The FastDay Forum

Has anyone had any success with getting rid of or minimizing the appearance of eye floaters with fasting? Intermittent or longer water fasts? If so, please include the severity and type of floaters that you had as well as the time of their onset in your life. Any responses would be greatly appreciated because I'm rather desperate. Thanks.

asoidfgold wrote: Has anyone had any success with getting rid of or minimizing the appearance of eye floaters with fasting? Intermittent or longer water fasts? If so, please include the severity and type of floaters that you had as well as the time of their onset in your life. Any responses would be greatly appreciated because I'm rather desperate. Thanks.

Hello Asoidfgold,

This is timely for me. I just visited my opthamologist last month for this very reason. I think I have always had some floaters but they seemed to increase in intensity this summer. I mostly notice them when I move my eyes side to side. They appear as lines or threads. My doctor said they are normal and that I'm at the age where the vitreous of the eye shrinks and separates. He said it would get better but not totally go away. He also said that in some cases you can get a retinal tear and if I suddenly worsen with a storm of floaters or flashing light I should report back in that day. Was told there is nothing that I have done to bring it on and also no specific treatment.

My optician says they come with age. Mine come and go, but are worse wen I'm tired or stressed.

I have a long history of floaters and retinal flashes. The flashes mostly happen when I am dehydrated. I can't take blood pressure meds that are diuretic as they make the flashes more frequent.

You do get used to the floaters after a while. I've had the flashes on and off for more than 15 years in one eye which is extremely neat sighted, but no retinal detachment, even though I worry about that happening. You must get to a retina surgeon that day if there is a detachment as delay will lead to blindness in that eye.

Fasting can be dehydrating. I always drink 64 oz of fluid each day, and that usually helps. Too much water doesn't lead to more hydration and can be tough on kidneys and electrolytes.

I have lots of floaters too, they can be annoying at times. I havent found fasting any help with them unfortunately

Hmmm. But have any of you done longer water-only fasts? Or just 5:2/other forms of alternate day calorie restriction, etc. The theory about these longer fasts in which you only consume water is that autophagy/autolysis is triggered and your body goes into ketosis. So, any experiences in this context?

I spent many eastrs in ketosdis while eating a ketogenic diet. That was when my floaters and flashes started.

Water fasting is a great way to dehydrate yourself and screw up your electrolytes. It won't help.

There is a lot of b-s posted on the web about a lot of chronic conditions. Floaters occur because the gel in your eyes shrinks and wrinkles as you age. There is no cure for that, but as with all such conditions, lots of self-promoting weasels willing to sell you expensive hope.

My eye doctor has continued to recommend a lutein supplement for general eye health for many years. The following descriptive link also suggests eating more spinach, broccoli and kale as an alternative.

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/lutein- ... hin-vision

Of course, after digging around a bit, I can't find a directly supporting medical study, but can say that it seemed to lessen floaters quite dramatically for me (a long time ago now) and I occasionally still take it. As always, an N=1 sample is scientifically equivalent to having an opinion so your results may vary. And like 5:2, if you find that it works for you, official studies really don't matter.

ADFnFuel wrote: My eye doctor has continued to recommend a lutein supplement for general eye health for many years. The following descriptive link also suggests eating more spinach, broccoli and kale as an alternative.

http://www.webmd.com/eye-health/lutein- ... hin-vision

Of course, after digging around a bit, I can't find a directly supporting medical study, but can say that it seemed to lessen floaters quite dramatically for me (a long time ago now) and I occasionally still take it. As always, an N=1 sample is scientifically equivalent to having an opinion so your results may vary. And like 5:2, if you find that it works for you, official studies really don't matter.

That may explain why I have experienced a reduction in my eye floaters. I've been terribly near-sighted since the age of 7 (now 45) and my doc told me that both of my gel-thingy (whatever they're called) have pulled away from the back of my eye, due to their football shape. I did experience flashes when this happened and I was warn to keep an eye on it (my optho likes to make funny puns.) In very near-sighted people, detachment is normal but tearing is not! I've had black floating bits and zig-zag patterns in my eyes for as long as I can remember, but since I've started fasting, I did notice an incredible reduction. I thought maybe it was the fasting, but perhaps it's the industrial quantity of vegetables and nutritious foods I now eat (such as spinach and kale.) Whatever it is, it's working for me.

I can't comment on whether fasting can help with floaters but would like to issue a word of warning, particularly to those of more mature years.
In September 2012, I developed a long, dense floater in my right eye, which set alarm bells ringing because I had a detached retina in my left eye ten years previously. My doctor immediately referred me to the hospital and, after my consultation, I was told that it was an age related thing and 'nothing to worry about', just the gel shrinking etc, etc.
Roll on six months and I went for a cataract op in my left eye (brought on by the previous detachment). During the consult, I was told that they were happy to perform the procedure but only 'after I had my right eye sorted out'. It appears that I had four tears in that retina so I was booked in for laser repairs. On the day of that simple op, I was informed that there was a detachment and that I needed a longer surgery.
The question that I ask myself is, If I hadn't had to go for the cataract consult, how bad would the detachment have got while my age was blamed for the floaters?
Please don't be fobbed off with your age being used as an explanation of floaters. Yes, it can be responsible for them but you may have a leaking tear which will allow fluid to get behind the retina and cause a detachment, so any sudden increase of floaters should be a cause for concern, so do something about it immediately!
Sorry about the length of this post but it is a subject of great importance to me and our eyesight is precious - especially as we get older!

I would like to support StowgateResident's warning about taking action with floaters & any "bright flashes" in the eye. My husbands retina detached after cataract surgery & he was ignoring the flashes but fortunately I recognised what was happening & ASAP he had his retina zipped back with laser surgery. I was therefore concerned that I saw a large dark patch in my left eye when I glanced sideways to a light tiled surface & immediately had it checked out. I have odd eyes in that one is short sighted & the other long sighted that used to give me near perfect vision which slightly disconcerted my doctor but thankfully what I have is a large floater due to the odd shape of my left eye. However I occasionally get a sharp pain when I quickly glance sideways at a sharp angle thaybI think is probably muscular more than anything but can I emphasise how important it is to check out any concerns with eyes!!!

Thanks for the "words up", StowgateResident and Isis. It's very true... Docs can be quite flippant when it comes to what they deem as "normal", but there is no such thing as normality. That's why WE are the key to our own health... Awareness of any changes out of OUR normality is a sure sign something isn't kosher and needs to be checked out. Best of health to all.

This is an old thread, but I thought I'd mention the "zigzagging" one poster mentioned is probably an optical migraine. I use to get them all the time in my 20s. Get them very rarely now.

I just realized after reading this that since fasting for the past 3 weeks, I haven't noticed any floaters, which were pretty bad before.