Lyme Disease Support Group

My doc says that it is an indication that lyme is still a player. my question is - is it? or is it just residual that will take its own sweet time to go away or maybe it won't and I will just have to live with it?

Reason I ask is that I am off most of meds now after a liver enzyme level scare. Only taking Bactrim along with all the supplements and loving being off the abx!! My remaining symptoms are some numbness in the fingertips and the eye floaters and an occasional neck pain esp during PMS time.

Does symptom-free mean completely symptom-free or can it be the point I am at? Maybe the rest of the stuff will just resolve over time. Do I still need to pump in the abx?

I understand that each one of us different but I just want to get some thoughts on this as it's very confusing. I know the meds have helped me get this far but I also know that they did harm my GI system.

Thanks again for your support. since i foudn this site, i've learned so much and have been more informed at each doc appt.

my hubby asked his cataracht surgeon by eye floaters since he's had his 1st ever, and he's now 72.

yes, they are there for life according to him.

can't answer on after you're in remission as i feel you are still striving to reach that perhaps 100% in future. _

Why can't "they" see stuff in our eyes if we can???

I know I shouldn't be impatient here but I'm SO greedy to be in remission. I've been trying to be upbeat but sometimes it's hard to see the roses and not the thorns.

But I'll keep chugging along with you all for company. I must say that after I added regular exercise to my daily routine, I've been feeling great. And yoga is a wonderful stress-buster (even if I look a tree shaking in a storm in the tree pose).

First, lets talk anatomy. Your eye is divided into 2 chambers, the anterior and posterior. The anterior is filled with a watery type substance and the posterior contains a material that is jello like in consistency when we're born. These liquids help the eye tomaintain its shape. Both are completely clear and homogenous so you can not see them when everything is normal.

As the eye ages, this "jello" like substance (vitreous) becomes more liquified. As this happens, clumps and strands can form. These clumps "float" within the framework of the remaining vitreous. Since it's more condensed, you can see it at this stage.

From here, a few things can happen. The floaters can continue to settle downward, until they are out of your line of sight. Or, if they stay in one place long enough, your eye can adjust to it and essentially begin to ignore it.

If floaters become bothersome enough, there is an elective surgery that can remove them, but it entails "sucking" out all of the vitreous and filling it back up with a synthetic material.

So, optometrists/other docs can definitely see floaters in the back of the eye. Most probably just don't comment on them because they are considered a pretty benign normal. One caveot: the sudden onset of a shower of floaters (lots and lots all at once) can signal the begining of a retinal detachment, which is an ocular emergency. Just a few floaters is nothing more than annoying though.

Oh, and if you see little white things when you're looking against a blue background (like the sky) you are actually seeing the white blood cells within the vessels in the back of your eye. Called an "entopic phenomenon". Super fun!

And I'm a super dork!!

I have noticed floaters in my eye and wondered what they were.

congrats on becoming an optometrist.

there may be another sticky there about EYES; if there is, please paste it to that link ok so we can have eye issues in ONE spot vs. trying to find them here and there.

big thanks for sharing your expertise hugs/kisses

Betty, I tried to post in the lyme facts, but the first time I ended up accidentally reposting in the general discussions. If I did it right the second time around, then it's under the blepharitis-eye situation sticky tab in the lyme facts.