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eve
May 21st, 2008, 11:47 AM
Rami, I am really sorry about your dad, it is difficult to know what to do if the doctors themselves don't know. I'll be thinking of him with strong wishes for a solution.

Paetra
Jul 6th, 2014, 11:44 PM
I also experience eye problems with the vegan diet which is what lead me to go off of it. I have never found an answer to what caused it but mine were so bad that I had to stop driving for awhile. I should mention that I als have Sjogren's syndrome which is a auto immune disease that attacks my tear ducts and causes my eyes to be very dry and also rhuematoid arthritis. I would love to go back on the vegan diet because other than the vision problems I felt great on the vegan diet especially the first few weeks on it. If you ever find out what it is please let me know.

Also FYI I went to many Dr.'s and saw an eye Dr. and none of them could tell me what the cause was. I had blood work done, had an MRI had all types of vision tests and my eyesight did improve after going back on a non vegan diet. It was the diet but I can not tell you what it was about the diet that caused it I am still looking for answers and I am going to try a vegetarian diet to see if I get the same result and it is just a lack of dairy products that does it or a lack of meat that does it. My vision is still not 100% like it was before the diet but I have regained it enough to where I can see 60/40 and i can drive again. I have not left the vegan diet completely but I do have to eat meat, eggs and cheese on occasion. I will let you know if I ever find a reason because the Dr.'s are clueless as to the cause.

I actually found something in an article I was reading for a research paper I am doing on veganism that might be helpful to us both. I read a story from BBC that said a man went blind from a vegan diet because he lacked the vitamins B12 and B1. So see if maybe a supplement of those 2 vitamins seems to help you.

Korn
Jul 8th, 2014, 12:05 PM
Hi, I merged your three posts and approved them (even if only vegans usually have posting abilities here).
I'm sorry to hear about your eye problems. I think that there's a tendency if someone goes vegans, and after some months or years go sick, certain people (including some vegans) will assume that it is because they went vegan . even if other people get sick as well, and even if they don't know if they would have gotten the same (or more, or fewer) problems if they had not gone vegan.

We have members here who have been vegans for decades without getting these problems. What is it which makes you think that you sometimes "have to" eat meat, eggs and cheese? I haven't seen any scientific evidence for a theory that people sometimes have to eat animal products.

Robinwomb
Jul 9th, 2014, 10:31 AM
I also experience eye problems with the vegan diet which is what lead me to go off of it. I have never found an answer to what caused it but mine were so bad that I had to stop driving for awhile. I should mention that I als have Sjogren's syndrome which is a auto immune disease that attacks my tear ducts and causes my eyes to be very dry and also rhuematoid arthritis. I would love to go back on the vegan diet because other than the vision problems I felt great on the vegan diet especially the first few weeks on it. If you ever find out what it is please let me know.

Also FYI I went to many Dr.'s and saw an eye Dr. and none of them could tell me what the cause was. I had blood work done, had an MRI had all types of vision tests and my eyesight did improve after going back on a non vegan diet. It was the diet but I can not tell you what it was about the diet that caused it I am still looking for answers and I am going to try a vegetarian diet to see if I get the same result and it is just a lack of dairy products that does it or a lack of meat that does it. My vision is still not 100% like it was before the diet but I have regained it enough to where I can see 60/40 and i can drive again. I have not left the vegan diet completely but I do have to eat meat, eggs and cheese on occasion. I will let you know if I ever find a reason because the Dr.'s are clueless as to the cause.

I actually found something in an article I was reading for a research paper I am doing on veganism that might be helpful to us both. I read a story from BBC that said a man went blind from a vegan diet because he lacked the vitamins B12 and B1. So see if maybe a supplement of those 2 vitamins seems to help you.

I found this article right off the bat when I searched about this issue out of curiosity:

http://www.rodalenews.com/red-meat-and-blindness

The study shows increased risk of vision loss with red meat, but claims chicken is protective (though doesn't specify why). Later the article goes on to talk about specific vitamins/minerals etc that are important to eye sight. If you go to the second page, the article talks about what foods to find those vitamins/minerals in. Plant based food examples are also given for each. Here are other articles that mention plant foods that will boost eye health:

http://www.health.harvard.edu/press_releases/healthy-eating-can-protect-eyesight
http://healthyeating.sfgate.com/nutrients-eyesight-4320.html

Leafy greens are some of the healthiest foods on the planet and I would always recommend eating them daily. I rely on them as a source of many nutrients, especially calcium and iron as well as vitamin A and magnesium etc. I eat collards, kale, bok choy, spinach, brussel sprouts, broccoli, chard, beet leaves, etc I like to add them to soups, smoothies, stir fries, salads, sandwiches, as wraps for dips and spreads and so on. They are also very inexpensive. Beans are also packed with nutrition and a great source of many nutrients. Nuts and seeds in smaller quantities each day can be helpful too. Did you eat these foods daily in sufficient quantities? Sometimes zinc and lutein can be a little more challenging to get on a plant based diet but if you are eating a whole foods based vegan diet and eating a variety of plant food it isn't that hard.

I have been vegan for three and a half years and have never had vision problems. I am the only person in my entire extended family that I know of that does not wear glasses at the age of 42. In fact my blood tests for LDL, HDL, triglycerides, glucose, vitamin D levels all improved as a vegan and B12 levels have remained quite healthy (last check was two years in as a vegan) as well as iron and hemoglobin tests. I passed my routine eye exam this last year too. :) I have long standing hypothyroidism and even that has improved as a vegan as I have needed less and less medication. My only test that got worse was my fourth DXA scan for long standing osteoporosis (acquired many years ago from a number of factors besides diet). But I don't blame being vegan for that. I have several other conditions that played a role in my worsening osteoporosis, including a relapse into an eating disorder last year that I have battled for years and overmedicated for thyroid for a while there. I am also in surgical menopause since 2006. I am still fully vegan and have worked hard to increase calcium and protein in my diet, put on weight (gained twenty lbs now since last year) and am being treated in other ways also for my osteoporosis.

Maybe experiment with some plant foods mentioned in those articles and see if that helps?