Blepharitis and Sleep

[dave25]

I plan on asking my doctor this question soon, but for now I will seek the respected advice of the forum.

Upon waking, my eyes usually feel dry and irritated. I was wondering if anyone with blepharitis has any good suggestions or methods they use to improve their symptoms upon waking in the morning?

[woodart]

Morning

At night I use ointment and once I get up I do some hot compresses to help me get started and after that some Restasis. That's how I start my day.

[odydnas]

I second the hot compresses. Also, starting off the day with a hot shower and cleansing the eyelids help as well.

[mflores22]

I have the same problem. I started sleeping on my side or my back, and not on my stomach so that my eyes are not rubbing the pillow all night. It hasn't completely alleviated my morning irritation, but it has helped a lot.

[skygoddess]

Try taping your eyes shut with Glad Press and Seal wrap. Crazy I know, but I wake up more comfortable since I started.

[GinaJ]

I use the steri lid foam first thing after I wake. Then some preservative free drops.

[HOSADOS]

how I go through the night LOL

I'm not sure you're going to like this one...but it's effective !
First of all I use a Anti-fungal / Anti -Microbial sleeping mask. I guess that Tranquileye would be a better idea (haven't tried it) but this singificantly improve my nights.

Now to the hard part but restul oriented I try to wake up every 2-3 hours for a quick baby shampoo wash, and 2 minutes of lid massage lipid oil expressing, followed by instilling Dr. Holly's eye drops. If you do that I guarantee that your night and morning would be way different but for that one has to sleep early and to be relatively relax and calm otherwise this could be challenging...good luck

I avoid using Ointment or gels, as my personal exprience had taught me that is extremely BAD for me. Furthermore, sound science suggest the same, and at night Ointment can kill you. Last week I was on Maxitrol (steroid +2 anti-biotic) in form of Ointment and that just made things worst and aggregate my DES and completely blocked my Meibomian Glands, to an extent that I have no oil coming out, and this only from a week of using this crap...
sooner or later this would get you. I guess that for those with MGD this would even worst.

[dave25]

I have not had good luck with ointments or gels either. I have read about them helping other people, however I don't think they are for me.

I have in fact tried waking up at night and putting in drops and it certainly makes a difference, but sometimes I have a hard time getting back to sleep so it is somewhat counterproductive for me.

I admire your persistence for waking up every 2-3 hours, yet I am looking for a method where I can sleep throughout the night and still get the relief I am looking for. One thing I have found for certain is that if I get 8 hours sleep my eyes feel much better than when I only get 5 or 6 hours. Thanks for the advice.

[HOSADOS]

I have not had good luck with ointments or gels either. I have read about them helping other people, however I don't think they are for me.

Please review my post 'Ointment is BAD for your EYES, period"
http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=6304

have in fact tried waking up at night and putting in drops and it certainly makes a difference, but sometimes I have a hard time getting back to sleep so it is somewhat counterproductive for me.

Good point. I had a similar experience, and for me it was a matter of making a it habit to wake up which was the hard part for me (the face wash make me alert, lol, but after expressing oil and instilling drops I feel like new!).
Now for getting back to sleep I use this WONDERFUL techniqu see http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=5018 My suggestion, is not to try and intelectualize it but Just Do it, as they say, and when done properly it WORKS great. When practicing it at night while lieing down in bed on the back, one usually find him/her sellf, falling into a very deep sleep in 5-10 minutes while practicing. The way I see it, is that I benefit twice. One from cleaning my eyes, expressing glands and instilling drops, and second time from falling into a deep high quality sleep while practicing this technique. Usually 5 minutes into the proccess and most people find themself in a deep sleep. Which challenging if you really want to practice longer, but very good if your goal is to fall asleep and avoid circular thoughts pattern and anxiety.

So instead of start worring, 2 o'clock no sleep, 3 o'clock no sleep, just have a smile maintain equanimity and pratice this techniqe and you will find yourself very fresh in the morning. Doing so for a while I foud my symptoms and disease improved significantly, and no need to say that this has an impact on the whole day

I am looking for a method where I can sleep throughout the night and still get the relief I am looking for.

I think that if you have Blepharitis or MGD, the best and most logical way to get relief is to follow the routine I suggested at night. This no different then how you treat this in the morning. We all know hygiene is a key here. Also take in account, that at night your eyes produce even less tears and due to low blinking rate (also there is the complete blinking issue) lipid oil secretion is extremely low. So I can't see any other effective way around it-if you find a better way please share it with me. I recommend you try this routine once or twice and see how much it actually improve your quality of life in the morning and at night, and then decide if it's worth the effort. One it becomes a habit it's very easy to maintain...

[HOSADOS]

One thing I have found for certain is that if I get 8 hours sleep my eyes feel much better than when I only get 5 or 6 hours. Thanks for the advice.

Totaly agree, in fact I found the quality and quantity of sleep issue to be a crucial element of my disease. I speculate that it has to do with healing and stress. Since, I also found that when symptom get wrost I feel more stress and strain and much more tired regardless how much I slept, and when I'm tired I found my symtoms to aggregate subtantially.

Hence, I decide to put an emphasise on quality of life, and found that when I sleep well (quality and quantity) and go to bed early, and meditate to relieve sress and strain, my diseases and symptoms improve. This actually, made a big turning point with dealing this diseases and improving my quality of life.
Similarly I found that eating healthy and regularly had a positive impact.
So I think changing life style could benefit significantly !

[Teri]

don't sacrifice your sleep

Dave25,

I sympathize with your plight.

Last year, my eyes were drying so much at night that I was experiencing corneal erosions. In desperation, I, like Hosado, started waking every 2 hours to instill eye drops. This halted the erosions but ruined my sleep. In short time, I developed severe and chronic insomnia that lasted for nearly a year. Trust me, you do not want to go down that road. Sleep is a crucial factor in your eyes healing (as well as keeping your sanity and your health).

Hosado, I'm glad you've found a routine that is working for you and I hope that some day you no longer have to do it. I would just caution anyone who is thinking of disturbing your sleep like this to tread carefully.

I think the key in helping your eyes to stay more lubricated at night is to properly treat your blepharitis. It's not so much something you do just upon waking but what you do all day long. Do you have a good doctor?

I use warm compresses 4X or more daily, and lid washes/massages with Cetaphil cleanser 2X daily. I will probably continue this for the rest of my life. What knocked the blepharitis out for me was a course of Azasite. I used it nightly for a month, and within about 4 days, my eyes were noticeably moister upon waking. That's also how I accidentally discovered that my right eye was opening slightly in my sleep. The Azasite is very thick, and once I put the drop in, I closed my eyes and it would ooze out. I left it alone and went to sleep, keeping my eye closed. In the morning, my eyelids were basically fused shut due to the Azasite drying on my eyelids/eyelashes.

Now I use Genteal gel at bedtime, and I let it ooze out, too, and smear it around on my lash line. I don't open my eyes after that. It dries there and keeps my eyes closed. (I could not get used to sleeping with a mask, or tranquileyes, or tape.)

Hope this helps and I hope you are feeling better soon!
Teri

[HOSADOS]

hope you're using Humidifier as a first line of defense. you could also wet your sleeping mask or night goggle. As waking up at night, I think that even if one wakes up once or twice to clean and instill drops, that makes a huge different. I think I ought it to myself to try some special night goggle to act as night moister chambers

[qwertyu]

Anyone tried Plugs? Did it improve anything during sleep?