Working with Schirmer 0 mm

[anthos_1975]

Hello,

I'm looking for evidence of persons who work with a Schirmer 0mm for giving me some hope.

Today i cannot go to work because my eyes remained glued this morning, and my morale is so bad...

[faithfully]

anthos, i started out with zeros in both eyes almost four years ago.
I have tried everything. I had the Schiermers test done recently and it was a 2 and 3.
My eyes are very dry and painful but here is what i do now just to manage the severe dryness. Three days a week I put in Lacriserts with a thick eye oinment. Four days a week I wear Sclerals. Along with this I take Evoxac and do manual expression as well as warm compresses twice a day. I am still on Restasis twice a day and have started Azasite.
I also have the goggles for night and sealed sunglasses for the day.
I am still looking for hope as well. My Corneal Specialists doesnt have much for me.
Now I am going to try Jack's post and up my omega's along with an asprin.
Praying for healing

[anthos_1975]

Have you got a job ?

[faithfully]

Fortunately I dont work outside of the home. WHen this all hit me back in 07 it kind of ruined any chance of working outside of the home. With it came other health issues. I now require a lot of rest.
I do have a part-time job that I do from my home.

[anthos_1975]

What is the opinion of your corneal specialist ? Mine i think, doesn't tell me the truth. He doesn't want to stress me. He tells me that i can live with schirmer 0mm but when i read some posts on dry eyes zone i am very worry,

[patrick]

anthos,

what could be the cause of a schirmer value to be zero?
do you know that? autoimmunedisease, rheuma,sjogren,lupus etc.
knowing/understanding the root cause of the disease may open the window to probable treatments.

[anthos_1975]

The cause is unknow... I have no autoimmune diseases,... I just take Deroxat for 2 month and one morning DRY EYES !!!!!

Doc tells me Deroxat can't do that. But ????

[faithfully]

My CP doesnt spend much time with me anymore. He's in and out of the room in five minutes. I do wonder if it is b/c he has run out of "tricks.? Use to he would spend time, call me, and be very interested in trying something else.
We have now gone through everything....even been to Boston. When I got back with my Sclerals my CP here checked my eyes and they were drier than ever
My cause is Sjogrens. I have read it can go into remission. THat is my prayer.
It has killed my eyes. I have never found an eye drop that helps. THey all burn badly even the autologus drops did very little and yet were so expensive.
Hope someday there is a cure.

[patrick]

i think you mean seroxat.
it is an antidepressant. regardless what your doctor says,these can cause dry eyes! it is one of the possible side effects of the drug.
i've never been on any anti depressivant,so i cannot tell you very much about it.
maybe someone here on the boards knows a bit more than me and is willing to tell you how to approach this situation the best way.
but i definitely think you're onto something now.

patrick...

[Anthony16]

Fortunately I dont work outside of the home. WHen this all hit me back in 07 it kind of ruined any chance of working outside of the home. With it came other health issues. I now require a lot of rest.
I do have a part-time job that I do from my home.

Surely,anthos would be entitled to some sort of disability support?I schimer of 0 sounds awful.I have schimer of 5 and its terrible

[kimby2007]

Working again

I know this post is over a month old but I wanted to put my two cents in. I have Sjogrens severe dry eyes, dry mouth, etc. At first, working seemed impossible but overtime I learned to manage my condition and I work again full time with considerable computer use outside the home. And yes my schirmer remains flat at 0 in both eyes. Now ever case is different but I believe work is important as it gives us a diversion from our pain and anxiety over our condition. I would try to find options that work for you such as moisture chambers, lowering your computer screen, or taking breaks to rest your eyes. But I am proof that working is possible despite my 0 test scores.

[socratese]

I can't imagine what it is like to be completely bone dry- i have mgd and I sometimes find it hard to even get up in the morning. Wish I could go back to sleep I dont feel anything then.

We live in primitive times still. Medical science is still in it's childhood/adolesence. So many things unexplained. We just have to face facts there is nothing much anyone can do for us, and it may be decades before there is substantial research and developement into treating our problems.

I'm going to try sclerals. If that doesn't help I may just have to live with my parents and family the rest of my embarrasing life.

[bvendig]

shirmer 0

Hi Anthos
my shirmer test isn't 0 but very close to it. My doctor said that even with a zero your eyes usually make some tiny amount of tears. for this reason, i have 4 punctal plugs.
this helps quite a bit. even if you don't produce any tears it keeps the artificial tears in your eyes longer.
so..basically i use:
4 punctal plugs
hot compress twice a day (15 minutes) followed by occusoft scrub
Bion Tears as needed
sometimes Oasis Plus tears
I drink a TREMENDOUS amount of liquid. I try to make most of it water but have to admit i drink a lot of diet 7up
i take 4 capsules of fish oil each day.
Betty

Hello,

I'm looking for evidence of persons who work with a Schirmer 0mm for giving me some hope.

Today i cannot go to work because my eyes remained glued this morning, and my morale is so bad...

[spmcc]

RE: Schirmer's of 0

I have Schirmer's scores of 0 in both eyes since ~2002. Sometimes, on really good days, I get a 1 in one eye.

Air is my enemy (seriously!)... not just blowing, hot or cold, but plain ol' air!

I find it really helps to wear googles/moisture chamber glasses as much as possible. It sounds terrible, I know. But the pain relief is so wonderful that I do it.

[MBC]

Schirmer 0

Hi

Yes, I have had a Schirmer 0 in one eye and 1mm in the other. It was so painful I wanted to remove my eyes with a spoon. I saw the guru of all eye guru's Dr. Reza Dana in Boston. He had one of his fellows put four plugs in my eyes who was very concerned with the correct sizing. You must know that I have had them in before from other eye docs and they kept falling out. Then he had me do a blood draw and made me my own stem cell serum tears. I use them 6x per day. I also use OTC Genteal gel drops and Refresh (small vials). This all took away much of the pain but I was till very uncomfortable. One month after at my next visit he gave me a yet to be approved drop that he "discovered". It is called Kineret and is only available through him. Someday it will be on the market. My eyes are now Schirmer 1 and 2. It does not sound like a big change, but believe me, with the 4 plugs and constant flow of four different eye drops I can actually manage my eyes, go out, go shopping, have a life, etc. Of course I wear sunglasses all the time, but compared to stabbing pain and my eyes glued shut I feel so much better about things. By the way, you mentioned that there is no cause for your dry eye. There IS a cause, you just don't know what it is yet. Keep trying other doctors until you find out what is the cause. I don't know where you live but the big experts are in Boston.