Please help with this, it's casuing mayhem in the office...?

Question

I had an operation when I was 15 on my eyes. The doctor told me I would have to eat somethin before they would let me go because your eyes are connected to your stomach.

This is the reason that when you get eye strain, you feel ill aswell as having a head ache.

Also, if you are feeling sea-sick it's because you see the water level rising and falling. If you were in the middle of the boat with no view of the outside, there is little chance you would feel acutely sea-sick.

My colleagues won't have it but surely the doctor was right?

Answers please????

Answer 1

I'm not sure why your doctor said that your eyes are connected to your stomach, since they're two completely different organs (your stomach is part of the gastrointestinal tract, while your eyes are part of your nervous system).

His advice was good, though.  After surgery, the doctors won't let you go until you can keep food down.  This has more to do with the anesthetic and painkillers than the surgery itself, though.  Anesthesia can wreak havoc with your entire system (in many surgeries, the anesthesia is more dangerous than the actual procedure).  The digestive system can get hit particularly hard.  So, when you wake up, the doctors want to make sure you can keep food down and regain your strength before you leave their care.

You're on the right track with seasickness, though, since the eyes play a part (but not the only part).  Seasickness is mostly a problem with the inner ear, which controls your body's balance.  When the boat rocks back and forth, it throws your body off balance.  At the same time, your brain tries to process the visual balance cues, when things nearby (like the deck of the boat) doesn't appear to be moving, and others (like waves) are moving in a completely different direction.  This confusion can lead to intense nausea.  It's not only an eye problem, though.  I know from unpleasant firsthand experience that you can get very seasick while sitting inside a boat with your eyes closed.  Looking at the horizon going up and down, though, can help the problem - it lets your brain know that, yes, you're actually moving back and forth, which alleviates the confusion and can help the nausea subside.

So, I guess the answer is both yes and no.  The eyes aren't related to the digestive system at all.  At the same time, though, both are regulated by the nervous system.  Problems with the eyes can cause your brain to make adjustments that can lead to nausea.  Your doctor was wrong (or was grossly oversimplifying it), but you're right in that eye problems (usually when coupled with balance problems) can lead to nausea.

Answer 2

I think in an anaesthetic blur you misunderstod the doctor; the eyes aren't connected to your stomach.

With regards to the seasickness, you feel sick due to the rocking motion.  Going to the middle of the boat with no view of the outside is in fact one of the worst things you can do.  Whilst on the sea, the rocking motion of the boat causes your inner ear to send messages to the brain that you are moving, but when you are inside/can't see the horizon, your eyes send messages to your brain that you are in fact stationary.  This causes a conflict in your brain, one group of senses telling it one thing whilst being contradicted by another.  Although the not proven, a leading hypothesis is that your body thinks you have been poisoned and that some sort of neurotoxin is causing you to hallucinate therefore you vomit as part of a protective mechanism.  Best way to cure it, go up on deck and stare off into the horizon to correct the conflict such that your eyes agree with your ears and tell the brain you are in fact moving.

Answer 3

Your eyes are not connected to your stomach. You always need to eat after surgery and such to regain strength and avoid passing out. As for the seasickness, no, it has nothing to do with water levels and visuals, and you could get seasick being inside the boat as well...it is MOTION sickness, which you will still experience inside the boat.