Tweet
What's up everyone, first post here. Been following the forum for awhile. About 2 years ago I had 2 incidents in a short period of time, and to the best of my knowledge, they (at least the first one) was a corneal abrasion; and although I didn't know at the time, the second time I felt the flare up, it was so serious I went to my an eye Dr. I had 20/20 and had never seen an eye Dr. before then, so it was a whole new scary world for me, but alas, that was just the beginning.
First Dr., and actually another visiting Dr. he brought in, both quickly and positively told me I had a substantial corneal abrasion on my right eye. They asked if I knew how/when I might have scratched it, and frankly, although I trained in heavy (MMA style) Martial Arts nearly 6 days a week, I really didn't think it was from that or I thought I'd have remembered the instance. Rather, I thought that it was either due to an ember from a bonfire I remembered really bothering me a week or so prior, or the only other thing I could remember, was due to the wrestling-based training I did daily, i did remember (kinda gross) having another person's sweat drop into my eye at one point, and I asked if that might have caused an infection. While they said it might have, they both strongly agreed I scratched my cornea at some point, and overly rubbed it until it just got to be too much. They gave me numbing drops and used something like a Q-tip to further open the abrasion so, as they put it, it would heal evenly. I found this very strange. But I went through with it and I've since read it's not that uncommon in theory.
I remained in pain for 6-10 days at a time, with the recurrences being so debilitating I was bed ridden for weeks at a time when it would flair up. I'm sure some of you can relate. In the beginning this was the norm, recurring appx 2 times every week or two, and all they would do is give me antibiotic drops & have me use muro128 ointment, and systaine drops as-needed. This didn't get me very far, it just kept on recurring. I didn't like my eye Dr., so I went to a second one, who confirmed he agreed with the first Dr's assessment, and kept the same lazy sort of support, barely caring how much pain I was in, not to mention complete inability to work (let alone feed myself or make it to the bathroom without help on many days due to the pain). I felt that I needed better care and help eventually and went to a 3rd Dr., who I like quite a bit and seemed at least more helpful in explaining RCE to me, where the first two didn't bother to really even tell me sadly how common this is. This new Dr. told me that he had patients who fully healed, and those who have dealt w/ this for 20+ years. He didn't offer me a set answer, and his info was grim, but it was honest and at least educational. It got me understanding what I was dealing with.
Wow this is a novel. Sorry guys, for those who have experienced this, you understand. Fast-forward to two years after the initial incidents, I'm still having RCE's, although it 'seems' they are ever-so slightly less frequent. For the first year and a half, i was on a concoction of Muro128 when I was in crisis, or otherwise RefreshPM ointment at night and systaine a few times a day as needed. Did this work? No. It seemed to some times, and at other it just seemed to clog my eye up so I woke up with even more goop in my eye, causing seemingly other issues. When I first found this site, and all of your helpful stories, I immediately ordered Dwelle Night hoping the theory of this higher oncotic pressure (is that right?); and I have to tell you (sorry guys) not only did it sting, but they were pretty much a horrible experience. I read the testimonials about 'just keep using them', but I'm sorry when my body says 'ruh roh', I just dunno if I can keep trying.
More than just my long-winded story, I'm hoping for some feedback on this most recent part of my journey. In the last 4-5 months, I've started to ween myself off of the RefreshPM at night, and nearly no Systaine unless I need it. the only thing I'm 100% sold on, is that if I'm particularly dehydrated I might use the RefreshPM as a precautionary attempt (albeit low results of avoiding next-day issues), and absolutely I DO love Muro128 ointment (NOT the drops which are useless IMO), during a crisis. I've found that upon a flare up, the only combo that immediately reduces the intensity and duration, is immediately shutting my life down, going into the dark of my bedroom, using muro128 and fully meditating or going back to sleep. Yes, life sucks when you can't hold a day job because of this issue, but on the upside (if there is one), once I finally fall asleep w/ muro128, upon sleeping, the nerves in my eyelid seem to finally stop spazzing out, and after a powernap, I seem to wake up 75% better, and begin healing immediately in most cases. This -is my small silver lining. Minimizing the intensity and duration of the flare ups. It still seems that 2-8 recurrences a month (1 at the very least) is an impossible way to live.
So now, I barely use any ointment at night unless I'm really dehydrated (I try very hard to be conscious of this). And so far, the type of flare ups I get have changed. They seem to very rarely be full tearing (pronounced tare as in rip), like they used to be, it's much more that my eyelids will get stuck together and create almost a pocket of pressure from tears (ie: crying). This is a welcome change, but my question (after all of this, thanks for whoever has made it this far) is, does any of this sound vaguely familiar? Is it possible that the year and a half of using preventative ointments, had a side effect of blocking my tear ducts or eyelids possibly 'burning out' from abuse of all of these issues? How good can it really be for your long-term eye health when you have 30-80 or so of these flare ups per year, I mean -this can't add up to good things in the long run.... And are there any experiences or procedures/tests that you have experienced that helped you make it back one step on the ladder back to normalcy? And lastly I recently read an article on Keratitis. Icky stuff, but some of the symptoms seem very similar to those of RCE. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks so much for your time and your stories. It's really nice to see a board like this with so much support out there.
First Dr., and actually another visiting Dr. he brought in, both quickly and positively told me I had a substantial corneal abrasion on my right eye. They asked if I knew how/when I might have scratched it, and frankly, although I trained in heavy (MMA style) Martial Arts nearly 6 days a week, I really didn't think it was from that or I thought I'd have remembered the instance. Rather, I thought that it was either due to an ember from a bonfire I remembered really bothering me a week or so prior, or the only other thing I could remember, was due to the wrestling-based training I did daily, i did remember (kinda gross) having another person's sweat drop into my eye at one point, and I asked if that might have caused an infection. While they said it might have, they both strongly agreed I scratched my cornea at some point, and overly rubbed it until it just got to be too much. They gave me numbing drops and used something like a Q-tip to further open the abrasion so, as they put it, it would heal evenly. I found this very strange. But I went through with it and I've since read it's not that uncommon in theory.
I remained in pain for 6-10 days at a time, with the recurrences being so debilitating I was bed ridden for weeks at a time when it would flair up. I'm sure some of you can relate. In the beginning this was the norm, recurring appx 2 times every week or two, and all they would do is give me antibiotic drops & have me use muro128 ointment, and systaine drops as-needed. This didn't get me very far, it just kept on recurring. I didn't like my eye Dr., so I went to a second one, who confirmed he agreed with the first Dr's assessment, and kept the same lazy sort of support, barely caring how much pain I was in, not to mention complete inability to work (let alone feed myself or make it to the bathroom without help on many days due to the pain). I felt that I needed better care and help eventually and went to a 3rd Dr., who I like quite a bit and seemed at least more helpful in explaining RCE to me, where the first two didn't bother to really even tell me sadly how common this is. This new Dr. told me that he had patients who fully healed, and those who have dealt w/ this for 20+ years. He didn't offer me a set answer, and his info was grim, but it was honest and at least educational. It got me understanding what I was dealing with.
Wow this is a novel. Sorry guys, for those who have experienced this, you understand. Fast-forward to two years after the initial incidents, I'm still having RCE's, although it 'seems' they are ever-so slightly less frequent. For the first year and a half, i was on a concoction of Muro128 when I was in crisis, or otherwise RefreshPM ointment at night and systaine a few times a day as needed. Did this work? No. It seemed to some times, and at other it just seemed to clog my eye up so I woke up with even more goop in my eye, causing seemingly other issues. When I first found this site, and all of your helpful stories, I immediately ordered Dwelle Night hoping the theory of this higher oncotic pressure (is that right?); and I have to tell you (sorry guys) not only did it sting, but they were pretty much a horrible experience. I read the testimonials about 'just keep using them', but I'm sorry when my body says 'ruh roh', I just dunno if I can keep trying.
More than just my long-winded story, I'm hoping for some feedback on this most recent part of my journey. In the last 4-5 months, I've started to ween myself off of the RefreshPM at night, and nearly no Systaine unless I need it. the only thing I'm 100% sold on, is that if I'm particularly dehydrated I might use the RefreshPM as a precautionary attempt (albeit low results of avoiding next-day issues), and absolutely I DO love Muro128 ointment (NOT the drops which are useless IMO), during a crisis. I've found that upon a flare up, the only combo that immediately reduces the intensity and duration, is immediately shutting my life down, going into the dark of my bedroom, using muro128 and fully meditating or going back to sleep. Yes, life sucks when you can't hold a day job because of this issue, but on the upside (if there is one), once I finally fall asleep w/ muro128, upon sleeping, the nerves in my eyelid seem to finally stop spazzing out, and after a powernap, I seem to wake up 75% better, and begin healing immediately in most cases. This -is my small silver lining. Minimizing the intensity and duration of the flare ups. It still seems that 2-8 recurrences a month (1 at the very least) is an impossible way to live.
So now, I barely use any ointment at night unless I'm really dehydrated (I try very hard to be conscious of this). And so far, the type of flare ups I get have changed. They seem to very rarely be full tearing (pronounced tare as in rip), like they used to be, it's much more that my eyelids will get stuck together and create almost a pocket of pressure from tears (ie: crying). This is a welcome change, but my question (after all of this, thanks for whoever has made it this far) is, does any of this sound vaguely familiar? Is it possible that the year and a half of using preventative ointments, had a side effect of blocking my tear ducts or eyelids possibly 'burning out' from abuse of all of these issues? How good can it really be for your long-term eye health when you have 30-80 or so of these flare ups per year, I mean -this can't add up to good things in the long run.... And are there any experiences or procedures/tests that you have experienced that helped you make it back one step on the ladder back to normalcy? And lastly I recently read an article on Keratitis. Icky stuff, but some of the symptoms seem very similar to those of RCE. Any thoughts on that?
Thanks so much for your time and your stories. It's really nice to see a board like this with so much support out there.
Comment