I have tried many things, I need new ideas please!

[GinaJ]

I have to agree with the rest. I am 30 and have been to countless doctors besides eye doctors to find the root cause of this and my other health conditions. I also never had lasik and even with my other conditions my age is too young to have them. I feel a huge reason my pain and symptoms are not being controlled is because the cause of why can not be determined. I have had almost every test in the book so am not sure the next step. I am just saying I think that if you have not looked more into the why you should at your age. I would encourage you to look at any connections of when this started wih other health symptoms and to make sure you tell your doctor. Like if you were sick a lot before,allergies,meds etc taken. Hang in there

[AmericanPsycho]

Hi there and welcome.



I would strongly recommend you read this article which may help you get some better diagnostic progress. At your age, even being a 5 is a matter of real concern and - setting aside the entire contact lens question for the time being - it's important to get to the bottom of it so that it does not escalate. Dry eye symptoms that are not responding to simple classic treatments really needs careful investigation to determine the causes and unfortunately it's not always easy to find a doctor who can do this for you. But for starters you can go back to the doctor armed with information about what conditions to rule out, and maybe you can get some tips from the forums or yellow pages on another doctor to visit.

I will read the article, thank you! I agree, at my age I feel as though the level of dry eye is too high. I def. want to know as much as possible, and you are right that perhaps I should get more opinion from more than one doc.

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi there and welcome.

I have never been given any specific reason or diagnosis. Just that I have dry eyes.

I would strongly recommend you read this article which may help you get some better diagnostic progress. At your age, even being a 5 is a matter of real concern and - setting aside the entire contact lens question for the time being - it's important to get to the bottom of it so that it does not escalate. Dry eye symptoms that are not responding to simple classic treatments really needs careful investigation to determine the causes and unfortunately it's not always easy to find a doctor who can do this for you. But for starters you can go back to the doctor armed with information about what conditions to rule out, and maybe you can get some tips from the forums or yellow pages on another doctor to visit.

[AmericanPsycho]

The bad news is some of us haven't managed to get back to contacts. I'm only back to wearing them occassionally for some hours.

What has your doctor diagnosed as the cause of your problem? Sounds like it must be quite complex if none of the treatments listed are giving you any relief. Do you find you get no relief at all from any of them, or just not enough?

I have never been given any specific reason or diagnosis. Just that I have dry eyes. None of those things really give me any relief. I woulnd't say that my dry eyes are severe (i.e. not a 9 or 10 on a 10 point scale of pain) but rather I am about 5 with just glasses, and with contacts it can be pretty bad maybe a 7 or 8.

I just want my eyes to feel normal, and since I am not a severe case, I'm hoping I can do something about it.

[Stanza]

The bad news is some of us haven't managed to get back to contacts. I'm only back to wearing them occassionally for some hours.

What has your doctor diagnosed as the cause of your problem? Sounds like it must be quite complex if none of the treatments listed are giving you any relief. Do you find you get no relief at all from any of them, or just not enough?

[AmericanPsycho]

Ok,

So I have had dry eyes for the last 5 years or so (I'm 25).

I really want to be able to wear contacts (I still have painful dry eye even wearing glasses, but not nearly as bad) (I cannot afford the eye shaping ones you wear at night , and with my dry eye I'm not sure if this is a good option anyway)

In any case, I have tried

1. Restasis (seemed to help a little MAYBE, I couldn't really tell)

2. Azasite (I don't have a bacterial issue, however doc said this helps some with dry eye -- seemeed to make mine WORSE)

3. Various other eye drops that make things feel better for a few minutes, but are not actually fixing anything.

4. Omega 3 / Flaxseed supp. (can't tell a difference)

5. Doc says he doesn't think punctual plugs would work for me (I believe he said that my issue relates to my eye not holding the moisture enough, and that he is worried that I will have tears rolling down my face if we use plugs) I don't really get it since I thought I didn't have enough tears anyway?!

6. I have also tried warm compresses, don't seem to do anything.

Any ideas would be really helpful! Thank you!