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My question was whether anyone had "stars before their eyes" because I had
this chronicly in the mornings during periods of malabsorption and
exacerbated by 3 gluten challenges.  I hadn't mentioned this to my husband
before he brought up the fact that he had these "stars" when he's "out of
shape".  My husband's colleague who is a scientist, studies the eyes and can
tell if someone has diabetes or hypertension.  I've asked my husband, a PhD
immunologist to pose the question to his colleague about the effects of
malabsorption and accompanying fatigue and weakness on circulation and
whether this could be witnessed or addressed by studying the eye.  Many
listmates asked me what I meant from "stars";  I wanted to clarify that they
are NOT the "floaters" or the dead cells floating in the eye which my
optometrist has told me are permanent and increase with age.  They are hard
to describe but almost look like tiny bubbles swirling slowly in front of
your vision with some disappearing or dropping off while more are being
created.  They sometimes seem to reflect some light or color especially if
sun rays are shining thru the window.  It lasts for a couple of minutes and
it happened to me most often when I first woke up or hadn't gotten to moving
around much yet.

In retrospect before I knew I had Celiac D., I had other strange occurrences
like a steam burn on my hand which didn't heal for almost six months until I
went GF as a trial for three weeks before being gluten challenged by my GI
doctor.  Many of us are also familiar with the joint pain which goes away
when we go gluten free.

Also, one mentioned night vision problems while driving;  I thought this was
from "getting older" but now that has improved almost back to original
levels.

I can also vouch for headaches or dizziness from dehydration or weakness and
fatigue from the malabsorption.

Well here is the SUMMARY OF RESPONSES I received:

Also had wierd vision. Its been 4 years or so and it cleared up when i went
Gf. I noticed reading the paper my vision seemed wacky. Its been to long ago
NOW TO REMEMBER SPECIFICS.

Yes, I get stars in my eyes, but it usually heralds a migraine - you
could be having a visual migraine with no pain. My mom gets those now -
I still get the headache!

Interesting correlation though!

Before going gluten free, I tended to get migraines which were preceded by
what I called the "fuzzies" (technically called aura). The fuzzies started
as bright spots that I would see in the corner of my eye. Shortly after they
started, they would start moving around my field of vision and start to
shimmer around the edger. I could see, at best, about 1/4 to 1/2 of my
normal field of vision in each eye. Are these spots what you are calling
"stars"? I would also feel a bit dizzy. After going gf, my migraines greatly
diminished as did the fuzzies and dizziness (magnesium also helped the
migraines). I still get them occasionally but I'm pretty sure that they are
triggered by a bright glare. That is until the past couple of weeks. Over
the past couple of weeks, I've had the fuzzies without the glare. I took 2
Advil as soon as I noticed the fuzzies and fortunately avoided a migraine. A
couple of weeks before these latest fuzzie incidents, I got a couple of
migraine like headaches without the fuzzies. I think those cases were a
delayed reaction to a couple of new foods I tried (The foods are supposedly
gf so the reactions may be to other food allergies.) So, I'm now wondering
if the 2 latest cases of fuzzies were due to accidentally gluten ingestion
or other food allergies and not a bright light.

I wonder what you mean by stars. Your message made me realize that I used
to get shooting stars all the time, but don't anymore since being gf. I
hadn't thought about them nor missed them until you made me think of
it. Is this what you experienced?

I get these all the time if I've been throwing up or having diarrhea. I
always assumed that they were directly related to electrolyte imbalance, or
something similar. They seem to disappear for me when I am properly
hydrated.

I have had "stars" in my eyes which I have heard are actually white blood
cells. I only have them few and far between, and I haven't really connected
them with anything in my diet since they don't happen that often. I have
been GF for 9 months now, and I think I have seen "stars" once since that
time, and it was very minor. The first time I saw "stars" was in high school
after inverting myself if gym class, I believe.

Yes, I had a lot of stars and dizziness and weakness during the period that
I was very sick but misdiagnosed (not IBD with hemorrhoids, rather,
ulcerative colitis). Thought you might also be interested to know that those
can be part of a migraine aura (and a migraine does not have to include the
severe pain or vomiting part to be a migraine - you have the aura and sense
of not being well). Not too surprising since lack of food, fatigue, bright
lights - these are migraine triggers, as can be salty snacks and a variety
of other things including wine, aged cheese, yeast...It sounds as though you
have figured this one out but in case it does become bothersome again, I
encourage you to read a little on migraine triggers and prevention, as this
might prove to be quite helpful.

I'm interested in your eye reactions but mine is different. I have constant
pooling in mostly one eye or maybe we should call it tearing, sometimes in
both eyes. Have been GF for a year and I'm 67, so it could be age related
but I had it for a long time.

Yes, I have malabsorption BIG TIME, but it never occurred to me that my eye
problems were related! I guess that's not in the list of usual Celiac
symptoms. I learn something new everyday on this list-serv!!!!


Yes, I have gotten these. When young, and undiagnosed, lost my eye sight in
halve my vision for a few hours. I couldn't see my paper to write on (at
school). It was only that severe once. But my vision could get bad. Was
terrible to get this when driving. I'd have to move my head to weird
positions to see the road.

I have them even on a GF diet for 3 years. It didn't go away with me.

YES!!!!!! yes, to ALL your symptoms!

One of my main problems is my eyes. Years ago, I had pain and loss of
vision, diagnosed as optic neuritis. From that, and a bunch of other
symptoms, the docs decided I had MS. I've been GF since Feb. and while
many of my gastro symptoms have cleared up, I still have pain in my eye
at least once a week and my visual field is very narrow. I hate driving
at night because every light or even light colored sign or car has a
blinding aura around it.

I know this didn't really address your concern, but I thought it might
interest you.

THANKS for sharing your experiences...