I would appreciate suggestions on how to cope with life with DES

[madarka]

it is a battle

well living with d.e.can be truly devastating.how we cope with this depends on how strong we r.i am glad this web site exists but at the same time it's depressing because i can only spend about 20min on pc reading all your interesting emails before my eyes turn cherry red.dry eye is not only about physical and mental pain but also about looks.i had a very bad day today.i had and interview for a job and everything seemed when boss asked me how much pot did i smoke since i had very red eyes with visible blood vessels all over.i told him i am not doing any drugs but i have dry eye and in the morning i look the worse.well he gave me the look like yeaah right.took my application and said he would call.i had a nice elegant suite new shoes nice haircut but my eyes destroyed everything.i am not using any drops at all right now since i quit on them but i am seriously thinking about autologous serum drops.i heard they r expensive and carry risk of infection but i hate being judged as a drugaddict when i am not!i have to take care of myself because depression really pulled me down the hill.you people are so strong wow.i wish i had your strenght.take care everybody rebecca petris,mj stella ........mj thanks for hug

[Silverlady]

This deserves more

madarka,
Why don't you follow up on that interview with a letter from your doctor to the boss. Just a short one with a single statement from your eye doctor stating "She has dry eye syndrome. This causes reddening of the eyes."

Even if you don't get the job, maybe he will not judge someone else so fast.
Good luck.

Billye

[calli66]

madarka--

I am so sorry you had to go through that experience at the interview. One would think that adding a short phrase about your dry eye redness on your resume or on the job application might prevent the prejudice. On the other hand, the hiring manager might see it and use that as an excuse not to call for an interview.

Billye's idea about a letter from your doctor is a good one--that could be included with a resume.

Also, you might want to bring attention to the red eye appearance right in the beginning of an interview, just to get it out in the open--so they don't have time to be looking at it/thinking about it/drawing conclusions.

C66

[madarka]

thanks for support

thanks silverlady and calli66 for a good idea of enclosing a letter from eye doc to my application.people don't know what is going on and they judge you right away.i have to do that to avoid unpleasant situations next time.i am seriously thinking about starting serum drops since everything else failed.if they would bring me relief and my eyes would look better and feel better then i think it is worth it.being depressed every day and thinking about how miserable my life is with my eyes just doesn't lead anywhere.i know in my heart that depression and anxiety are the worst enemies you can have.they are killing you slowly inside.depression never helped anybody with problem.and even though everything keeps failing and you can not go on.you have to!every disease is about trying ,hoping,waiting,learning.in power is beauty.we all should try every option with our eyes and just never stop until we feel relief.god bless all sick and suffering.when i pray in my bed i pray for all of us sick ,suffering in any way.i am wishing all of you strenght and courage to be strong and keep looking.madarka

[madarka]

to richard

hi richard i have read your email and i do just what you do to keep my eyes little better.anyway don't you want to try autologous serum?i am considering it because conventional artif.tears even preserv.free don' t make me better.in fact i hate artif.tears it seems for me just a waste of money.i haven't been using anything at all for 2months but i am worried i might be hurting eyes in a long term so i am thinking about serum.it might have therapeutical effects it might actually kind of nourish my dried out and painful inflamed corneas.wow u had your RK in 1989?that was just a begining of lasik era right?you seem like a very brave and strong person



madarka

[madarka]

to rebecca petris

hi rebecca petris
i am considering autologous serum drops but i am scared and don't know what to expect.i am very discouraged from all the treatments that failed and i am worried this will be another failure.at the same time i have to keep exploring and find a relief.do people feel better when using serum?it is completely different from artif.tears.i mean serum will contain nutritients vitamins that should have soothing if not healing effect on my inflamed and dried out corneas.my friends don't understand my problem so i am glad i can express myself here.and if i could be in contact with someone who is also starting serum and had lasik like me that would b awesome.i need emotional support and i want to support others as well.i have to be very strong and think positive even though things look bad right now.i have been severely depressed for several months already but my doc can't prescribe me any antidepressants or anxiety pills due to drying effect on eyes.thanks rebecca
please let me know how other people feel with serum?

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi Madarka,

I have never used serum drops myself. There are a few here who use them regularly, like dianat. From what I've heard from a few people, they feel like the serum drops feel more 'natural' going in and although they don't make a huge difference they do make their eyes feel better. Theoretically they ought to be better than other drops but in practice I think that like other treatments they work for some and not for others. I wish I could be more encouraging about it but I don't want to mislead you. It may work well for you and it may not.

i have been severely depressed for several months already but my doc can't prescribe me any antidepressants or anxiety pills due to drying effect on eyes.

Personally I think that it might be worth re-thinking this and discussing it further with your doctor. There are many people here who have used antidepressants or anxiety meds successfully. Not all the meds are always drying to everyone. And the hard part is that it may take some experimentation. But a very small increase in dryness may actually be a fair tradeoff for the benefits, because when you're struggling that much, it's much harder to cope and harder to pursue treatment effectively, and dry eye just plain feels worse when you're feeling down or anxious or stressed.

[madarka]

to rebecca petris

well rebecca i will definitely ask my doc about serum what he thinks even though i think he will start me no that since he already doesn't know what to try on me.i am anxious and don't know what to expect.but i bet if i would feel better physically my depression would decrease and i would enjoy my life little more.i never knew what it is to have healthy eyes until they became sick,it is like we take breathing or walking for granted and some people don't even have that.friend of mine lost his arm,leg and eye in a bad car accident and he is all burnt so it is weird but we who suffer with dry eye are blessed compare to him.
we r all very unique and not everything works for everybody so i guess i will have to keep trying until i find relief.