finally got a decent sleep mask a few years ago and things have been much better.

As to finding out about nutritional deficiencies (your question in your own reply), a simple blood test takes care of that. Or an array of blood tests, but they only need one sample of blood, so from your point of view it's one test.

Nadia2009 Enthusiast
Nadia2009
Posted

I have light sensitivity and also sunlight sensitivity but only since last year for the later. After a bad sinus infection that went on for weeks and after 2 months of migraines (doctors said it was all due to the sinuses), I started having sunlight sensitivity. Now, I grew up in Africa and sunlight was never a problem actually I craved sunlight but now I need my sunglasses so much.

TinyOrchid Newbie
TinyOrchid
Posted

Yes! I'm incredibly night blind, especially when driving, headlights and street lights. Even the reflectors on the road etc...

crazy.

Dustda18 Rookie
Dustda18
Posted

I see starburst around lights at night, and when its sunny outside I must wear glasses cause it hurts my eyes to the point i almost close them. Got better though on a gluten free diet

nasalady Contributor
nasalady
Posted

Yep....sensitive to light, loud noise. Mainly due to my fibromyalgia though.

  • 6 months later...
srthomas21 Explorer
srthomas21
Posted
  • Author

Reviving an old thread.

Gluten free now for 6 months. The light fractionization thing is still bugging me.

The best way to describe it is when looking at a street lamp or headlights if you squint your eyes you can see many light rays that protrude from the light source. This is normal when you squint but I see these light rays without squinting. I can make them go away by opening my eyes really wide but I can't go around like that all the time.

Im not as sensitve to light since gluten free but definately more than normal people are. I have to wear a hat to sporting events such as pro basketball games and college football games because the lighting bothers me.

I wonder if this is a brain issue that will take more time to heal or maybe never get better. It sure is annoying.

Anyone else out there still with this or something similar?

  • 2 weeks later...
kayo Explorer
kayo
Posted

I have this as well and I believe it is due to Sjogren's which can be co-morbid with celiac and RA (and other auto immune illnesses).

In my case it causes severe dry eyes and I don't make enough tears. I also have dry mouth too. The lack of tears cause the corneas to dry and you get fractional light and sometimes foggy vision. Sometime you can have 20/20 vision but the dryness in the cornea causes sight issues. I went to see a cornea specialist and he's been a godsend. I use drops throughout the day and have had tiny little plugs (look like wine corks) placed in the tear ducts. They're called puntcal plugs. It's an easy in the office procedure and it's not painful or as scary as it sounds. This keeps the eyes moist as the tears don't drain out. I no longer need glasses because my cornea issues have been cleared up and I don't get the fractional light or foggy sight. In one eye the plug wouldn't stay so that tear duct was cauterized. Though that was NOT a pleasant experience that eye is doing amazingly well, better than my other eye that has the plugs.

I also believe my gluten and soy free diet is allowing me to make more tears. I noticed a slight increase when going gluten free and a bigger difference when I went soy free.

JillianLindsay Enthusiast
JillianLindsay
Posted

I am very sensitive to light! I also got a clean bill of eye-health from my optometrist. Someone (not an expert) told me a long time ago that it's simply because I have blue eyes and people with blue eyes are more sensitive to light. I have no idea if there is any truth in that. I've also never heard of vitamin deficiencies causing the sensitivity, that sounds much more plausible, perhaps I shall look into that further.

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