Bloodshot Eyes

jessica.k

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Apr 11, 2014
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5
Hello -

Just curious if anyone has any experience in reducing the appearance of bloodshot eyes. I'm a 34-year old female in good health. No major complaints except that my eyes are always bloodshot. I've read a bit on Chris Kresser's site, and he recommends a variety of things to possibly help, including NAC. I'm reluctant to go near additional cysteine based upon what I've read on Ray's site. I use progesterone 2 weeks of the month, as well as riboflavin (read this could help) and gelatin. I take Presrcript Assist probiotics and don't tolerate histamine foods very well (meaning probiotic foods).

Any thoughts would be appreciated!
 

Mittir

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Feb 20, 2013
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2,033
Welcome to the forum

Do you know when you started having this problem?
Is it connected to any event or diet?
I have noticed if i do not have good night sleep ill have red eyes
for sometime. I also think clarity of eyes tell a lot about internal health.
I used to have red eyes while showering. Then i used one ofthose chlorine filter
and it did not happen again. I read that high heart rate and high blood pressure
also can cause red eyes. You can check your pulse, temp and blood pressure.
Allergy is always a suspect. I think there is not any simple cure unless
it is reaction to chemical or irritant. Then just removing that will solve the problem,
You can try bag breathing 1-2 minutes 3-4 times a day to see if it improves your
eye condition. Result of bag breathing is immediate.
Also try to lower endotoxin by avoiding hard to digest foods.
starch and soluble fibers feed bad bacteria.
Daily raw carrot salad or cooked bamboo shoot can quickly improve
a lot of health issues. RP has mentioned that synthetic riboflavin can be very allergenic.
 

Kasper

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Sep 11, 2013
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33
For me, astaxanthine worked great, the best of all things I tried, and I tried a lot.
I'm not sure if astaxanthine is some ray peat approved supplement, but it is able to recycle vitamin E if I remember correct and prevents lipid peroxidation.
 

natedawggh

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Aug 24, 2013
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649
Yes! For the last few years I was experiencing very pronounced blood shot eyes, especially toward the tear duct. For me this has also resulted in drier eyes as well. On starting to eat as Dr Peat recommends... Cutting out starch, drinking lots of milk, avoiding inappropriate foods, having adequate salt and niacinamide, aspirin, I started to experience much longer periods I between episodes, and most of the time now my eyes are clear. I still haven't been able to stop it, but I've only been doing this accurately for about two months and gone from maybe once a week instead of all the time. I also read a post on here about how the bleeding is specifically caused by an out of balance salt/calcium ratio, and that by getting thyroid under control and restoring the bodies ability to control calcium (and getting adequate salt) is the solution.

About histamine too... Simply following this diet and adding carrots and stuff didn't reduce my allergic reactions at all, it was probably too late for a quick recovery, but I found that taking one diamine oxidase in the morning with a non drowsy antihistamine completely clears up my histamine problems for 24+ hours (I did also reduce greatly histamine causing foods... But even milk and fruit were giving me reactions).
 
OP
J

jessica.k

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Apr 11, 2014
Messages
5
Thank you, all, for the info!

@Mittir - I'm not sure when it started; it's just become progressively worse over the last couple of years. My eye doc simply tells me it's chronic dry eye, but then again...what causes that??? Definitely underlying issues. What does bag breathing do? Increase CO2?

@Kasper - did the astaxanthin help with redness? I remember taking it a few years ago, but for athletic performance, not red eyes. Didn't notice a difference. Maybe I'll try again at 12mg and see if it helps.

@natedawggh - I currently use almond milk, as I cannot tolerate casein, so dairy is out for me. I really only use a bit in my AM coffee. I recently switched from pink sea salt to regular table salt, as I started thinking I might need more iodine for better thyroid function. I also use a thyroid supplement that contains selenium. I also take DAO on occasion and eat carrots regularly. Just curious...what does the aspirin do?
 

Kasper

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Yes, definitely helped with redness. My eyes are completely white and shiney when I take astaxanthin.
The supplement I take has also lutein and zeaxanthine added to it, so maybe that is part of the sucess as well.
 

Mittir

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Feb 20, 2013
Messages
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jessica.k said:
@Mittir - I'm not sure when it started; it's just become progressively worse over the last couple of years. My eye doc simply tells me it's chronic dry eye, but then again...what causes that??? Definitely underlying issues. What does bag breathing do? Increase CO2?
Yes, bag breathing increases CO2. Hypothyroid people usually are low in CO2 production
and this results in a long list of derangement. Increasing CO2 inhibits release of histamine and
serotonin,which are possible cause of red eyes. CO2 also lowers lactic acid formation and
keeps PTH in check. All these stress hormones usually increases each other. Nitric oxide is
also increased during stress response. Vigra and Rogaine both increases nitric oxide and
both cites red eyes /eye irritation as side effects.RP has several articles on CO2
You can learn a lot about beneficial effects of CO2 from this article
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/pr ... ging.shtml
He also has a very informative youtube video on CO2.
 
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J

jessica.k

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Apr 11, 2014
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@kasper - thank you for the recommendation. I've ordered some astaxanthin/zeaxanthin/lutein, so I'll update this in a month or so.

@mittir - thank you for the info. I'll have to read up on this a bit more and maybe experiment a bit with bag breathing. I wish there were an easy fix, but it's always trial and error!
 

Sinjin

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Nov 25, 2016
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Milk thistle extract whitened my eyes, so I presume the redness was something to do with the liver.
 

Samya

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Feb 22, 2017
Messages
187
I've noticed that on days I've eaten bacon and eggs for breakfast my bloodshot eyes would improve soon after, at first I thought this was due to the lutein & retinol content of the eggs, I now think it could be due to the high level of salt in the bacon. I've recently been drinking a tablespoon of salt solution in a glass of water upon waking (no bacon & eggs) and notice an improvement within a short period. I'm not sure why this is but I also have a nice rush of energy after drinking the salt water, I think maybe because it stimulates my digestive system.
 
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Birdie

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I've noticed that on days I've eaten bacon and eggs for breakfast my bloodshot eyes would improve soon after, at first I thought this was due to the eggs (maybe the lutein & retinol) but now think it could be due to the high level of salt in the bacon; I've recently been drinking a tablespoon of salt solution in a glass of water upon waking (no bacon & eggs) and notice an improvement within a short period. I'm not sure why this is but I also have a nice rush of energy after drinking the salt water, I think maybe because it stimulates my digestive system.
Thank you. I'd just resolved to slowly reduce bacon. This just adds more to the reasons why to do it. It's been something I couldn't give up and had no desire to try. Finally, the time has come.

Well, my reply made no sense with your info! But I've eaten eggs and bacon for breakie for years and years and still have the little red vessels. And I take much salt. But will remember salt helped yours and that reinforces the salt intake.
 
Last edited:

Birdie

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Hello -

Just curious if anyone has any experience in reducing the appearance of bloodshot eyes. I'm a 34-year old female in good health. No major complaints except that my eyes are always bloodshot. I've read a bit on Chris Kresser's site, and he recommends a variety of things to possibly help, including NAC. I'm reluctant to go near additional cysteine based upon what I've read on Ray's site. I use progesterone 2 weeks of the month, as well as riboflavin (read this could help) and gelatin. I take Presrcript Assist probiotics and don't tolerate histamine foods very well (meaning probiotic foods).

Any thoughts would be appreciated!
I have this too. Thanks for bringing it up for review.
 

Birdie

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Joined
Aug 10, 2012
Messages
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Yes, bag breathing increases CO2. Hypothyroid people usually are low in CO2 production
and this results in a long list of derangement. Increasing CO2 inhibits release of histamine and
serotonin,which are possible cause of red eyes. CO2 also lowers lactic acid formation and
keeps PTH in check. All these stress hormones usually increases each other. Nitric oxide is
also increased during stress response. Vigra and Rogaine both increases nitric oxide and
both cites red eyes /eye irritation as side effects.RP has several articles on CO2
You can learn a lot about beneficial effects of CO2 from this article
http://raypeat.com/articles/articles/pr ... ging.shtml
He also has a very informative youtube video on CO2.
Okay. I think the red in my eyes represents a general toxic type situation in my body.
 

Birdie

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Yes, definitely helped with redness. My eyes are completely white and shiney when I take astaxanthin.
The supplement I take has also lutein and zeaxanthine added to it, so maybe that is part of the sucess as well.
I've been using lutein for years and added the other a few months ago. No change in my redness, so there must be other pieces to the puzzle in my case. I plan to keep these others up for cataract prevention. I had quit the lutein when starting Peat, but was eventually dxd with cataracts, so put it back in about a year ago.
 

Birdie

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Milk thistle extract whitened my eyes, so I presume the redness was something to do with the liver.
This is another that I stopped after RP info. Husband still using it. Really don't want to add another sup unless other measures don't work. But good to know and consider if other measures don't fix.
 

Samya

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Thank you. I'd just resolved to slowly reduce bacon. This just adds more to the reasons why to do it. It's been something I couldn't give up and had no desire to try. Finally, the time has come.

While I don't eat it everyday, I didn't actually suggest there was anything bad about bacon in my post.

I noticed my bloodshot eyes improved soon after a breakfast of :emoji_bacon:&:emoji_cooking:, which I initially attributed to the eggs but now think it may have been due to the salt content of the bacon, as salted water by itself has a similar effect.
 

Sheila

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Nov 6, 2014
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You may just be interested in my post here ladies, where I saw a saturated salt solution used OUTSIDE of the eyes, on the eyelids, improve a very histaminic lady's bloodshot condition. <a href="Cataracts">Cataracts</a> So salt once again. And yes, FWIW, I do think that sclera problems are primarily indicators of internal issues. I suspect that liver and gut inflammation is at the base of all of this. Easier stated than fixed.
Greetings to you, Sheila.
 

Birdie

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While I don't eat it everyday, I didn't actually suggest there was anything bad about bacon in my post.

I noticed my bloodshot eyes improved soon after a breakfast of :emoji_bacon:&:emoji_cooking:, which I initially attributed to the eggs but now think it may have been due to the salt content of the bacon, as salted water by itself has a similar effect.
Yes, I said later on that I'd misread you! Thinking of my own agenda don't you know. ;)
 

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