strange

[patrick]

lately i've noticed that not only my eyes hurt,but also my teeth! never had this before.
gradually it went from bad to worse,so i went to my dentist to have this checked out. guess what he told me. i seem to lock my jaws for the most part of the day.
the dentist asked me if i have a job with strickt deadlines or i experience a lot of stress otherwise. no,non of that. i explained him that i have a lot of pain caused by my eyes,that it has been going on for a couple of years now and that it is getting worse over the years. he said that this is probably the explanation for me locking my jaws all day.
he also said that i need to do something about the eyecondition. (haha i found his comment rather funny,people really do not have a clue what a struggle dry eye can be). i told him that there really is not a lot that can be done about it. he was amazed and said he never heard before about this as an outcome of lasek eyesurgery. well he does now.
i now need to remember to relax my jaws and be aware to do not lock them for prolonged times. he also recommended to wear a night guard at night,because obviously all this is not too good for my set of teeth. it can really destroy your set of teeth.they're still in mint condition and i'd like to keep it that way.
this dry eye condition is going to affect the whole body in the course of time. i'm very sorry,but i'm convinced that this is the case.
anybody here who is experiencing the same or something similar?

patrick...

[Guest]

this dry eye condition is going to affect the whole body in the course of time. i'm very sorry,but i'm convinced that this is the case.

Hi Patrick,

I don't think it HAS to affect the whole body... that's just the stress of this condition doing that. I think that if the eyes are starting to affect the rest of you, it just means you need to spend some time figuring out new ways to manage the stress that this causes. Please don't give in and just assume it will be this way forever... Odds are that it won't... just do whatever you have to do (within reason) to get your eyes to a liveable state, and in the mean time, while you're waiting for the effects of treatments to kick in, try to distract yourself from your eye problems with other things whenever you can. (A lot of us here use audiobooks for that... Personally, I think they are freaking fabulous for people like us!... If you get bored of audiobooks, maybe you can find some comedy shows that are good for listening to while you rest your eyes?)

Check out the DEWS report for the chapter on treatment options... you may find some that you haven't tried yet.

http://www.tearfilm.org/dewsreport/p...DEWS-noAds.pdf

Good luck with the teeth thing... it sounds painful!! Hopefully a night guard will work for you!

[irish eyes]

....... he also said that i need to do something about the eyecondition. (haha i found his comment rather funny,people really do not have a clue what a struggle dry eye can be). ..............anybody here who is experiencing the same or something similar? patrick...

Indeed I can Patrick.

This happened to me a few years back. I was indescribably miserable because of the pain and discomfort in my eyes - and it always showed in my face. (Think of Edvard Munch's painting - The Scream)

The pain was prolonged and my ability to cope with it simply wore me down. I felt lonely, anxious and depressed - who wouldn't?

I gradually developed temporomandibular joint disorder - which meant that I couldn't even open my mouth wide enough to eat - never mind chew!

It took a few weeks to improve - I needed physio to get there. I'm good at telling other people to relax but I haven't quite mastered the skill yet. When my pain gets bad, I've to watch that I don't get too stressed with it.

Good luck with it

[patrick]

hi chemia,saag and irish eyes,

thanks for your comments! so i'm not the only one experiencing something like this. i already thought i would not be alone in this.

it comes all down to only one word STRESS! i'm not even aware that i'm experiencing a lot of stress. it doesn't feel like it. on the other hand i do feel pain and the body is going to react to that if you like it or not. the thing is i'd like to stop myself locking my jaws and clenching my teeth.

now that i'm aware of what i do it is a lot easier to stop it. whenever i notice that i'm going wrong i relax my mouth and try to keep in mind to do not make the mistake of allowing too much tension in my body. it takes some time ,but i'm already feeling that it works. the tension is a lot lesser than like 14 days ago.

i have more than enough things to distract myself. (maybe a little too many).
i have a really busy life,work long hours,restore classic cars in my freetime,and besides that i have many interests like music,art and making long car trips through europe. (these cartrips have become more or less impossible for me).

so distraction is not the point, but i feel that i can't continue the life i've always lived before. very often i'm just to tired to do so. i guess i just need to learn to adjust to my new situation. and accept that things have changed for me.

but from all things written above you could get the impression that i'm not doing very well at the moment,but that is not true. actually i'm doing fine much to my surprise. at the end of 2008 i fell into a deep depression as a result of des. worst experience of my life so far. it was hell. couldn't sleep properly for months had the worst anxiety one could ever imagine,lost a lot of weight and couldn't work for almost a year. i really do not like thinking back of that period in my life. luckely i can't remeber very much of it as well haha! but having experienced something like that changes you as a person permanently. a crash course in growing up. the hard way.

during this depression i'm very often told that this would go over some day.
of course in that state of mind i just didn't believe a word of it. the pain of the anxiety and grieve is just so all consuming that you come to the point that in order to escape it you just want to die. not very rational of course.

but for anybody still in this dark place. whatever happens it WILL go away some day. maybe you don't even notice it initially. people close to me already saw i was recovering before i realised it myself. from there the depression subsided (don't know if this is the right word). untill the moment that it has become only a vague memory.

well i don't want to make this post boringly long.

two important things: thank you saag for providing the ''dews report'' link. i'll read it with much interest. i like absorbing all the information i can these days!

in the very near future i'm going to visit the best dry eye doc in Europe dr. baudouin in Paris. i'll report my visit here on the boards naturally.
i got his name from a very kind person here on the boards,Toril.
can't thank her enough for her help...

patrick...

[irish eyes]

"....the worst anxiety one could ever imagine,lost a lot of weight and couldn't work for almost a year. ......"


Patrick

I had exactly the same; I was never what one could describe as a big person but my weight plummeted and I looked dreadful. The worse I looked, the worse I felt.

No, not a nice time at all. I'm pleased that it is now only a vague memory and let's hope that at some point it won't be a memory at all.

Take care.

[patrick]

irish eyes,

yep,sounds like we've gone through the same thing. so,we both know what we're talking about when it comes to feeling depressed because of des.

many people don't have a clue what this disease can do with a seemingly healthy person.

i'm doing much better now.
i sleep very well every night,i've gained a lot of weight so i'm back at my normal weight,no anxiety,not nervous 24 hours per day,working full time again. (new job,not in an office anymore).

it seems miraculous,but several professionals have predicted this. a depression has several stages and disappears after a couple of months or in some cases years.
i'm so glad they were right after all!

how are you doing at the moment? still struggling,or are you more or less on the way back to recovery?

take care, patrick...

[irish eyes]

.......are you more or less on the way back to recovery? take care, patrick...

Not too bad thanks Patrick. I've had years having to cope with it all so I'm better at pacing myself these days. It's a matter of debate whether ongoing stress is a contributing factor in stomach ulcers - I certainly think it was in my case. One isn't just coping with eye pain, it's the consequences of it as well. My kids had to look after themselves much of the time so it wasn't easy for them. It plays havoc with relationships too - so there are no winners.

I'm able to work part-time in a job that I enjoy; I was a school teacher so that became out of the question and I retrained for a different job. I try and keep `stresses' down to a minimum because I have enough of my own.

Anti-depressants don't help and I'm fortunate in having an understanding GP. I cannot say the same about the eye consultants though - they have been a real mixed bag of oddities.