Physically Exhausted by this dry eye

[Lucy]

Diana---OMG, are you nuts? Congrats to you and Gary and the rest of the clan. Only you could pull this off. Or would even try. Lucy

[painintheeye]

So happy for you!

Diana,

So good to hear you are doing so well.

YOu are truly an inspiration to all of us. I have only one child and I am already finding it difficult. Can't ever imagine 3 more!!!

Best wishes,

Chris

[Dotanne]

Diana - you were an inspiration to me when I found DEZ 3 1/2 years ago. (4 years up this month!) Congratulations on your pregnancy! I really enjoy your posts and I did love it when you put photos of your beautiful family on your post for us all to see. They must be growing up now. How about some more pics when you are feeling better? I do hope you get over the nausea very soon and that your eyes do not trouble you. You are so right that being so busy with other distractions does help one ignore discomfort and pain!
Children are a great joy and being involved in their lives as a mother(and grandmother) is is one of the greatest experiences of life! Our youngest is 27 now and we have 4 grandchildren.
Take care and god bless
Dot

[dianat]

Thanks for all the kinds words! You folks are all really, really great. I've been "missing in action" a bit lately, but you all make me feel so much a part of the community still.

Regarding my improvement a few years ago...

I began using autologous blood serum drops when I was pregnant a few years ago. The subsiding of the intense burning did coincide with using the drops. The timing couldn't have been better as I'd still been battling intense depression and anxiety due to constant pain.

I used the drops happily for years, and this past summer began a therapeutic regimen of Dwelle just to see how I'd do. I discontinued the serum and have now been using Dwelle regularly for many months. I may decide to go back to serum drops again some day, but for now am content to use Dwelle and haven't noticed a change in my overall comfort.

Can't say for certain whether the serum did the trick, or whether some amount of healing took place finally. Maybe the serum promoted some much needed healing...I just don't know.

Dotanne, I've added you and a few others to my friends list so you can view the photos I've posted on my profile page. They are not viewable to the world, just people listed as friends. There are still more friends to be added, I just haven't done it yet. I cannot wait as well to be a grandmother! I better get a few! In your avatar you don't look nearly old enough to have grandchildren yet!

D

[jenny2008]

Hi Diana!

And congrats! That is so great you will be a mom again! You are a really strong person-and not to sound like everyone else-but very inspirational. You have helped me so much by reading your posts-and of course by referring me to my doctor who has helped me more than anyone by far! I even emailed him last week and you were so right-he repsonded w/in a few hours!

Thanks again for your posts and advise you give. You inspire us all.. I know you have been through a long road and it gives me hope and helps me keep a positive attitude even on my 'bad' days.!

Love,
Jenny

[kimby2007]

Posts

Hi All:

Thanks to all of you for your posts. My dryeyes have been very bad as of late and am contemplating begging my MD to begin disabilty. I have 0 tears and 0 TBUT so I can barely keep my eyes open. I do work but the pain is beyond intense. I don't know but can anyone advise on the disability process. I am assuming the first step would be to get a doctor on board.

Kim

[sazy123]

Yes, Kim, I absolutely know where you are coming from.

I feel my dry eye problems run my life....which, actually, they do, because the state of my eyes governs where I can go, what I can do, who I can meet, what arrangements I can make - have to keep messing people about because you never know from day to day how you're going to feel....

It seems so pathetic, as well, because it's not a "life threatening" illness, it's just the sheer day-im-day-out grind of it all that gets you in the end.

Every morning I have to spend up to an hour doing compresses and cleaning the lid margins because it's so painful if I try to hurry. They at least 2 more lots of compresses (20 mins each time) later in the day....

not being able to look at the computer for very long most of the time - so can't have any fun learning stuff or anything, can't read for very long, can't watch TV for very long without getting very dry.

I could go on.

I am sure you all know exactly what I mean.

I have a friend who was recently diagnosed with bowel cancer, had a huge portion removed, is now on very drastic IV chemotherapy until March...and it embarrasses me hugely to see that she seems to cope with it better than I do with my comparatively trivial condition.

It's just so relentless, isn't it? no getting away from it at any time, every time you blink your eye or focus on something different you know it's there




my word...I didn't realise how bitter and twisted I was feeling until I started typing...still, as others have already said, it's nice to have somewhere we can allow it out...

Im not trying to undermine serious conditions like cancer or anything, obviously theres different severities, in this day and age cancer can be treated very well. But i know several people who have had different forms of cancer after chemo etc they seem to be able to live life alot easier than me, and are not debilitating etc. Whereas i seem to be, this condition stops me doing anything. Just talking from experiance. I find this condition very debilitating at 23.

[sazy123]

Hi All:

Thanks to all of you for your posts. My dryeyes have been very bad as of late and am contemplating begging my MD to begin disabilty. I have 0 tears and 0 TBUT so I can barely keep my eyes open. I do work but the pain is beyond intense. I don't know but can anyone advise on the disability process. I am assuming the first step would be to get a doctor on board.

Kim

Have you tried LDN, if you have sjorgens? i know it has been helpful for those with autoimmune dry eye related disorders.

[odydnas]

Sazy, I understand how you feel. There are times that I would trade my legs and be in a wheelchair for the rest of my life than live with dry eyes.

[kimby2007]

Dry eyes

Hi All:

I wrote this original message on a pretty bad dry eye day. Since then my eyes have been a little better which is a relief. Not good but better. I appreciate all the support you sent me. I am going to continue to work but on my own terms. I wish more than anything that none of us had dry eyes. It is a horrible condition but it seems to vary from day to day. Best wishes to all of us.

Kim

[RobLIC]

Sometimes when I am having a really bad DE day I will put on a CD or watch a movie or do something that I know will make me sad - that will make me cry, really. A song that reminds me of something from the past or whatever. A weird way to manage your symptoms, and of course tears that can burn aren't necessarily a panacea for this condition. But it has given me some relief. Today at work I watched "Billy Elliot" in the background on my computer and at the moment where he gets the answer about his application to the ballet school I started crying - and had a really good 20 minutes after that.

[irish eyes]

Good on you Kim.

If you have work that you enjoy - and you can manage it on your own terms, then I think this can be really beneficial to self esteem.

Like you, I have had a few days that haven't been too bad and it's amazing how much more I have achieved. I have read more of the paper, I have done a bit more housework (yuck) and I haven't been completely fatigued when I get in from work. I have a part time job (that I love) but it can still exhaust me when my eyes are bad.

Take care now.