Attempted gradual Withdrawl of Eye drops.

[Colin P]

Has anyone tried (when they feel upto it) to lessen the frequency of drops they put in there eyes? just incase there heavily dropped eyes sort of get used to it, whereas less drops may encourage your eyes to attemt to heal themselves/address the problem a little?.

For example a change in your routine that you have found definatly is helping then try 1 drop a day less, and see where it goes?.
For 12 months i was doing every 3 hours, and clockwatching; for whatever reason symptoms are not as bad(maybe sinus related? as i can breath properly through both at the moment(seasonal), so i tried 1 drop less? eventualy none! in my Left and once in the Right, and a good gloop before bed is where im at, at the moment-last 4-5weeks now.

[lulu]

I think personally its always better to cut back on stuff if you dont need it. However, in the past I have been a bit "yee hah" and in my remmissions have stoppe dropping for a few days at a time. Now I know my probs are different to yours, but I would advise caution and perhaps not cut them out completely, just my opinion, others may have a diff take on it.
I remember distinctly being told by two pretty good optho's that the drier your eyes become, the drier they remain. My own researh has established a link between the inflamation disrupting the nerver signals and the wrong messages get through, so the lacs dont send down the correct tears or interfere with composition of them. I have since asked my doctor about this and he did confirm that letting them get very dry will jingle up the nerve signals. We are not always aware just how dry our eyes are in the first instance so often its too late to halt that process. I am still in flare as from last summer and may not regain what I had but you have done really well and seem to have healed pretty nicely, thats good.
Sorry for any spelling mistakes but full of meds as have had general today.
Maybe wait to see what others may say.
Lulu

[Colin P]

Intresting reply Lulu!. One of my Opthamolagists last year wanted me to stop pumping stuff into my eyes, and stop everything infact!.
Now i hesitate to write this-cos it terrified me as a new entrant; but ive read too many posts on overdoing the eye drops can de-stabilise your existing tear film.
As per usual...What does one do for the best ?????????????..

[lulu]

I remember you said about your optho telling you to stop everything, I got the impression that you felt ambivilent about that though?
I really think Colin that it depends on how chronic your condition is really. For a lot on here who have ongoing issues that have to be addressed on a constant basis, drops are part of the treatment plan and often essential in some form or other. There are always additional ways of helping, goggle,eyewear, compress, food etc but you will see drops as a constant form of therapy. I have read of instances where people have dropped every 15 minutes so it is not surprising that this may start to irritate the already hapless state of anyones cornea, however some people feel that they cannot manage if they do not, and really if that is what gets someone through?????? I personally would like to keep drops on my eyes all the time but I do have serious issues with nearly all of them, so at the most drop every hour. I have tried not to drop evry hour in my latest flare, and that is a no no, eyelid sticks to eyeball sort of thing. I hate having to rely on them, they are not my tears and cannot even begin to match the make up of tears, but with a chronic condition, we have to muddle through the best we can. I cannot afford a trip to US to get fitted for sch lenses and even they have a problematic profile at times.
I think you have to look at your own progress and judge whether you think your eye problem is going or is likey to recur, only time will tell I guess. But lets be positive and hope it was just one of those things, it certainly can be, I have spoken to quite a few who have only had one episode of eye dryness and it never came back. Depends what really lies behind yours? I dont think you are sure if I remember right? But chronic long term eye pain does at least need to have some sort of lubrication therapy if only sparingly.
Lulu

[Colin P]

Yes, that's right Lulu i was at the time thinking "are you mad" when opth told me to drop everything! and it failed my attempt at the time..
That's why i suggested, if you feel yourself that you can give it ago, and not cos someone else tells you to..
Was just putting it out there- seeing if anyone else has had any sort of success or not?..
We have so many questions- and not enough answers......

[Hopeful2]

I would have to agree with Chemia. I think some of us are unsure about when to use drops and when not to. I have not been using drops during the day at all because my eyes feel pretty moist and I can see a small tear 'puddle' on my lower lid. I too have been concerned about all the chemicals that I have been dropping onto my eye. In fact the night time ointment was irritating my eyelids so I stopped with that as well. Five nights into no ointment, I find that my eyes actually do feel somewhat moist in the morning, certainly not anywhere near as dry as they felt when I was using ointment.

Having said all of that, my eyes do burn slightly, despite being moist. I have heard others say that burning is a sign of dryness, maybe, but the drops don't take away the burning sensation and the eyes already feel moist. I do have a short TBUT, but I have yet to find a drop that actually gives me a longer TBUT. Maybe my tears are inflammatory, but I can't believe that a chemically produced tear would be less inflammatory.

This is my situation, but having read so many different dry eye descriptions posted here, there certainly is not a a single right answer to drop use.