No tears forever?

[Mawsky]

This may seem like an odd question, but I was wondering if anyone who stops producing tears for a long period of time, can start again? It seems to me that the longer this goes on for me the less likely it would be for me to ever start tearing up again, like your glands would atrophy or something, I would sure like to hear that it is possible tho, I was negative for sjogrens, but I do have inflammation what's causing it I don't know, I tried Restasis, but didn't feel it helped, just trying different things now in the hope something will help. So if anyone started being able to cry I'd like to hear from you.

[NeedMyEyes]

I was on Steroids for 2 months and during that 2 months - I totally dried up completely. I couldn't cry under any circumstance.

Then, I stopped and didn't taper them very well. The next day my eyes started POURING tears non-stop. This continued for a month or so. No I have near normal (or sometimes higher) Schirmer's. I have MGD by the way and nothing else.

[MaryVa61]

I hadn't completley stopped producing tears for a long period of time, only about 6 mos (but years of pain), and was surprised when I did start making tears again. The doctor had not been hopeful.

What I was doing differently than my usual eye routine was 1) running a humidifier every 3 evenings after work (while awake), 2) skin allergy patch tests and eliminated the allergens from my home, office and car and 3) went on Barleans' Omega Swirl flax and fish oil. It was after I'd been on the Omega Swirl for a few weeks that I started making tears. And I take more than what is on the bottle because I read that dosages of those omegas are typically based on a weigh tof 100 lbs so decided to start high (out of desperation) and then reduce my dosage later.

After years of suspiscion, Sjogren's was recently ruled out for me, though I have an elevated ESR and my salivary gland biopsy showed inflammation but not consistant for Sjogren's. Cause is unknown.

I think there is reason to hope, even after years. Stranger things have happened. Good luck.

Mary

[Mawsky]

Thank you Mary, I was also neg for sjogrens, I did have punctual stenosis several years ago, and they did surgery to open them, so now they are quite larger, can't even do plugs. I have started on fish oil, and flaxseed, also primrose
oil, so far no real tears yet, I'm trying to be hopeful. How much do you take? I may not be taking enough.

[MaryVa61]

Since the Omega Swirl is such a different product than straight oil, I had a hard time deciding on a dose to start since I wasn't sure I should use general "oil" or "Omega" recommendations for # of tsps, Tbps or mgs. I finally calculated the dose with the assumption (due to reading) that the dose recommended on the bottle is probably, generally, for a weight of 100 lbs. So I multiplied the amount based on my weight. My plan is that when I'm out of the first bottle I'll start experimenting with a lower dose with the second bottle, but I think what I'm taking is safe and it works so I'm only going to reduce it if my eyes are 100% comfy or my doc recommends reducing it.

I e-mailed Barleans about dosage but the response was vague. They said it shouldn't be handled as if it's medication, as if there's a specific dose one has to take. Have to experiment with what your body seems to need. Then they said they recommend everyone take it as recommended on the bottle. I was warned by the store clerk where I bought it that if you take way too much you'll get nauseous. The clerk liked the taste so much he said he was eating it like yogurt until he got sick! Not smart and that would be expensive yogurt!

Because I mentioned my dry eyes in the e-mail to Barleans they did specifically recommend the flax oil rather than the fish oil or women's formula. But I have problems with inflammation too, so right now I'm sticking to the combo fish and flax. You have to be careful not to pick up the vegan one by mistake, since it has essentially the same total Omegas and the label looks much the same, but does not contain fish oil which I suspect I need. I did pick up the wrong one at first but the clerk pointed it out to me.

After I went on it I did notice vision blurriness for a few minutes when I put in my OASIS drops, so I just do one eye at a time so I can still see to drive and read. And I got used to it. It's worth it.

[Mawsky]

Thank you so much for the added info, can I ask you how much of the swirl you are taking? I wish I knew somewhere near that carried it, it seems I will have to get it online at this point, also want to thank you about the warning for the vegan I would not have known. I did find a omega mint brand of fish oil that comes in capsule form, do you think it is the same? I will be ordering the Barleans soon tho.

[irish eyes]

Hi

Do you think that Barleans Omega is superior to other forms? I've only seen it on internet sites and I'm shocked at how expensive it is.

I take flaxseed oil by Lamberts (endorsed by practitioners). Unsure about whether it is working or not but I don't suppose it is doing me any harm.

Mawksy; I can't really cry either even though it's something I'd like to be able to do - if that doesn't sound odd! I produce a bit of moisture but my eyes are so very red & sore afterwards that I hold myself in check. The few tears I produce evaporate very quickly and it feels like salt deposits on the cornea.

[Mawsky]

Hi Irish eyes, I'm wondering the same thing about the Barleans, it's pretty pricey, and I don't know anywhere around me that carries it either, I would think that a good quality omega 3 fish oil would be the same or standard no matter what form, as far as the flax goes, how much do you take?? the bottle I got said 1 to 3 capsules per day, so I started with one, but am going to increase it to 3 now, same as the fish oil, it said to take between 2-4 per day, so I'm considering uping it too. just really curious what Mg everyone else is talking? I know what you mean about crying, sometime when I see someone else cry, I want to so bad!!! when I have cried (dry tears) it makes my eyes supper red and inflamed for days after, so I try really hard not to, its so weird because I feel like the tears should come, but they don't, it feels almost like the welling up feeling, but nothing. I will be so happy if I can cry again someday.

[PotatoCakes]

Both of my specialists have me taking a minimum of 1000 mg of fish oil a day and one of them wants it to be 1000mg of DHA/EPA (anything else is just extra).
When I started using the Barleans, I started with 2 T, one in the morning and one in the evening but I've added a 3rd T mid-afternoon if I'm at home and it's convenient. That's putting me over the 1000 mg /day but I've also cut out a good deal of the capsules I was taking so I may be about even and the Barleans is a whole lot easier to take. Plus, as someone pointed out in an earlier post, taking the Barleans Omega Swirl feels a lot less like medicine than swallowing handfuls of pills constantly. It's one less part of my day making me feel like something is wrong with me, an inch towards normalcy despite all these hoops we all deal with because of our lack of tears.

[irish eyes]

".........when I have cried (dry tears) it makes my eyes supper red and inflamed for days after, so I try really hard not to, its so weird because I feel like the tears should come, but they don't, it feels almost like the welling up feeling, but nothing. I will be so happy if I can cry again someday.... Mawksy

I know what you mean by this ! I found crying cathartic, it helped me get over sadness and upsets. Now I can't cry easily, I find myself avoiding potentially upsetting or difficult situations at all costs because I haven't got this `escape valve'.

The fact that I don't cry easily has not gone unnoticed. Tears are a kind of marker of our solidarity with others and communicate the message that we are all feeling the same way. When a work colleague left our organisation (redundancy) there were uncontrollable tears from the staff in my team. I was excluded from the group hug because I wasn't crying - and that was taken as a sign that I didn't care. Of course those remarks hurt - but what could I do? Yes, I would be happy if I could have a good cry.

Barleans Oils

I have only seen Barleans available online; converting £ GB £ to $ US, it can cost around $55. There would be shipping costs on top. All of which I would be willing to do if I thought it would be any better than the products I am currently using.

Flaxseed: I take 3 or 4 capsules @ 1000mg daily; that might be excessive I know. The box indicates that it is a `food supplement' and as my diet is rich in Omega 3 already, I suppose I could take fewer.

[MaryVa61]

Regarding the dose question, what I started with for the 1st couple months, is a double dose of Omegas. I did this by buying a bottle of Fish oil and a bottle of flax oil and taking the full recommended dose of each (based on the label dosage suggestion). The bottle is supposed to last around 2 months. I took the fish oil after breakfast and the flax oil in the evening, just so I wouldn't get them mixed up or put too much oil in my tummy at one time.

For the Fish oil Omega Swirl the recommended serving size on the bottle is 2 tsp (10 ml). For my flax oil Omega Swirl it's 1 Tbsp (15 ml). The label doesn't give a "total Omega" amount so I can't provide that. It breaks down the various kinds of Omegas. But if you go to the Barleans website you can click on a link to the labels and see exactly what it says. The flax oil is vegan, of course, and that's fine. I just thought I'd better stick to real fish oil for that one.

I do plan to switch to the combo product called "TOTAL OMEGA: 3-6-9". Serving size listed for it is 1 Tbsp. I have the Orange Cream flavor but I think each product comes in 2 flavor choices. I picked up the vegan formula first by mistake because the front label is exactly the same except for a small green box that says "vegan", which I hadn't noticed.

Other, cheaper, oils may be just as good but I have a strong gag reflex and have never been able to take oral liquid supplements if they taste bad. So this is working out well for me. Hope it works for you.

By the way, I did discover that if my eyes are exposed to extreme dryness triggers I will still get a filament, but it's only happened once in the past 4 or 5 weeks instead of having to deal with filament pain almost daily.

[MaryVa61]

The Barleans does also make me feel less of a "sicky" since it doesn't seem like a med, and I also already get comments when with friends for meals and I take my other pill-type supplements (and real meds). If I took as much fish oil as I need in capsule/pill form, which I did try 2 types that didn't work, it would add at least 4 more capsules per day and overfill my already large stacking pill box. I have a larger one in case that's ever needed but the smaller one is embarassing enough.

Even my boyfriend was upset with me for not crying when my father died several years ago. Even he'd forgotten that I couldn't cry tears! That made me feel even worse. Now I can at least shed a few.

Maybe some of the people overseas could encourage their local vitamin/health/healthfood shops to carry the Barleans swirls. It could cut the cost since the stores could order in bulk. I don't think I'd be able to pay so much either as what they'd have to with shipping. But in the US (with our medical system), the high cost of copays for doctor visits and meds, and the high cost of using lots of lubricating drops could be figured in and then the Barleans cost doesn't look so bad. But in a country where there is free medical care that's a different story.