Introducing myself from NC, USA.

[sylviarosa]

I've suffered with severe dry eye for about 3 years now. I've seen two different doctors the latter of which is a dry eye specialist. She has helped me significantly, but I'm in the middle of a flare-up. For me, the worst of my symptoms are extreme tearing. My eyes also get pretty red, but are not as bad until there's a flare-up. I'm a university lecturer, so standing in front of my students this semester has been embarrassing. I just want to get this under control. Every morning I wake up with eyes feel like sandpaper. I believe that I must be sleeping with my eyes partially open. In spite of putting the nighttime lubricant in my eyes and sleeping with a silicone mask, I still continue to wake up like this every day, even when I'm not in a flare up. I'm also on several drops including xiidra, allrex, and pazeo. I take massive doses of omegas, flax seed oil, and turmeric for inflammation. I've been reading a little bit about the preservative BAK, and I'm concerned that the allrex and pazeo both have this preservative in them. For the first time, my doctor suggested that I may have OR. I'm just in the preliminary stages of investigation. It wouldn't be inconsistent with someone who has had lifelong environmental allergies. Additionally, we suffered a pretty severe hurricane in the fall. I was in and out of warehouses doing relief work, and there are just plenty of environmental toxins like mold overgrowth after a hurricane. Our University campus and buildings were affected as well. My flare-up began about a month after we were hit. I'm overwhelmed with all the information, but I'm trying to find some relief. Thank you.

[hannahmaywils]

Can I ask how long you have used Xidra for ? Does that not help eliminate your symptoms?

[Guest]

Do you snore? Are you a side/stomach sleeper? As for the silicone mask, at my worst, no amount of gel and no brand of mask would help. The only thing that finally protected my eyes was mepitac tape. It’s expensive, but if you’re putting something over your eyelids, just make sure the adhesive won’t cause further allergic reactions. So put in your favorite gel or ointment, and tape those eyes shut.

If you you react to everything like myself. I would suggest two drops. The first is oasis tears and oasis tears plus. They’re the best I’ve personally used. But I would reserve them for bedtime and emergencies. Even a preservative free drop may agitate your eye because of the buffers. I would suggest autologous serum. You shouldn’t have an allergic reaction because it’s made of your own blood. What makes this hard is that sometimes the cure causes another problem. You need moisture, so you use eye drops, but those are not tears and so they although they help temporarily, they’re further irritating the eye. Serum will help you get around this issue. It’s the only drop I can take all day long and it soothes me every time. Eventually commercial drops make me feel worse.

i also cannot use BAK. It again causes further issues. The steroid helps but the BAK destroys tissue so wtf is the point of that? All my drops are compunded in saline for this reason. You could ask for lotemax gel instead, 70% less BAK than alrex it traditional lotemax.

Also, I would suggest another opinion. Took me 8 doctors to finally get a correct diagnosis. Good luck. I have family in Goldsboro, great state.