Winter Taking Its Toll - suffering

[msny]

Dry eye has been so bad over the holidays, and now that the weather has finally
turned bitter cold here in Ohio it's even worse.

Nothing seems to work when it 10 degress at night and 32 degrees during the day.
There is nothing worse for me then those temp swings, and bright winter sun.

[Guest]

Have you tried running a few humidifiers in your indoor space? You will likely need more than one - I have 3 going on my kitchen counter right now, but they've raised the humidity from around 20% right up to a much more comfy 40%! My windows are sweating, and my exterior doors are prone to freezing shut (I body-check them every morning to get them open these days), but it's all worth it since I'm so much more comfortable.

I mainly just use the less expensive Vics humidifiers - I find the warm steam easier to keep clean than the cool mist one. I also have a ultrasonic one I purchased off amazon, and although that one is a cool mist one too, it seems to keep itself clean quite nicely (maybe it's because I use bottled water in that one? who knows...)

Having the increase in humidity helps me soooo much - my winter would be a LOT worse without them. Also, don't be shy about wearing a good foam-lined pair of glasses (such as Wiley's) in public - yes, even in a business-attire work environment - it's for medical reasons so there is no reason that it shouldn't be accepted. I work with the public every day, and am supposed to dress in business-casual attire, and I promise you, my Wiley X sunglasses do NOT match at all... but such is life, it could be worse, and they help me a ton.

Funny though, when I worked on New Year's Day, a lot of people assumed I was wearing the dark glasses due to a hangover lol I guess everyone assumes everyone parties hard on New Year's Eve? Not me.. I'm a wimp... bed early haha Anyhow, having people assume I must be hungover (which I wasn't!) was every so slightly embarrassing... but whatever... every other day I wear them people assume (rightly) that I just have eye troubles.

One more thing about the humidifiers - I had one installed a few years ago on my furnace, and it is fantastic (only reason I'm using the more annoying table-top ones is because the furnace one is broken again... having a bad year... don't know why)... but when the furnace one IS working, it's freaking fantastic - almost no maintenance or cleaning for the kind I have and I adore it!

[msny]

Have you tried running a few humidifiers in your indoor space? You will likely need more than one - I have 3 going on my kitchen counter right now, but they've raised the humidity from around 20% right up to a much more comfy 40%! My windows are sweating, and my exterior doors are prone to freezing shut (I body-check them every morning to get them open these days), but it's all worth it since I'm so much more comfortable.

I mainly just use the less expensive Vics humidifiers - I find the warm steam easier to keep clean than the cool mist one. I also have a ultrasonic one I purchased off amazon, and although that one is a cool mist one too, it seems to keep itself clean quite nicely (maybe it's because I use bottled water in that one? who knows...)

Having the increase in humidity helps me soooo much - my winter would be a LOT worse without them. Also, don't be shy about wearing a good foam-lined pair of glasses (such as Wiley's) in public - yes, even in a business-attire work environment - it's for medical reasons so there is no reason that it shouldn't be accepted. I work with the public every day, and am supposed to dress in business-casual attire, and I promise you, my Wiley X sunglasses do NOT match at all... but such is life, it could be worse, and they help me a ton.

Funny though, when I worked on New Year's Day, a lot of people assumed I was wearing the dark glasses due to a hangover lol I guess everyone assumes everyone parties hard on New Year's Eve? Not me.. I'm a wimp... bed early haha Anyhow, having people assume I must be hungover (which I wasn't!) was every so slightly embarrassing... but whatever... every other day I wear them people assume (rightly) that I just have eye troubles.

One more thing about the humidifiers - I had one installed a few years ago on my furnace, and it is fantastic (only reason I'm using the more annoying table-top ones is because the furnace one is broken again... having a bad year... don't know why)... but when the furnace one IS working, it's freaking fantastic - almost no maintenance or cleaning for the kind I have and I adore it!

Yes, thanks for your advice. I am using humidifers around the house but there of little help.
I'm considering putting on the furnace itself, so I can regulate both heating and cooling.

I to work in an executive work area, but I dress business casual. I have considered those
glasses but I'm just way to self concience to wear them.

[Guest]

Yes, thanks for your advice. I am using humidifers around the house but there of little help.
I'm considering putting on the furnace itself, so I can regulate both heating and cooling.

I to work in an executive work area, but I dress business casual. I have considered those
glasses but I'm just way to self concience to wear them.

re: putting humidifiers around the house - have you measured the indoor humidity with a hygrometer? (you can buy a cheap one at a hardware store or home depot like store) That way you'll know for sure if they are raising the humidity to a decent level... just saying this since you might find that the humidifiers aren't helping simply because the humidity hasn't gone up high enough.. .worth investigating this possibility... if it turns out that your indoor humidity is still low, then you can add more humidifiers... they don't cost much and are worth their weight in gold for the comfort they can provide.

re: too self conscious to wear them protective glasses (ex. Wiley X's) - if you're uncomfortable enough, you suck it up and do what you need to do since no sense suffering more than necessary - but if you're doing ok without them, then I don't blame you for not bothering.

However, if you do get to the point where you are miserable without them and simply must wear them to be comfortable, then you'll see that the self-consciousness fades - you just have to make a point of forcing yourself to pretend you look normal (that way you'll ACT normal too and things go better... trust me...) Before you know it, you'll forget you're wearing them most of the time. But you'll never get to that point unless you do it and wear them.