If I didn't hear this myself from an eye doctor, I wouldn't

When I was 40 years old I had a stroke that damaged the nerves in my right eye which I anm now blind in.
Yesterday, I went to a new eye doctor for some new glasses. She was very thourogh and I liked her alot. Having always gone to Wal-Mart for glasses I wasn't use to all these machines and gadgets she was using.
Well, just before we were threw she took a picture of my eyeballs. When she developed them she asked if I grew up on a farm with chickens. I replied, yes how did you know?
She explained to me about a disease caused by chickens that damages the nerves in human eyes. Although the stoke did a little damage, the blindness in my right eye is caused by chickens.
You could have knocked me over with a feather.

That is interesting. There are quite a few zoonotic diseases involving birds Like Histoplasmosis. Did she say which one?

I worry when I have too many chicks in the house...there is a condition called Bird Fancier's Lung, which is a serious allergic reaction to bird dropping and dust. Sometimes it is complicated by secondary fungal and bacterial infections.

I worry about it because I always start coughing and feeling ill after the chicks have been in the house for a few weeks. But it might just be all the feather dust. I tend to react to fine particles in the air without really being allergic. Sizing in fabric stores make me really ill.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bird_fancier's_lung

This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 8:55 PM

Chickens,m & other animals for that matter, belong in barns, not houses.

Bird Fancier's Lung is just one of a large list of hypersensitivity diseases. There is Farmer's Lung too and Baker's and just about anything you can think of. Look at the list at the end:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hypersensitivity_pneumonitis

i think it was histoplasmosis.
i have also been guilty of having baby chickens in the house. i remember one year i had 15 in the spare bedroom for a month

didn;t know there was all that lung

My ex had histoplasmosis as a child, but it wasn't diagnosed until he was an adult. You can get that from any bird droppings...frequently pigeons' and starlings' in the city.

There is also toxoplasmosis...which sounds more like it would cause neurological damage. It is the one women can get from cleaning cat litter boxes when pregnant and then transmit to the baby. It can also exist in chickens, goats, turkeys and other animals...which I didn't know till now.

But it is odd that your doctor would ask about chickens with either histo- or toxoplasmosis, since there are much more common agents of infections...



This message was edited Apr 25, 2010 8:56 PM

she said birds, mainly chickens, and i'm not sure if it was toxo or histo.
she said that eventualy my eye would start to hurt more than it does now, and i will have to have cortisone shots in the back of my eye

Probably toxoplasmosis...there are quite a few web postings by people who lost all or partial vision in one eye through toxo. It is even more serious if a baby gets it in utero.

Does it ache very badly now?

once in a while i get a pain in it. i hope it don't get to the point where i need shots. it does ache if i rub it hard

Found this info, very interesting.
Histoplasmosis is a disease caused when airborne spores of the fungus Histoplasma capsulatum are inhaled in the lungs. Histoplasmosis is sometimes so mild that it produces no apparent symptoms. However, later it can lead to a serious eye disease called ocular histoplasmosis syndrome (OHS), a leading cause of vision loss in Americans ages 20 to 40.

That is interesting....I only knew histoplasmosis as a lung disease. They identified my ex's childhood histoplasmosis from the scarring in his lungs.

So it might have been either histo or toxo. I think histoplasmosis is more common in birds.

Jordan that is incredible, I have never heard of such a thing. I am also blind in my right eye, but, from glaucoma. Are you still able to drive, I ask because I can drive but my backing skills are now horrible as my depth perception has really gone to pot. I have to be extra careful backing up. I have slighty dented one of my garage doors twice now from backing up. I have had at least a dozen laser surgeries and have gone under the knife six or seven times. Still can't see much. I hope you don't have to get those shots also. I have had shots in the eye I think four times know and they weren't that bad. Hay

So interesting.. thanks for the link and info..
I have a truck driving friend who was diagnoised a few years ago with histoplasmosis, they figure she was probably infected by the many birds the roost in the rafters of the warehouses she spend so much time in.. She does not have a farm, nor never lived on one. Never thought of the chickens as potentials.

Something to be aware of though.

Hay, I don't drive anymore than I have to, and never at nite or in the rain.
Can't back up anymore either. Hit a tree and took my mirror off.

Jordan, I'm laughing, but only because I can so relate. No night driving, no rain, and we have a lot of it here. The worst part here for me is if I go somewhere to far away and then it starts raining more than just sprinkling I have to either pull over and wait or have my wife come and get me. Even the gray days here make it hard. In Washington our drivers license is good for five years but mine is only good for six months and I have to take a physical driving test each time to see what they determine. So far so good but I am very, very careful and only drive short distances. Sunny day's are hard also because with glaucoma to much light blinds you. I'm a mess but no time to really complain as I see others dealing with much more difficult things...LOL Haystack. The Lord is still GOOD.!!!

Hay, you are so right

This is a very interesting thread!

I'm currently freaking out cause of the chick dust in the house and am moving them out STAT.

My mom has Glaucoma and has been using drops daily for many years to control the pressure. She can see better than I can! I have the "foundation" for it, says the doc... but the pressure is normal. My mom's mom went completely blind with it years ago.

That is one of the main reasons I hated driving truck.. Night vision is just gone now.. I dreaded having to drive in the dark!

I am with you ZZ, I have 9 chicks in Billys room and Well not I am going to figure out just how to move them out...

I guess I could make room for them in the tack room, until this weekend cause I will Get the new coop done if it kills me...

An acquaintance of mine died of histoplasmosis. She had had a heart - lung transplant years before and had done very well. When she fell ill they thought it was a rejection episode and increased the immune suppression treatment, which, of course, was just the wrong thing to do. She had been aware that birds could be a threat to her health but had become careless and acquired some ducks for her beautiful garden pond. Such a pity!

ZZ's they had me on drops for about fifteen years, then said they had to do surgery because the drops weren't keeping the pressure low enough. I went through that and many many surgeries. Two years ago I saw my doctor and he wanted to try another surgery. I looked at him and said Doc. I'm leaving for Europe in five days, he asked me how long I would be gone, and I told him twenty years. He looked at me very stunned, I walked out of his office and haven't seen him since, nor have I taken drops since...So I am not worried at all about a chicken disease, I would rather have my friends kill me than these crazy doctors...LOL Were all headed for it sooner or later. Love Life and live it to the fullest, never fear. I trust the Lord is always in charge. Hay.

Miss Jester, I would never put chickens in anyones bedroom or in the house for that matter. I have babies in my office but just three or four, and only for ten days at the most. I would remove them from his bedroom immed. I never meant we shouldn't take due caution, I just meant after having done all the practical things there are some things we have to leave with the Lord. It wasn't until I had triend drops for years and grew tired to Doctors, that I said I would take my chances with life but not infact be foolish about it. You are smart to concern yourself with Billy's health...Hay

Since the weather was so cold, there was no where else to put them.. But you can bet, they go out in the tack room tonight, things are heating up here now... I am going to make one long run with two coops this weekend, I have an Idea, just got to figure it out..

This message was edited Apr 26, 2010 3:59 PM

Man! This is scary stuff, and here I was feeling so wholesome and "back to earth" with my silkies. woah...

I looked that up:
Toxoplasmosis is a parasitic disease caused by the protozoan Toxoplasma gondii.

The healthfood industry is always going on about parasites and candida (fungus), so I always try to take some kind of anti-parasitic herbs, acidophilus, and garlic.

George Mihalik, that had the most awesome silkies had to sell his business because he had some disease he contracted from his pigeons. First he was into pigeons, then got the disease and changed to silkies. He has quit completely now. They say he's a really nice and funny man.

This disease discussion is quite disturbing.

Recently I bought two silkies that were shipped to me. I had been told they had been in some unsanitary housing with pigeons, and probably had lice and parasites. The little hen was coughing and sneezing so I didn't feel right about putting her outside with the healthy chickens. They had the most horrible odor, even after bathing them, and I had a BAD headache from the moment I picked them up at the post office. I moved them and my headache went away.

This is scary stuff. Thanks all for the heads up.

PS, The hen continues to improve each day. The white rooster is awesome, I just wish a had a gorgeous white hen to breed him to.

I've known about diseases from birds for years, but I think it's up to the individual whether to keep ANY animal in the house or not! It's MY business that I have an animal in MY own home! Anyone who thinks otherwise should just keep their mouth shut! I HAVE A CAT, HAVE HAD A BIRD, AND A DOG, (SEVERAL of them), and raised 3 kids, and they came to no harm!

You are always going to be exposed to potential "pathogens". You probably need to be to keep your immune system functioning properly.

We are probably the least parasitized/disease challenged people who have ever lived...there are even suspicians that that is the reason there has been an increase in the incidence of auto-immune diseases. Without formative challenges from the outside world, the immune system may turn on the body itself.

Live dirty! (Just joking).

Nice thread JordanKittyJoe, so glad you shared with us. I had no idea of such things.

When I researched parasites in human beings I saw the most atrocious pictures and the stories.. you would have to read to believe. One lady had a big worm in her brain. It was HUGE. Then there are the pictures of huge masses of worms coming out of some child. It was something you don't really want to see.

Catscan and I are probably having a clash of belief systems, but from what I know and read, we do have parasites in America, and lots of them.

As far as immune system problems, since I've had lupus over 40 years I can comment on this. I did not get better until I read a book called "The Yeast Connection". It's about how all the antibiotics being given are causing fungus infections in people. When I began taking acidophilus and garlic my health improved tremendously. Dr. William Crook says it's the overuse of antibiotics that are causing these immune system diseases, and the children to have allergies and hyperactivity.

Cat, we can agree to disagree and do it amiably I hope.

My grandparents always gave their children castor oil for parasites, and apparently it worked fairly well. I think most of their generation did the same. They were not ignorant of parasites, like so many of us today are.

I agree on the antibiotics. To many people run to the doctor when the kid coughs. There were 5 of us, hardly ever in a doctors office as kids. We had 3 kids & they grew up without seeing a doctor.
My brothers & sister, my kids & grand kids not an allergy in any of us.
Common cold is the most over treated of anything as far as I'm concerned. It will last about 5 to 7 days if you just take it a little easy & rest. It will last 5 to 7 days (& maybe longer), if you take all kinds of cold medicines.

No, L_F_J, I think you and I are in agreement. It is the overuse and inappropriate use of antibiotics that is a problem; a healthy immune system is one that can handle disease...but it has to be exposed to them to develop properly.

As far as parasites...I don't think we don't have them...it is just that due to our sanitation technologies we have fewer than most people throughout history.

Okay.. I've got major heebie jeeebiez and I'm getting in the shower.. I moved the chicks out and cleaned all afternoon...

overuse of antibotics is what left me with such severe strange allergies.... i rarely get sick unless its a migraine but i've been off most meds for years. Just can't take them bc of allergies to them.

ZZ's ROFLMBO...Hay

This is very interesting. My monther-in-law (now deceased) always had a consistant and irratating cough. It was believed that it was caused by inhaling bat dung dust while they were stationed in Panama many years prior. So sad to now know any bird could cause problems. Dang!

Maple syrup workers can get lung disease from exposure to maple bark....

My uncle died from lung cancer from being a cement truck driver!

Maybe Michael Jackson wasn't so weird wearing that breathing mask. Should have avoided Dr's and drugs also.

No kidding!

As for overuse of antibiotics, I'm diabetic, and get infections easily. My dr. gives them to me for that reason. I also have two artificial knees, and when I get infections I'm supposed to take them. About the only infection I ever have are caused by allergies. Pine trees are BAD for me!

hmmmmmmmm good thing it is time for my yearly physical. Scarey stuff. I have very poor vision anyway and have had it for many yrs before I ever got a duck or chicken. Just had my eyes checked in Jan. so no problems there. He is extra through with me due to my health problems and some of the drugs I am on which can affect the eyes.