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I’ve been hesitant to write this message for a long time because I don’t feel I have fair proof of my progress, and don’t want to give false hope to anyone. Still, I have seen some improvement and wanted to share. I have been using blood serum drops since the week of Easter. I’ve not done the math on how long that is exactly, but it’s a couple months or more. My original supply of drops was to last eight weeks.
Since then, my eyes have been more manageable. I still struggle and have continued hot compresses and goggle wearing. My days go better, though I do still have some amount of burning and irritation. I’m far from perfect and do continue to struggle a great deal in bright light. It is still disappointing that I have so much tearing and burning when I am outside. I am excited, however, that I rarely need drops in the middle of the night. Until recently I had been using them at least three times. I would even set my alarm to wake me in the wee hours so as to not allow my eyes to get too painfully dry. I even seem to be more tolerant of stores and places where I am stuck in a room a ceiling fan and moving air.
There have been an awful lot of factors at play since I started using the drops. I was in pretty bad shape when I started: a lot of dryness, burning and strain. These were my main complaints, and still are to some degree. For the last 2.5 years I really struggled with these sensations day and night. I am extremely sensitive to light and moving air, and wouldn’t dream of going out without a visor on and my Panoptx goggles securely in place. My meibomian glands are rarely clogged, but I do hot compresses religiously twice a day and feel really good after having done it. I theorize that they aren’t prone to being clogged, but perhaps are not doing a good job of sending forth a good, quality oily protective film for my eyes.
Over the years I’ve heard many, many diagnoses. I don’t entirely blame the doctors for failing to accurately diagnosing me. I think our issues are all pretty unique. My eyes are teary and weepy and yet they feel dry, are poorly lubricated and burn almost all the time. I am cauterized in all four punctae which causes this overflow of tears. Unfortunately, in this excess I am still very uncomfortable.
So late March I finally tried the blood serum drops. There are a lot of studies on the internet, mostly done on people with severely traumatized corneas. There were no post-lasik patients in the studies, nor were there any whose situation was even remotely similar to mine. Mysteriously, I don’t show any corneal staining in my eyes and upon examination, appear to have very healthy eyes. But, I’ve decided in my travels that everything is worth trying – even blood serum.
I was told to use the drops four times and day for the first couple weeks and then drop back to two times a day. The drops must be kept in the freezer/refrigerator and each bottle cannot be used for more than two weeks. The serum is highly susceptible to contamination and must be respected. In the studies I’d read, it was not uncommon for several people in the study to experience infection from the drops. The infections were easily solved and certainly outweighed the benefits of the treatment. I have been fortunate and have not had an infection with the serum.
I did not notice any immediate benefit with the drops. It was a shame that almost immediately after getting them I developed a case of the flu (or something similar) that put me on the couch for at least 5 days. During this time it was a struggle to stick to using the drops as directed. What’s more is that my eyes suffered even more as upper respiratory issues tend to make my eyes water even more. The excessive watering on top of my already excessive watering was brutal. I burned so badly I nearly went insane. It took well over a week after my illness to even return to my normal miserable self.
Not sure how to rate the serum drops in this early phase. Perhaps my eyes would have been worse without them. Had I started them a solid week or two before getting sick, maybe I would’ve fared a lot better. Who knows.
After this rough start, I rather reluctantly got back into a pattern of using the serum drops again. I’d paid for them after all. Little by little I did notice that I was doing better. It’s so much harder to determine definite progress when things happen slowly. But, I am convinced that something is playing a role in my comfort. Here’s where it gets tricky.
After that flu that I “just couldn’t shake”, I found out I was pregnant. This was very good news to us, but brought with it a lot of new concerns regarding eye pain and discomfort on top of all the other typical discomforts of pregnancy.
The fact that I am pregnant is the one reason I want to cautiously recommend blood serum drops. I have no way of knowing whether or not the hormones of pregnancy could be doing me some favors right now. One thing I must mention is that along with the intense nausea I always get with a pregnancy, I do tend to salivate a great deal. It’s really a disgusting trick nature plays on mothers. My stomach is flip-flopping all day long and I’ve got all this excess saliva to swallow. I’ve read that this salivation…called ptyalism…is common in pregnancy. Still, I haven’t talked to very many women who have experienced it.
The reason I mention the saliva thing is not to drum up sympathy or gross anybody out. I just cannot help but note that many of us have admitted that when we eat our eyes feel better. There seems to be a parallel between the excitement of our salivary glands and those of our eyes. And so, I can’t help but wonder if the cause of my excess salivation is working on my eyes as well. Still, I’m obviously rooting for the serum drops. A perpetual state of pregnancy is not in the cards for me, and constant nausea is not a fair trade for improved eye comfort.
I appreciate your letting me be wordy in this post. (If you think I type a lot, you should hear me talk!) If you’ve hung in there this long, I thank you. I also hope you will consider trying serum drops if your condition warrants it and even if your doctor doesn’t think it’s the right course for you. I've heard so many theories on what is causing my problems, for example, that I cannot accept when a doctor pooh-poohs a treatment I request. And I did struggle with more than one doctor to get the serum drops.
Everything is worth trying. Just be sure to share with us your experiences. I will continue these serum drops indefinitely, but will keep praying for all of us and for something better to come along…ya know like Rebamipide. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I am most grateful for the manageability I have at present. It was good timing for a break.
Diana
Since then, my eyes have been more manageable. I still struggle and have continued hot compresses and goggle wearing. My days go better, though I do still have some amount of burning and irritation. I’m far from perfect and do continue to struggle a great deal in bright light. It is still disappointing that I have so much tearing and burning when I am outside. I am excited, however, that I rarely need drops in the middle of the night. Until recently I had been using them at least three times. I would even set my alarm to wake me in the wee hours so as to not allow my eyes to get too painfully dry. I even seem to be more tolerant of stores and places where I am stuck in a room a ceiling fan and moving air.
There have been an awful lot of factors at play since I started using the drops. I was in pretty bad shape when I started: a lot of dryness, burning and strain. These were my main complaints, and still are to some degree. For the last 2.5 years I really struggled with these sensations day and night. I am extremely sensitive to light and moving air, and wouldn’t dream of going out without a visor on and my Panoptx goggles securely in place. My meibomian glands are rarely clogged, but I do hot compresses religiously twice a day and feel really good after having done it. I theorize that they aren’t prone to being clogged, but perhaps are not doing a good job of sending forth a good, quality oily protective film for my eyes.
Over the years I’ve heard many, many diagnoses. I don’t entirely blame the doctors for failing to accurately diagnosing me. I think our issues are all pretty unique. My eyes are teary and weepy and yet they feel dry, are poorly lubricated and burn almost all the time. I am cauterized in all four punctae which causes this overflow of tears. Unfortunately, in this excess I am still very uncomfortable.
So late March I finally tried the blood serum drops. There are a lot of studies on the internet, mostly done on people with severely traumatized corneas. There were no post-lasik patients in the studies, nor were there any whose situation was even remotely similar to mine. Mysteriously, I don’t show any corneal staining in my eyes and upon examination, appear to have very healthy eyes. But, I’ve decided in my travels that everything is worth trying – even blood serum.
I was told to use the drops four times and day for the first couple weeks and then drop back to two times a day. The drops must be kept in the freezer/refrigerator and each bottle cannot be used for more than two weeks. The serum is highly susceptible to contamination and must be respected. In the studies I’d read, it was not uncommon for several people in the study to experience infection from the drops. The infections were easily solved and certainly outweighed the benefits of the treatment. I have been fortunate and have not had an infection with the serum.
I did not notice any immediate benefit with the drops. It was a shame that almost immediately after getting them I developed a case of the flu (or something similar) that put me on the couch for at least 5 days. During this time it was a struggle to stick to using the drops as directed. What’s more is that my eyes suffered even more as upper respiratory issues tend to make my eyes water even more. The excessive watering on top of my already excessive watering was brutal. I burned so badly I nearly went insane. It took well over a week after my illness to even return to my normal miserable self.
Not sure how to rate the serum drops in this early phase. Perhaps my eyes would have been worse without them. Had I started them a solid week or two before getting sick, maybe I would’ve fared a lot better. Who knows.
After this rough start, I rather reluctantly got back into a pattern of using the serum drops again. I’d paid for them after all. Little by little I did notice that I was doing better. It’s so much harder to determine definite progress when things happen slowly. But, I am convinced that something is playing a role in my comfort. Here’s where it gets tricky.
After that flu that I “just couldn’t shake”, I found out I was pregnant. This was very good news to us, but brought with it a lot of new concerns regarding eye pain and discomfort on top of all the other typical discomforts of pregnancy.
The fact that I am pregnant is the one reason I want to cautiously recommend blood serum drops. I have no way of knowing whether or not the hormones of pregnancy could be doing me some favors right now. One thing I must mention is that along with the intense nausea I always get with a pregnancy, I do tend to salivate a great deal. It’s really a disgusting trick nature plays on mothers. My stomach is flip-flopping all day long and I’ve got all this excess saliva to swallow. I’ve read that this salivation…called ptyalism…is common in pregnancy. Still, I haven’t talked to very many women who have experienced it.
The reason I mention the saliva thing is not to drum up sympathy or gross anybody out. I just cannot help but note that many of us have admitted that when we eat our eyes feel better. There seems to be a parallel between the excitement of our salivary glands and those of our eyes. And so, I can’t help but wonder if the cause of my excess salivation is working on my eyes as well. Still, I’m obviously rooting for the serum drops. A perpetual state of pregnancy is not in the cards for me, and constant nausea is not a fair trade for improved eye comfort.
I appreciate your letting me be wordy in this post. (If you think I type a lot, you should hear me talk!) If you’ve hung in there this long, I thank you. I also hope you will consider trying serum drops if your condition warrants it and even if your doctor doesn’t think it’s the right course for you. I've heard so many theories on what is causing my problems, for example, that I cannot accept when a doctor pooh-poohs a treatment I request. And I did struggle with more than one doctor to get the serum drops.
Everything is worth trying. Just be sure to share with us your experiences. I will continue these serum drops indefinitely, but will keep praying for all of us and for something better to come along…ya know like Rebamipide. There is a lot of room for improvement, but I am most grateful for the manageability I have at present. It was good timing for a break.
Diana
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