When it comes to your health, do not accept there is no cause. There is always a cause! It’s one of the universal laws. Law of cause and effect. “Nothing happens by chance”
You know your body better than anyone and you have the most interest in what happens to your body. There is always a reason for your body not to function optimally and it is your responsibility to do whatever it takes to find out why. If you’re not able to research and look deeper into the whole picture, work with a holistic practitioner as well as your allopathic practitioner; integrate, so you have the “whole” picture and get to the root of the problem. We need western medicine however; the Band-Aid effect is not good enough. Take action and look at all angles to determine the root cause of anything that has a negative effect on your health and well-being.
I’d like to share a personal story and hopefully shed some light for someone that may be suffering with this issue.
About a year and half ago I moved into a new place; I’m sure we all know how stressful moving can be. A few months later, started waking up with a minor cough and some nasal congestion.
At that time, I was also going through some family issues and emotionally it was a very challenging time. I just assumed it was a sign of emotional stress; so I amped up my antioxidants and superfoods to increase immunity.
Fast forward six months later still living in the same place, my right eye was starting to irritate me. Although allergies have never been a problem for me, assumed it was related to external environment such as pollen, change of season or possibly related to menopause. I’m in the transition to menopause and hormones decline and thought it may be related to a drop in my hormone levels.
A few more weeks went by and still waking up with a dull cough, some congestion and now I had a new symptom... joint pain. I usually workout with a lot of intensity and had to push myself having zero energy to get my workouts complete. I was feeling very fatigued and weak and began to question everything I was doing for my body. My diet’s very clean, yet intuitively I sensed something was very off.
Another week went by and my right eye became bloodshot and painful. I was extremely sensitive to light and blinking made it feel like a knife stabbing directly into the eyeball. Vision was starting to change too. I made an appointment to see my optometrist who told me it was allergies and he recommended eye drops for dryness an over the counter medication for allergies (which I did not use). Taking any over the counter medication is not always the solution.
A day or two later again the pain was almost unbearable and my vision was worse. I made an appointment with an ophthalmologist and he diagnosed me with an infection and scratch on my cornea and prescribed an antibiotic/steroid eye drop. Happily, used it for a week and my eye felt better. However, in addition to cough, congestion and joint pain, migraine headaches were added to my list of symptoms.
A week later the redness came back but now it was in both eyes. I was seeing golden rings, floaters (little black specks in my vision) as well as flashes of light, so back to the doctor I went. He explained to me it was a vitreous detachment and unless the retina tears its very normal and not to be concerned.
If you’re not familiar with a vitreous detachment, most of the eye’s interior is filled with vitreous, a gel-like substance that helps the eye maintain a round shape. As we age, the vitreous slowly shrinks, and can separate from the retina and some of that gel leaks out and is what causes the flashes of light and floaters. In most cases it is not life threatening and is a very common condition that usually affects people over age 50. People who are nearsighted are also at increased risk. After a while, you stop seeing floaters and flashes of light as the eye gets used to it and filters it out. I wasn’t satisfied. A few days later, the pain was so unbearable decided to see a retinol specialist. I knew there was something else going on here. This new doctor (third one), specialist for infectious and inflammatory eye diseases, diagnosed me with uveitis. In fact, it was in both of my eyes. Doctor stated had been going on for a while and most likely, misdiagnosed. He indicated it was a very serious condition and there was a chance I could lose my sight.
Uveitis is an inflammatory disease that produces swelling and destroys eye tissues and leads to vision loss and blindness. Some of the many different systemic disorders that can cause uveitis include: ankylosing spondylitis, inflammatory bowel disease, rheumatoid arthritis, Kawasaki’s disease, Lyme disease, multiple sclerosis, HIV, sarcoidosis, syphilis, systemic lupus erythematosus, tuberculosis and more!
The list is really outrageous because its related to so many different auto immune diseases. All of the autoimmune disorders are caused from chronic inflammation in the body.
He said, “If it’s not an autoimmune disease, its idiopathic”. Idiopathic? The definition of idiopathic “relating to or denoting any disease or condition that arises spontaneously or for which the cause is unknown.”
Doctor continued…” We don’t know why it happens and 50% of uveitis cases are idiopathic”. With my holistic background that answer wasn’t good enough!
He ordered tests, tests and more tests…Chest x-rays for tuberculosis every common and exotic blood test available to humans and all of my results came back perfectly normal. EVERYTHING was in normal range.
It was frustrating as hell because I knew there was a cause and not happy with “it just happens and we don’t’ know why” as an answer.
I spent countless hours researching everything to see if I could find a connection.
In the meantime, I was forced into steroid treatment to keep the inflammation from escalating. I was informed if I didn’t use steroids, I could lose my sight. Four months on steroids, tapering down until the inflammation was at a level where I could stop the steroid treatment. I should mention was seeing the doctor weekly, then bi weekly and then monthly until he felt it was safe enough to cease treatment.
My doctor explained to me "we now have to wait to see if inflammation comes back". "If it does, most likely the Uveitis is caused by a systemic autoimmune disease; and because Its not showing up on any tests, we may not know which autoimmune disease for a few years". Oh boy, that advice made me cringe!
It was approximately three few weeks off steroid treatment and inflammation started to creep up again! I was getting pain in the eye and it was very bloodshot again!
On paper, perfectly healthy, so what the hell was causing me to have such a serious eye disease?
Although initially I checked out everything in my environment including my home and office like a detective looking for some clue and came up with zilch! I decided to revisit the environment at home and office again.
I turned my home upside down…eventually, in a corner of the ceiling in my garage was a small black mass which ultimately was confirmed as black mold!
The owner of the residence had informed me the residential development had issues with mold about 10 years prior and fixed the problem. Apparently not! There were leaks in pipes and over time the mold grew back inside the walls and eventually made its way through the sheetrock and that’s where I found it.
Without another thought, immediately made arrangements to move out. My intuition was on high alert. I knew this was the reason for my eye disease and all of my additional symptoms; congestion, cough, joint pain and migraine headaches.
Within two days, identified a new place to live. Talk about stress. Huh!
A week after my move, was my follow up appointment with the doctor to check the status of the inflammation. I was so excited to tell him what I’d found. At the appointment he confirmed the inflammation accelerated.
I assured him it was the mold. Skeptically, he agreed we could wait before starting steroid treatment again. He wanted to see me in two months unless inflammation started to cause more pain and redness. If so, it was right back into his office for more steroid treatment.
Regarding Inflammation, is actually a good thing because it is the body’s natural response to tissue damage, germs, or toxins... However, when your immune system becomes overburdened; constantly fighting these toxins, it attacks itself, autoimmunity. Inflammation stops being an acute response and is a continuous bodily response and changes to chronic. When your body no longer has the capacity to turn off the inflammatory response so it starts causing damage instead of fixing it.
It had been two months since my last visit with the doc…OK DRUMROLL. A few weeks ago… he examined my eyes and with a huge smile he said, “it’s gone!” “Your eyes look perfect and there are no signs of inflammation at all”.
Toxins come in all shapes and sizes from the tangible to the intangible. Tangible as in pesticides, herbicides etc., and the intangible toxins, negative thoughts, negative media and so on…
The house was teeming with black mold toxins; my immune system was working overtime fighting to keep these toxins from overtaking my systems. It was overburdened and inflammation settled into a weak spot, my eyes.
This is where the metaphysical aspect comes into play…the body is talking…are we listening? There are emotional reasons for physical ailments.
In my case toxins from mold overburdened my immune system, inflammation took over, this is also the reason was experiencing joint pain, headaches and settled in the weak spot…my eyes.
Metaphysical causes of Illness
Metaphysically speaking, my eyes were a weak spot for me. At that time, I was going through a lot of emotional family issues and there were things I didn’t want to see…very long time. Approximately the same time identified mold also was opening my eyes(metaphorically) and finally addressing the emotional issues I wasn’t willing to look at or accept. Basically, was in denial about some family problems. I believe mold attacked my immune system, my immune system couldn’t’ keep up with the demand then attacked itself, in my weakest area because I was not willing to see, certain events taking place within my family.
You may be familiar with Louise Hay. She is the founder of Hay House Publishers. I highly recommend her book “Heal Your Body” The mental causes for physical illness. It’s very eye opening (no pun intended)
Bottom line…toxins; tangible and intangible play a role in your health and well-being. If you expose yourself repeatedly to toxins either through food, water, air, negative emotions, negative media and inner stress, will ultimately take a toll on your physical body.
Pertaining to mold, the top 10 states with heavy mold concerns are: Texas, Florida, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Nevada, Arizona, South Dakota Tennessee, Kansas and California.
When it comes to your health, do not accept there is no cause. There is always a cause! It’s one of the universal laws. Law of cause and effect. “Nothing happens by chance”
Check out our nutritional supplements for inflammation and immune system support.
Much love,
Aster
What steps did you do during the 2 month interval preceding the eradication of the uveitis that made so much of a change? My son and I both have Lyme and mold illness and we see the floaters. We don’t have uveitis but I would like to add other items to our regimen that would help. Thanks!
Thank you for this article… I moved into an apartment almost 4 months ago, found black mold growing on the bathroom wall over the weekend, maintenance showed up Tuesday, and come to find out there was a nail in a pipe from construction. I have been experiencing all of the common symptoms mentioned on other articles about black mold exposure, but none mention the eye problems. With the common symptoms, I have been experiencing flashes of light, floaters, and changes in vision. SO thank you! =) I’m going to the doctor today to get tested for exposure and now I feel more confident adding the vision issues to the list with out hesitation!
Hi Aster ,
I feel I am reliving your story , starting from today…I would be glad to be in contact with you to get more details about your experience
Abdo