upcoming air travel in one month-excited but ? about dry eyes?

[karensumner]

Ok.so I have sjogrens-so i have a lot of other issues other than dry eyes (i also joined an online support group for that too)..

My eyes are super super dry and/or watery(reflex tears mainly).. MGD and sjogrens.. yeah for me! just trying to make light of it!

anyway, i noticed that most days i wake up after sleeping well all night my eyes are soooo dry -i guess because they are shut??? I wonder if my eyes will be more dry on the plane if i keep them shut the whole time or if i will do better just wearing my zienas and putting drops and ointment in???

[PotatoCakes]

I think a combination of drops and eyes shut is probably the best way. I've decided (completely unscientific, of course) that the reason my eyes are dryer in the morning is not because they are shut but because I haven't been adding moisture regularly. During the day, I administer drops as needed, at least on the hour. At night, even though I have less evaporation, that's a lot of hours to go without added moisture considering I don't produce my own.

For air travel, I do a few things...
Turn off the fans around me. Better to be warm than have air blowing directly at my eyes.
Bring my serum drops http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...t=travel+serum
Drink LOTS of water
Bring LOTS and a VARIETY of eye drops (in addition to my serum) - thicker for staying power, thinner for moisture, etc
Bring my TranquilEyes
Bring ointment and or gel (Genteal), although I use it rarely because I don't react well to it so it's an emergency sort of thing.
Forget about what other people might think of me, it doesn't matter if they think I look weird, I'm focused on my comfort.

If you do go for the eyes shut method, books on tape are great!

Good luck!

[Guest]

I think a combination of drops and eyes shut is probably the best way. I've decided (completely unscientific, of course) that the reason my eyes are dryer in the morning is not because they are shut but because I haven't been adding moisture regularly. During the day, I administer drops as needed, at least on the hour. At night, even though I have less evaporation, that's a lot of hours to go without added moisture considering I don't produce my own.

For air travel, I do a few things...
Turn off the fans around me. Better to be warm than have air blowing directly at my eyes.
Bring my serum drops http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...t=travel+serum
Drink LOTS of water
Bring LOTS and a VARIETY of eye drops (in addition to my serum) - thicker for staying power, thinner for moisture, etc
Bring my TranquilEyes
Bring ointment and or gel (Genteal), although I use it rarely because I don't react well to it so it's an emergency sort of thing.
Forget about what other people might think of me, it doesn't matter if they think I look weird, I'm focused on my comfort.

If you do go for the eyes shut method, books on tape are great!

Good luck!

I second this! It is mostly what I do also. So I'm not toooo bored what with keeping my eyes closed so much, I listen to audiobooks when I can.

- eyes shut as much as possible
- wear my Wiley X's to shelter my eyes from drafts, and hopefully make a little microenvironment for my eyes that is at least a bit more humid than the surrounding air in the plane
- take care to drink enough water
- variety of thick and thin eye drops depending on what feels best at the time
- definitely forget about what other people may think - if anything, most of them are probably just thanking their lucky stars that whatever is wrong with YOU causing you to have to wear conspicuous glasses etc. isn't wrong with THEM lol

[PotatoCakes]

if anything, most of them are probably just thanking their lucky stars that whatever is wrong with YOU causing you to have to wear conspicuous glasses etc. isn't wrong with THEM lol

This is so true! An added bonus, if they ask you what's wrong, you have the opportunity to educate them about dry eye (don't overdo it but an elementary explanation is great). Sometimes I get people who say, "I had no idea...", other times I get people who have dry eye themselves and are at a loss of what to do so I can actually offer advice.

[karensumner]

thanks!!! i will try to drink water but i have to pee so much when i do! i always have had a small bladder..not sure if that is due to sjogrens or not.. and i really am not keen on using that tiny tiny bathroom.. esp on such a short flight but o well if i do!!! it will be interesting!!!

[neilw]

One thing we found to be taxing on my wife's eyes when flying was the time spent getting through the airports. But we have solved that problem by using wheelchairs. I have described this in a recent thread called "3 Tips for Air Travel". I am typng this on my phone so I will not try to create a lnk to the thread but it can be found via a search, I think.

[PotatoCakes]

Here's neilw's post:
http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...severe-dry-eye

It always frustrates me when I can't post a link that I want to