Thyroid and eye sight

[Nimrod78]

Another question - can thyroid conditions affect eyesight? I have found I now need glasses and having not needed them before I am wondering if my condition may have caused issues with my eyes> Thanks

[Venora Moonwind]

Yes it can affect your eyes.When I was in hypohell getting ready for RAI my eyes got so blurry i had to wear myreading glasses all the time.and I had laser eye surgery a few years back so I was kinda bummed.but now I am on cytomel and syn throid  they are much better now. Keep the ffaith sis
Love Venora

[KonamerraGirl]

Before thyroid was even though about here in my case, I experienced very blurry vision (speaking from a person who always had no problem reading the back of shampoo bottles and fine, fine print.)

I was so concerned I made an eye appointment and he said my eyes had not changed from 2 years prior!

It seemed to be a temporary blur (2 - 3 weeks), but regardless, now I am *seeing* - no pun intended so many things that pointed to Hypo-T, but hadn't a clue, so personally my eyes really don't feel as optimum as they were.

[DLA]

Started wearing glasses when I was about 15 and had gotten a little worse over the years naturally, but with Graves' my eye sight changed constantly until eventually, I just had to give up wearing glasses b/c I could not afford them.  I also had some damage to my optic nerves due to the Graves that is irreversible, but that is just a little loss of my periphreal vision.

I also went throught the blurred vision with hypo symptoms, which didn't last all that long.  I don't think it did anyway.  Can't remember for sure. :{~  Hate this memory lapse.

Now that my thyroid is regulated (obviously having other problems causing brain fog) I only need glasses for distances.  They are actually better than what they were before the beginning of thyroidhell.

Don't know if that helped any or not, since I think I got to rambling, but hope it did.

Dac

[Bonzo27]

I have Graves with hyperthyroid.  I know it can include weight loss, however I have gained 20 lbs quickly!  Has anyone experienced weight gain?  
Also, my eyesight has gotten worse, but have just started medication and will go to eye doctor once on for some time.
Thanks

Bonnie

[Rite760]

Can I ask you are you hypothyroid or hyperthyroid? I know you can have eye disease with hyper but not sure if it's the same case wit hypothyroid. Only I'm hypothyroid and I'm having vision problems and waiting to see an Opthalmogist. Do you know if eye disease is part of hypothryoid too?

[cmclien]

I have read that 20% of TED cases are hypo and the rest are hyper.  I realize graves causes some other kinds of eye problems that hypo patients generally do not have like the pressure on theoptic nerve etc.  I have major dry eye issues and I'm hypo.  I'm hoping as my synthroid levels increase so will my tear production which in turn reduces swelling etc.

[pep88]

How very strange that I just came from the opthamologist yesterday with blurred vision being my chief complaint.  Especially my up-close vision.  I can no longer wear my contact lens if I am to read ANYTING that is small!  Admittedly, I am 44 years old and I have been willing my arms to grow longer and longer (if you know what I mean...).  I have had the very same perscription for glasses with bifocal correction for eight years!  I thought it was the RAI that changed my vision so drastically.  

At my appointment, my opthalmologist, whose also a friend, said that the RAI probably effected my ability to focus, but that I showed some signs of Thyroid Eye Disease (where you're eyes protrude forward).  Ok, so on a scale of 1 - 10, I was a 1, but I'd NEVER been hyperthyroid or had Graves disease to my knowledge.  He said that the hormones from your thyroid also effect your eyes.  

After some research I found this... Taken from the Wikipedia: Thyroid eye disease is an inflammatory condition which affects the orbital contents including the extraocular muscles and orbital fat. It is almost always associated with Graves' disease but may rarely be seen in Hashimoto's thyroiditis, primary hypothyroidism, or thyroid cancer.  Also states that: It is caused by an antibody-mediated auto-immune reaction.

I must say that I was so flabergasted!  I had never had any sort of reason to be tested for Thyroid Eye disease (Or truth be told, any reason to have any sort of thyroid test what-so-ever until I accidently found the nodule in Aug '07 that turned out to be cancer!)  My eyes don't look any different, than they ever did to me.  He said that this is something that probably won't ever progress now because of my TT (thank goodness!).

But just as a side note;  my vision (perscription) didn't change.  He did up the bifocal (reader) portion of my perscription, but otherwise, it's just a "focusing" issue, and it should get better with time.  

I hope this in someway helps you all with vision issues.  I keep thinking I'm over the hump, so to speak with my cancer, and then something "new" pops up...  Aaarrrrg!

[rupkotha]

i have a big exam on 27,january.but suddenly i got the blurred vision.i went to an opthalmologist.he gave me glasses for near vision.but my problem is still there.i cant see computer screen properly.
i am diagnosed as hypothyroid for 1 yr and taking levothyroxine 75 mcg.but doctor reduce my dose to 50 mcg for 3 months because of low tsh.
now i dont know what to do.i am so upset.

[Me967]

I feel for you having a test coming up and all.  :-(   Maybe you could try exercising your eyes every now and then by taking your finger to your nose, and/or just looking up, down and side to side.  It may help.

I noticed my eyes changed ~ 2 years ago.  I went from not wearing glasses to bi-focal's.  Mine get blurry and water a lot.  The sunlight bothers them alot and I am next to night blindness anymore.  And now tonight it won't stop twitching.  Like muscle spasms in the eyelid.  It first it was weird but now it's annoying.

Hopefully with you it's too much computer strain.  Try maybe giving them a little rest every hour or so for now.  (At least 10-15 minutes).  Take care;  Me.