how to make it on airplanes?

[drageye]

Hello,
Although this post is general -so anyone's comments are appreciated- I understand Saag could be more attuned to this subject.
Before the onset of this nightmare some 4 months ago I had planned a trip for this summer which implied two legs of 10 hour, stop over, and then 6 hours on planes. How can I deal with the dryness on planes? Is it doable?
I wouldn't want to get there and not being able to enjoy my time with messed up corneas and eyes.
I don't really know my limits but do know that my eyes are severely dry. My guess is that without drops my TBUT is just about nonexistent.
Thank you.

[LaDiva]

I am not sure how to do such a long flight either because of the hot compress/expression issue. Short flights have not been a problem, but I if I don't do the hot compress dance at least three times a day, my glands plug up. I'll look forward to seeing an answer to this. That hot compress thing is a real fly in the ointment in terms of daily living.

[Colin P]

I would try to sleep for an hour, then awake, drops,drink, eat then repeat till I got ther
If you suspect Tbut is that low? Then you must take the shcirmer test and see about plugs, or whatever specialist suggests.

[NotADryEye]

You might call the airline and see if they have a microwave and if they will let you use it to heat up a warm compress, if that is what you need.
Also, you might try moisture chamber goggles for the whole trip.

[PotatoCakes]

For those that need warm compresses, you might try using TranquilEyes with these: http://www.dryeyeshop.com/thermoeyes...size-p448.aspx

I've done it before but at some point, I realized that warm compresses don't really work for me so there's no point in hauling around TranquilEyes in addition to all my other eye stuff (PROSE & everything that goes with them, serum drops, artificial tears, etc). The positive is that TranquilEyes take up very little space.

I do a variety of things to make flights bearable and while none of them are great, I'm not willing to give up travel. Among them,
immediately turn off all fans around me,
drink lots of water,
take lots of fish oil,
when they pass out the hot towels I use them to cover my eyes for a bit and hopefully clear excess debris,
bring a myriad of drops, including my serum drops and use all liberally,
bring nighttime ointment (I use sparingly because I'm sensitive to mineral oil & petroleum but sometimes you do what you have to),
keep my eyes closed as much as possible,
I'm also not opposed to wearing large glasses or Wiley's during a flight.
I set a timer so I use my Restasis at approximately the right time and if that fails, I use it more frequently than normal (I'm currently on 2x/day but in the past have been on it 4x/day so I figure if I double up right now I'm ok).

Days prior to flights, I try to be really good about taking all of my fish oil, using my drops religiously, and drinking tons of water.
Days following flights I do the same and am extra generous with my serum drops.

Also, green tea bags, not decaf, damp with cool water, are very soothing and help with puffiness. Just don't use Green Tea with Pomegranate if you're in public; I did that recently and my child told me it looked like I had blood around my eyes! Regular green tea bags won't do that to you

[saralynn143]

What about those little glove and sock inserts for keeping hands and feet warm? Could they be used as warm compresses for travel? Something like this: http://www.amazon.com/HotHands-Hand-..._bs_14332911_2

[LaDiva]

It isn't just the heat. It is expressing the glands. I use Q-tips, and my best friend says she can't stand to watch. I'd hate to expose an entire plane to that, and it is almost impossible to stand up in the restroom! It is a pretty private thing, and takes a magnifying mirror, two hands and a good light source. If I could just use a warm compress, life would be a breeze, but maybe drageye, you don't need hot compresses or expression. Drageye, what is your diagnosis?

[Guest]

Hello,
Although this post is general -so anyone's comments are appreciated- I understand Saag could be more attuned to this subject.
Before the onset of this nightmare some 4 months ago I had planned a trip for this summer which implied two legs of 10 hour, stop over, and then 6 hours on planes. How can I deal with the dryness on planes? Is it doable?
I wouldn't want to get there and not being able to enjoy my time with messed up corneas and eyes.
I don't really know my limits but do know that my eyes are severely dry. My guess is that without drops my TBUT is just about nonexistent.
Thank you.

Hi drageye!

Never in a million years would I not fly due to my crummy eyes.

Things that help:

1) wear a baseball cap to block the airflow from those overhear vent thingies
2) wear moisture chamber glasses everywhere, even on the plane - my sunglasses Wiley X's are my top choice - I only take mine off if security or customs at the airport needs to see my face for a second (when they compare it to my passport)
3) I do not, under any circumstances succumb to the temptation of watching an inflight movie. Can't handle it in the dry airplane air. (Made the mistake of watching a movie on a relatively short flight to Boston, and boy did I ever pay for that mistake... never again!)
4) I try to keep my eyes closed as much as possible - I listen to audiobooks to pass the time, music if the book get boring etc. - if I must open my eyes, I try to keep them kind of squinty half closed - with the sunglasses Wiley X's on, no-one can tell I'm doing this, so that's nice from a self-consciousness perspective.
5) Also, in the days leading up to the flights, I'll baby my eyes, minimize computer use, make sure I get at least 8 hours of sleep overnight, minimize inflammatory foods like sugar, and avoid wheat like the plague (since I appear to be sensitive to it... go figure...my eyes do tons better if I avoid wheat)
6) If it's a long travel day, whenever I'm in an airport, I make sure I find the time to head for a washroom to run cool water over my closed eyes to rinse away any eyedrop residue on my eyelashes (just grab a wad of paper towels to dab the water from your eyelids before you open your eyes... I don't know about you, but getting water in my eyes really hurts) - for me, if I let the eyedrop residue build up too much, my eyes get really uncomfortable. I get some curious stares in the washroom when I do this rinsing routine, but such is life... no big deal.

The longest flight I've been on so far is 6 hours.

This summer I'll be really pushing my limits: day 1 is an 8 hour flight, then off to the hotel to sleep overnight, then day 2 is an approx. 3 hour flight followed by a short stopover at the airport, and then a 5.5 hour flight... then off to the hotel to sleep overnight. I've never flown that much in a 2 day period, and expect to be bored as all hell since I can't partake in inflight movies and my only entertainment will be audiobooks and music. But, if that's the price I have to pay to travel, so be it. Boredom never killed anyone, right? Although it sure tests my patience!!!

And maybe even with all of my precautions, my eyes will pay a price for it... but I'll cross that bridge when I come to it, and hope my eyes don't take too long to recover. I'm optimistic though that if I stick to my eyes-mostly-shut-on-the-flight routine, and resist the temptation to pass the time by trying to be normal and watch a movie or look around, my eyes will manage.

Hehe... and maybe while I'm at it, I'll tape this quote to the inside of my ipod case to keep that "I can DO this" optimism going:

"I don't give a **** about any of my problems I am going to enjoy my life the best that I can"

(from this thread: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...ght=#post88043)

[drageye]

LaDiva, I'm aqueous deficient (severely). I wear 7eye with gasket pretty much all the time I'm awake. But haven't been able to work out how to avoid their fogging up.
Colin, opth don't like doing schrimers test. When I ask they say it's unreliable.
Saag, I've been trying to listen to radio, and other on-line material with my eyes closed but soon my mind takes a route of its own. Any advise on how to be able to concentrate without the visual help? Could you do it easily from the begining?
Thanks.

[Colin P]

Here in UK, when I did the schirmer test, there must have been six of us in the room, so our national health service abide by it. Butvi can see why doubts arise about reliability. I'm also aqueas defficienxy. Re the radio , i tried first time aroundand cos it was not part of routine, I never took to it.
Now I've accliamatised to it so to speak. I don't do music. But fortunately we have the BBC and they have loads of talk shows etc, I likevtalksport or 5 live, even world service. I've got talksport on right now. It's gotta be something you like .

[LaDiva]

Drageye, I've got some Harley Davidson sunglasses someone here recommended. They have foam seals, so they breathe, but still keep the moisture in. They work pretty well, and tend not to fog so much. Colin has a good suggestion about getting plugs. I am sorry you are so dry, but you've got a good thing going if you don't need to do compresses and all of the other business that comes with oil problems. Sounds like you've got some good advice here. Have a great time on your trip!

[Guest]

Saag, I've been trying to listen to radio, and other on-line material with my eyes closed but soon my mind takes a route of its own. Any advise on how to be able to concentrate without the visual help? Could you do it easily from the begining?
Thanks.

This one gets me too. If I'm not careful, my mind wanders off and before I know it, I have no idea what's going on in my audiobook. And then it's a pain to try to get back to the spot where I was last paying attention... wish there were page numbers like in a real book.

The only thing I've ever done about this that helps is to just make a point of concentrating on what I'm listening to... it seems that once I get going, I can be ok and lose myself in what I'm listening to, just like reading a real book... but it definitely takes more effort. An added factor for me is how good the narrator is - some of them aren't that great and it adds to my issue with getting distracted... but the good ones make it easier to get really into the story.

Also, I think part of the issue with concentrating on an audiobook, unlike a real book, is that in an audiobook, there is no easy way to skip the boring parts and go directly back to the part that's interesting... you have no choice but to tough out those boring bits... Whereas in a real book, you can skim over the dull bits, and when then dive back in when it gets back to the good parts quite easily.

[littlemermaid]

Podcasts are good for this because as ColinP says we can download what we are interested in and skip boring topics, plus they are short length like radio programmes. I like TED talks too because they are always positive and exciting by people who love their subject.

[Guest]

Podcasts are good for this because as ColinP says we can download what we are interested in and skip boring topics, plus they are short length like radio programmes. I like TED talks too because they are always positive and exciting by people who love their subject.

Yes, TED talks are awesome! I'm planning on trying to download a bunch of them for our next plane trip - will give me some variety other than audiobooks and music!

[miki-mama]

bring a myriad of drops, including my serum drops and use all liberally,

Hello, PotatoCakes.

How do you keep your serum drops refrigerated on the flight? I am going on a 2 week long trip to Asia (17 hour flight), and am trying to figure out how to transport 2 week supply of my serum drops, particularly on the plane.