Anxiety and Stress.

[Colin P]

While reading a magazine/comic type thing last night, i came across the following...
Set in a Dentists surgery, the hand held saliva draining machine the Dentist uses, packed in whilst a patient was sat in the dentists chair. He then turned to his assistant and asked, "we now need something to increase the anxiety in our patient", "as Anxiety and Stress can stop the Salivary glands from working properly and cause dryness of the mouth", "he'll be so filled with anxiety, there wont be a drop of Saliva in his mouth"...

In Sjogrens Syndrome, this results in dryness of both Mouth and Eyes.
(Q) Are the eyes and mouth moisture secreting glands closely connected?.
Is Stress and Anxiety adding to YOUR eye dryness ???.... As it appears to be recognised that it causes dryness of the mouth...

[DCRdryeye]

Stress and Anxiety absolutely do contribute to dry mouth and dry eyes. It's a very common thing The reason is because the salivary gland and lacrimal glands are both controlled by the same branch of the nervous system called the parasympathetic nervous system, it's the part of the nervous system that "relaxes" you (amongst other things). There is another "part" of the nervous system called the "sympathetic" which is induced with stress and is involved with survival - your salivary glands and lacrimal glands will dry up. That's the simple explanation.

So relaxing on a regular basis is mandatory for dry eyes. Perhaps visit my site www.mindivine.com.au my favourite is "Abolish Anxiety" and there's a plethora of other relaxation based methods for all aspects of life problems.

A few months after I had a Pulmonary Embolism (PE) induced from shoulder surgery, I noticed similar symptoms that invoked the PE. I rushed to emergency, and noticed my chest was very painful, but my mouth was especially VERY dry and they wouldn't give me water in case they needed to operate, I was only given ice. It turned out, I had a PANIC ATTACK. Luckily I had my moisture chamber glasses on and vials of artificial tears in my pockets because my eyes were effected too!!

[patrick]

Very interesting!
We all know that dry eye disease is often a bit of a vicious circle for many of us and it is quite a challenge to break the circle especially if there is a factor of inflammation involved in the disease.
It is also very common to have a certain degree of anxiety and stress along with our dry eye symptoms. This is a logical result of the enormous life impact eye pain has. It now turns out that in addition to the vicious circle this disease already is we have to accept that the mental factor is adding yet onother perpetual component to the whole situation. Wow! I sometimes feel so trapped in all this. Escaping seems so out of reach....

Patrick...

[Colin P]

Thank's for the replys! was what i expected.
So there is something to aim for Boys and Girls! bring down your anxiety and your symptoms will probably improve.. Make that your ambition..

[Guest]

Wow! I sometimes feel so trapped in all this. Escaping seems so out of reach....

Patrick...

It's NOT out of reach... it just takes time, and improvements come in baby steps. Hang in there and don't stop trying to improve your situation!!!

[Katewest]

I agree with stress being a major factor in dry eyes. Especially for ocular rosacea. When I'm stresses/anxious/uncomfortable/etc I get hot and flush which in turn causes my lids and eyes to become red and inflamed.

[patrick]

It's NOT out of reach... it just takes time, and improvements come in baby steps. Hang in there and don't stop trying to improve your situation!!!

Hi saag,

I fully agree with you. We have to hang on and keep on trying to improve our situations.
In my opinion giving up is just not an option,but i am not a quitter anyway.
I also think we all have the obligation to learn as much as possible about this disease and share our knowledge here with our fellow sufferers. This is what makes this community so extremely valuable for people who are seeking for some support.

Btw. I always like it very much to see the positive attitude in all your posts

Patrick...

[Colin P]

On a similair note Patrick, I have learnt valuable things from Dryeyezone.com, even if at the time i could not digest properly, they still stick, and prove valuable at a later date for sure. Rebecca and whomever else works behind the scenes, may have saved people more than they realise? and steered many in the right direction with information you simply dont get from your specialist..

[sazy123]

I have the opposite.

When im anxious or stressed my feels feel so much better. Thats the same things that happens with any other illness. My eyelid inflammation goes down and the oil from my MG's flows better because my immune system is busy looking after the stress.

Another question-- If the nervous syste controls tears... why are they not looking at drugs (systematic) that will regulate the parasympathetic nervous system and increase tears. Anti depressants caused my severe dry eye- and that impacts the nervous system. So drugs directed at this would be benificial. Since i thin inflammation is a result of non functioing glands- which then makes the glands even more dysfunctional. Viscious cycle.

Your thoughts?

[Guest]

In my opinion giving up is just not an option,but i am not a quitter anyway.

So glad to hear that!!!

I also think we all have the obligation to learn as much as possible about this disease and share our knowledge here with our fellow sufferers. This is what makes this community so extremely valuable for people who are seeking for some support.

Agreed! Love this forum!