After many failed attempts at LC, I finally got going for a few months at the end of last years. I felt good, lost a few pounds and noticed the shape of my body was better. I also noticed about a month in my eyes were very dry and red. I thought it was allergies, so I went to the eye doctor. She said it wasn't allergies and that it may be early menopause, which surprised because I have zero symptoms otherwise and told me to get eye drops. Then I googled dry eye and low carb and found that dry eye is a reported side effect. So I went off LC in January to see if my eyes improved, and sure enough they did. Now I'm up about 5Lbs and I just don't feel as steady and happy as I did while on LC.

Now I want to go back to LC - I think it is right for me but dread the dry eyes. So I wanted to put this out there to see if anyone else had this experience and what they did. I wear contacts, which is why it is such a pain.

I've never experienced it, or heard of it - in fact I'm struggling to think of any bad side effects that I have suffered. But knowing how well its worked for me and how great I now feel, if I did have that problem I'd just get eye drops. I wear contacts too and apart from the usual tired eyes at the end of the day, I've had no problem.

Jo xxx

My dry eye went away eating low carb after I eliminated dairy along with gluten and other foods I am sensitive to. I used to use Restasis drops but now no longer need them.

Jean

I am currently struggling with dry eyes from low carb. I keep drops around. I don't remember this being an issue in the past as my eyes were always tearing previously. I've added a ton of water and it hasn't helped. I'm sticking with it and seeing if it subsides after a couple of months.

I may just wear glasses. Personally I'm glad that it is the diet and not the change of life. Nothing worse than getting that implication by your eye doc

My dry eye is interesting.
I was visiting the opthamologist and as he looked at my eye, the surface dried. He said he had no idea why.
In the summertime when I use the ceiling fan, it really hurts to open my eyes, which apparently stay partially open when I sleep. Sometimes the scrape hurts all day.
I have eye masks of varying sizes and shapes, eye drops, eye ointments, cooling eye beads....you name it, I've tried it.
It never dawned on me that my WOE gave me dry eyes.

Dry eye, for me, did not come about by eating lowcarb, but it was my very first perimenopause symptom. When I started using progesterone cream dry eye symptoms went away.

If the problem returns with diet, hopefully there will be a solution to the problem. Maybe returning to the doctor with your new information will bring about that solution.

I just want to repeat that my dry eye went away on a low carb diet after I removed all dairy. I had a hard time reading and had to use Restasis twice a day to keep it under control. Now I have no problem, need no medication. Removing dairy seemed to be the key for me.

Jean

I got dry eyes on vLC but solved it by making sure I stay hydrated and get enough salt (at least 1 tsp/day since there is virtually none in my real foods).

Before LC, the carbs and processed foods full of sodium kept my body overhydrated.

Also, in winter, indoor heating can make for a very dry environment.

I've been keto for over a year and a half. In the last 9 months I have developed severe chronic dry eye.

I have 2 humidifiers in my room. I drink water like crazy. I keep my electrolytes up, I have a night ointment. I reapply it twice a night plus use gel drops every hour at night. It's so bad that I have developed recurrent corneal erosions. In layman's terms, my eyelids plaster themselves to my cornea and when my eyes move during my sleep cycle, it rips my cornea from my eyeball. It's like getting stabbed in the eye. My vision is blurry for days until it heals. Over time, scarring will occur and my vision will be affected if we can't make my eyes lubricate and stop ripping. I got drainage-duct plugs. It did not help at all. So $500/month Restasis is my next step. Insurance does not pay any of it until I hit $7000 every year. The prescription is $6000 per year...sigh.

I have every reason in the world to be angry and blame low-carb. I'm miserable and exhausted. It seems reasonable right? I didn't have this problem until after I went into ketosis for awhile right? But I went out of ketosis and into reg low-carb for a full week. It made no difference whatsoever. So I have no leg to stand on there. Turns out that it is genetic as my father has suffered with this his entire adult life ( I never knew until I brought up what was going on with me and he responded with a resounding "ME TOO!") and he has never been low-carb.

I wish it had been low-carb to blame. It would make my life so much more simple. Looks like I have a new expensive bill every month...

I'm cutting out every vitamin and supplement I take this week.
If that doesn't help a little, then I'm getting bloodwork to see if I have any imbalances.
Cutting out dairy is a last resort. How am I supposed to live without it? But as it is genetic, I can flail around looking for a scapegoat to pass the time if I want. It may not get me anywhere.

Jess, that's awful.

IMHO, blaming a LC diet for dry eyes is a bit of a straw man here. The other causes happen as you age, so it may have made no difference if you never changed your diet.

In 2005 or so, at age 30-ish, I gave up wearing my contacts because of chronic discomfort. But you know what? I don't blame my LC diet - I blame the fact that I had been walking around with pieces of plastic in my eyes for more than half my life at that time. There really wasn't (still isn't?) good research and data about long term use of RGP lenses.

I'll take good health and healthy body weight over wearing contacts any day.

Dry eye has definitely been a symptom of menopause for me. To the point where a simple walk from my car to the office has tears running down my face. This occurs whether I'm on LCHF or not!

1 teaspoon of Norwegian cod liver oil every day and lots of good fats seem to help.

If it came down between cutting out dairy and losing my vision... I know which I'd chose. There are a lot of autoimmune things out there that stuff like dairy and grains (gluten) can trigger.

I've been taking vit D3 for 1.5 years. I added K2 to help it out. The dry eye has only worsened as time went on.

My body is just dumb.

I don't eat gluten. I'm willing to try a dairy detox, but that takes planning. I mostly eat the same thing every day, so I'll have to figure out a different routine.

It will take some figuring. And I may benefit from getting an appt for bloodwork to see if I need to be taking more D. Getting an appt will take a month. But I really need to start taking that expensive eye drop NOW so I can actually sleep at night before I get run into the ground. If I start taking it and then do a dairy elimination, then I won't be able to tell which is the thing that is working, though. Catch-22. It's been months now of inadequate rest. I don't know how much longer I can tolerate it before I crash and burn.

I've already cut out my allergy medicine (antihistamines are drying) so now I'm just tired and miserable with congestion and itchy eyes added to the dry eye and erosions.

Bleh.