Here is my case

[Roderick]

Hello everyone. Here is my story.

Since the end of October, a period which coincided with the new colder temperatures, my inner eyelids started to become incredibly sore. It got really extremely painful, to the point of making even the simple act of reading very painful, because of the successive eyelid movements required to read from left to right. I also seemed to become affected by the successive cold and warm temperatures I was exposed to (inside my apartment or my college, and then outside in the cold).

I saw a physician, and an ophtalmologist. Both told me that there was nothing visibly wrong with my eyes or eyelids and that whatever it was, it wasn't dangerous in the least. Whatever, here the health specialists seem to be particularly useless.

This didn't satisfy me at all as I was still prone to a lot of eye pain and doing some very simple tasks proved to be torture. I was worried, since I had a lot of mid-term projects to complete for college, projects involving a lot of reading.

At some point I tried out some Lid-Care, and the relief was fantastic. I was able to read some more with far less pain. Later on I saw the suggestion to use warm compresses. Once again, this proved to provide great relief. I still use a lot of Lid-Care every few days, and although it doesn't soothe all of the soreness is provides me with a lot of relief. I put it on my eyelids and on my lids, and I close my eyes, trying to apply it as close as possible to the root of my eyelids. Then about one hour later I go and take a shower. After I come out I usually feel much better.

Some of the soreness/pressure I felt inside my eyelids never left. It's still extremely annoying at times.

I tried to use various sorts of eyedrops, including Opticrom, which is supposed to treat an allergic reaction, but to no avail. Sometimes these just did seem to ultimately cause more hurt than good.

I don't think it's due to an allergy, as I often spend nearly all day outside of my appartment, and it doesn't feel better. I have a cat, but I don't think he's the source of the reactions, as the Opticrom didn't cure anything and I don't think my pain is heightened when I'm near him. Plus this eyelid soreness is the only abnormal symptom I have.

In the morning I don't seem to ever have any sorts of deposits typically associated to blepharitis. When I look at my eyes in the mirror, I don't see anything special, except for the fact that my bottom inner eyelids almost always are of a vivid red. I also feel a lot of pressure most of the time, and it mostly seems to come from the left and right upper corners of my left and right inner eyelids, respectively.

[Roderick]

Well my thread wasnt successful, but anyhow I found an experienced optometrist around the Montreal area who seems to be able to properly diagnoze dry eye and who seems cognizant in the matter. I have an appointment with him next monday.

I also want to try Thera Tears nutrition, I already take cod liver oil pretty regularly, but perhaps these would help with the tear secretion.

[Guest]

It was a good move on your part to seek out a different doc! Good luck with your appointment... hopefully the new doc will be more helpful than the last one!

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Roderick,

I'm glad you've found a better doctor - it can make a huge difference. And it sounds like you've educated yourself a lot. It's an ongoing process for all of us! - About the first post... sometimes the way things ebb and flow on the board, depending how many people are looking at the board when you post sometimes there's a lot of answers and sometimes none but often it takes a few days before there's some responses. Don't let it faze you, just keep on posting as you're doing

[sanna]

Well my thread wasnt successful, but anyhow I found an experienced optometrist around the Montreal area who seems to be able to properly diagnoze dry eye and who seems cognizant in the matter. I have an appointment with him next monday.

I also want to try Thera Tears nutrition, I already take cod liver oil pretty regularly, but perhaps these would help with the tear secretion.

My eyeproblems also got worse in October and i started taking Omega 3 fish oil and it helped a lot. I also drink a lot of water...

[Stanza]

Your symptoms mirror mine. My eyelids cause the most problem, though my eyes are now more and more red too at the moment.
doctors also tell me that my eyes look fine when I know they aren't

Sounds like I should try Lid Care...!

[Roderick]

Your symptoms mirror mine. My eyelids cause the most problem, though my eyes are now more and more red too at the moment.
doctors also tell me that my eyes look fine when I know they aren't

Sounds like I should try Lid Care...!

I guess you've nothing to lose. It certainly won't solve anything, but before you find a long term solution I'm sure it could bring you a lot of relief. Like I said, I like to wash my eyelids and eyelashes with it, let the stuff on without rincing them, and then take a shower a little while later. Usually I'll then pour some of the water on my eyes. At the very worst if it doesn't really bring you much relief, well the stuff is benign, so it certainly won't worsen your condition.

And yes, it sucks when you meet a professional who doesn't take you seriously because you have no empirically observable syndromes. The only way to win is to become smarter than them and seek the help or stuff that we need ourselves. Which really isn't all that hard.

[Roderick]

My eyeproblems also got worse in October and i started taking Omega 3 fish oil and it helped a lot. I also drink a lot of water...

Yeah I take some cod liver oil every now and then. I took some when the problems started to spring up, although it didn't seem to be of much help. As of late I started taking the cod liver oil every day, and drinking more water.

Honestly it seems that since yesterday, my eyes started to feel a bit more watery at times. And on like 2-3 occasions, I felt a liquid in my eyes. Once it happened in both eyes at the same time. I touched them gently with my finger, and I discovered there was really a watery solution coming from my eyes. Who knows, maybe my tear production is really starting to improve.

I remember a few years ago I ordered some Bio Tears because I had some dry eye symptoms, although far more benign, and some weeks after it seems that my eyes got better, even if I can't directly attribute it to the product. I guess I'll order some again, instead of the Thera Tears. It seems like a more thorough product too.

Hi Roderick,

I'm glad you've found a better doctor - it can make a huge difference. And it sounds like you've educated yourself a lot. It's an ongoing process for all of us! - About the first post... sometimes the way things ebb and flow on the board, depending how many people are looking at the board when you post sometimes there's a lot of answers and sometimes none but often it takes a few days before there's some responses. Don't let it faze you, just keep on posting as you're doing

Yeah, I'm intimately familiar with forum dynamics. I didn't take it seriously or anything. And it looks like the topic has picked up some steam too.

I couldn't help but to read other threads, and I've seen a lot of people with really terrible dry eye problems, along with many other complications. I suddenly consider myself lucky in comparison, as my problems are still somewhat benign. At least it's nice to have a site with so much information and people to talk about their experiences and exchange tips.

[Roderick]

Well, I've seen the optician. Bad news. Turns out he knew next to nothing about dry eye syndrome. He apologized profusedly and looked really sorry. He advised going to a physician to see if it was caused by something else... yeah, right, it's only because of stress. And I'm the pope.

At least I know that my eyes are perfectly intact and healthy...

Don't worry though, I know that most eye professionals are woefully untrained and unprepared to handle issues related to dry eye syndrome, so I'm not taking his advice into consideration at all. Still it's a bit frustrating to see so many highly-trained professionals think that there's nothing wrong with your eyes just because there's no visible symptom for them to assess, other than vague inner eyelid redness.

I just chose wrong, in the end that's probably my bad.

Oh well, I'm at my mother's home and I feel a bit better. The irritation is still there, but it seems my eyelids are a bit harder to irritate, because it feels way more humid in her hoome. In my apartment it was dry as hell in comparison.

I know what I'm going to do. I'm buying a humidifier as soon as I get back to make my apartment more beareable. And I'm ordering the Bio Tears, maybe it will suffice.

I don't seem to ever really have any type of special deposits on my eyelids, so I don't seem to have blepharitis or MGD. Perhaps just plain eye dryness.

I'll surely try to find a real dry eye professional in the future, but I'd only go with one who really advertises himself as such. Might be hard to find here in Quebec though. Eye professionals seem to be largely clueless or even oblivious about the condition. And if this hypothetical expert is part of the public system, well I'm not sure I can wait 6 months or more for my turn...

[painless]

I don't have any visible deposits of any kind on my eyelids or eyelashes either, but I do have MGD and blepharitis -- so don't completely rule them out based on the absence of that symptom.

Hope you find a good doctor. My insurance plan only has doctors that don't know a thing about dry eye, so I've been on my own, too. Frustrating, to say the very least.

[Roderick]

I don't have any visible deposits of any kind on my eyelids or eyelashes either, but I do have MGD and blepharitis -- so don't completely rule them out based on the absence of that symptom.

Hope you find a good doctor. My insurance plan only has doctors that don't know a thing about dry eye, so I've been on my own, too. Frustrating, to say the very least.

Well, thanks for the tip. I won't discard these possibilities just yet.

If anyone knows of a good doctor around Montreal or Quebec city (fat chance, I know), I'd of course like to be filled in, can't say I've found much of anything with my searches so far.

I'd be ready to travel a bigger distance to meet one at some point, but for now as I am a deadbeat student with a credit card always maxed, I'll be forced to wait.

Anyhow just ordered the Bio Tears. Let's see if it makes a difference...

[advocate]

There are allegens outdoors also, including weeds, trees, mold, pollen, grass, etc. See my guide. See an allergist, get tested, and try allergy meds.

Don't assume that your ocular allergy reaction will be immediate. It isn't with me. Unlike hay fever symptoms, my ocular allergies take several hours to develop and several hours to cure. Thus, for example, if I'm exposed to dogs, my eyes will flare up 2-3 hours later, and take 24 hours to get back to normal. Also, once you're exposed to an allergen, the allergens collect on your clothing and in your hair. So, once you're around your cat, your cat's allergens stay with you until you shower...

Hello everyone. Here is my story.

Since the end of October, a period which coincided with the new colder temperatures, my inner eyelids started to become incredibly sore. It got really extremely painful, to the point of making even the simple act of reading very painful, because of the successive eyelid movements required to read from left to right. I also seemed to become affected by the successive cold and warm temperatures I was exposed to (inside my apartment or my college, and then outside in the cold).

I saw a physician, and an ophtalmologist. Both told me that there was nothing visibly wrong with my eyes or eyelids and that whatever it was, it wasn't dangerous in the least. Whatever, here the health specialists seem to be particularly useless.

This didn't satisfy me at all as I was still prone to a lot of eye pain and doing some very simple tasks proved to be torture. I was worried, since I had a lot of mid-term projects to complete for college, projects involving a lot of reading.

At some point I tried out some Lid-Care, and the relief was fantastic. I was able to read some more with far less pain. Later on I saw the suggestion to use warm compresses. Once again, this proved to provide great relief. I still use a lot of Lid-Care every few days, and although it doesn't soothe all of the soreness is provides me with a lot of relief. I put it on my eyelids and on my lids, and I close my eyes, trying to apply it as close as possible to the root of my eyelids. Then about one hour later I go and take a shower. After I come out I usually feel much better.

Some of the soreness/pressure I felt inside my eyelids never left. It's still extremely annoying at times.

I tried to use various sorts of eyedrops, including Opticrom, which is supposed to treat an allergic reaction, but to no avail. Sometimes these just did seem to ultimately cause more hurt than good.

I don't think it's due to an allergy, as I often spend nearly all day outside of my appartment, and it doesn't feel better. I have a cat, but I don't think he's the source of the reactions, as the Opticrom didn't cure anything and I don't think my pain is heightened when I'm near him. Plus this eyelid soreness is the only abnormal symptom I have.

In the morning I don't seem to ever have any sorts of deposits typically associated to blepharitis. When I look at my eyes in the mirror, I don't see anything special, except for the fact that my bottom inner eyelids almost always are of a vivid red. I also feel a lot of pressure most of the time, and it mostly seems to come from the left and right upper corners of my left and right inner eyelids, respectively.