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Sorry, been awol for a while--that pesky REAL life of mine interfering with my virtual one, again.
A quick update (notice that whenever I say "quick" or "brief" I am lying?) on my experience as a subject on the rebamipide study, for anyone interested.
Finally started the drug (or placebo) after the washout period ended on this Wednesday (6 April, two days ago). Obviously, you are not supposed to feel better after 2.5 days on this medicine, and I don't. A few observations:
Caveat: I don't want to speculate as to whether I am getting placebo or not--don't want to get thrown off the study.
1. The stuff is in a base very similar to Soothe eyedrops. This is unfortunate for me, since I don't like Soothe much. For the uninitiated, Soothe is a milky liquid, both in color and consistency, as is the drug I am getting. Gives me a very "whitewashed" visual experience for about 2-3 minutes after instillation, which does not bother me at all. But it also gives me a "heavy" feeling of my eyes, which is very mildly head-achey, and I don't care for much. However, I think I am getting used to it--seems to bother me less now.
2. The good news: no horrible Restasis-like stinging. There is a brief mild sting right on instillation, but it goes away within seconds.
3. The drug leaves a very bad taste in the back of my throat. I would not have guessed this would have bothered me as much as it has. It is really nasty, and I have taken to sucking on sugarless candy all the time to keep this taste down. I think this may be worsened right now due to some post-nasal drip I have from allergies (change of the weather and all). Hoping it either goes away when I'm not as drippy, or else I get used to it.
So far, so good, I would say. This is not nearly as caustic as Restasis. I am still using a good amount of Dakrina, and some refresh tears, but so far, no big problems with the drug. One thing, though: I wonder why all of these drugs seem to be in a lipid base (like restasis, which is in castor oil)? Do they need to be in lipid to be effective, or do the drug companies think that dry eye sufferers prefer lipid base? Because I definitely don't--I like good old refresh drops, and of course Dr Holly's drops. All of the lipid-based drops I've tried (even Freshkote), have not agreed with my eyes very well...
I'll keep you updated as things go along.
A quick update (notice that whenever I say "quick" or "brief" I am lying?) on my experience as a subject on the rebamipide study, for anyone interested.
Finally started the drug (or placebo) after the washout period ended on this Wednesday (6 April, two days ago). Obviously, you are not supposed to feel better after 2.5 days on this medicine, and I don't. A few observations:
Caveat: I don't want to speculate as to whether I am getting placebo or not--don't want to get thrown off the study.
1. The stuff is in a base very similar to Soothe eyedrops. This is unfortunate for me, since I don't like Soothe much. For the uninitiated, Soothe is a milky liquid, both in color and consistency, as is the drug I am getting. Gives me a very "whitewashed" visual experience for about 2-3 minutes after instillation, which does not bother me at all. But it also gives me a "heavy" feeling of my eyes, which is very mildly head-achey, and I don't care for much. However, I think I am getting used to it--seems to bother me less now.
2. The good news: no horrible Restasis-like stinging. There is a brief mild sting right on instillation, but it goes away within seconds.
3. The drug leaves a very bad taste in the back of my throat. I would not have guessed this would have bothered me as much as it has. It is really nasty, and I have taken to sucking on sugarless candy all the time to keep this taste down. I think this may be worsened right now due to some post-nasal drip I have from allergies (change of the weather and all). Hoping it either goes away when I'm not as drippy, or else I get used to it.
So far, so good, I would say. This is not nearly as caustic as Restasis. I am still using a good amount of Dakrina, and some refresh tears, but so far, no big problems with the drug. One thing, though: I wonder why all of these drugs seem to be in a lipid base (like restasis, which is in castor oil)? Do they need to be in lipid to be effective, or do the drug companies think that dry eye sufferers prefer lipid base? Because I definitely don't--I like good old refresh drops, and of course Dr Holly's drops. All of the lipid-based drops I've tried (even Freshkote), have not agreed with my eyes very well...
I'll keep you updated as things go along.
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