2 months on restasis

[Ahmet]

Hi Guys,

Before my doctor had me use lotemax 4xday and then temper it down to once a day. My symptoms had improved almost 70% !!, Then we stopped to see how long it would take for symptoms to come back. It was less than a week :-(.

After that he put me on restasis 2Xday, I have been on it for 2 months now but I don't notice any improvements. I have very important exam coming up (16 hours, 8 hr per day), In my current condition, I don't think I can handle 3 hr let alone 8hr a day.

I was thinking about using Lotemax in combination with Restasis for couple days.

Do you think that is a good idea? Is it normal for restasis to take this long? Lotemax worked for me in couple days. (According to my doctor, I have Mgd coused by inflammation. )

Thanks

[VirginiaDryEye]

Lotemax and Restasis

My doc initially put me on Lotemax 3 X's a day. After about 2 mos, the inflammation was down, so we went to 1 drop of Lotemax per day and Restasis 2 times a day. After 7 mos I really feel much better.

I've also got plugs in lower ducts and I use Dwelle morning and night.

I believe Lotemax keeps the inflammation down so that Restatsis will work.

[nycdryeyegirl]

Hi Guys,

Before my doctor had me use lotemax 4xday and then temper it down to once a day. My symptoms had improved almost 70% !!, Then we stopped to see how long it would take for symptoms to come back. It was less than a week :-(.

After that he put me on restasis 2Xday, I have been on it for 2 months now but I don't notice any improvements. I have very important exam coming up (16 hours, 8 hr per day), In my current condition, I don't think I can handle 3 hr let alone 8hr a day.

I was thinking about using Lotemax in combination with Restasis for couple days.

Do you think that is a good idea? Is it normal for restasis to take this long? Lotemax worked for me in couple days. (According to my doctor, I have Mgd coused by inflammation. )

Thanks

Hi,

I think that you should first contact your doctor and ask him if it's okay to take Lotemax and Restasis together for a couple of days. That's what I would do if I were in your situation.

Pam

[Ahmet]

Thank you

Thank you so much guys for the suggestions, I decided to go on Lotemax and I was able to take my exams with no problems. It is really weird that Lotemax works for me almost instantly after 1 day of using it I am almost symptom free.I wonder if that means I have allergies? My I eyes doesn't itch and had a general allergy test done nothing came out?

[Rebecca Petris]

If you didn't ask your doctor first make sure you let them know before your next appointment.

Thank It is really weird that Lotemax works for me almost instantly after 1 day of using it I am almost symptom free.I wonder if that means I have allergies?

I don't think there is any implication for allergies... a lot of people with dry eye from a variety of causes can temporarily zap the symptoms entirely with steroids. Only, obviously they can't stay on the steroids because of glaucoma risks.

[howdryiam]

Restasis

Did you try not taking restasis for a few days - have you looked into plugs - they helped me - just lower

[Ahmet]

Maybe

Well, it been more than 3 months, I am noticing some improvements. However I started to use a homeopathic sinus medicine called sinusalia (i bought it at cvs made by borion) because I have chronic sinus problems. Medicine amazingly fixed all my sinus problems. My eye improvements seem to coincide with the time I started to take this medicine. So I am not sure what is helping ?

[Ahmet]

Nope

My doctor doesn't believe in those tests. He believes in not the quantity but the quality of the tears. For example, I had schirmer strip test done and the whole strip was wet in less than 3 minutes. The last tear break up test that I had was 12 in one eye and 14 in other. According to these test, I should have no problem at all. However I having been having a lot of issues. So what my doc told me is that these tests are not good indicators. According to him the best indicator is the symptoms.

[nycdryeyegirl]

My doctor doesn't believe in those tests. He believes in not the quantity but the quality of the tears. For example, I had schirmer strip test done and the whole strip was wet in less than 3 minutes. The last tear break up test that I had was 12 in one eye and 14 in other. According to these test, I should have no problem at all. However I having been having a lot of issues. So what my doc told me is that these tests are not good indicators. According to him the best indicator is the symptoms.

Hi,

My eye doctor uses the sitt lamp, to examine the health of my eyes (e.g.cornea, conjunctiva,iris, etc) by having me place my chin on the chin rest of the sitt lamp and then shines a light at my eyes and uses a high powered microscope to view the health of my eyes. He does not put any drops in my eyes (e.g. rose bengal staining for example) to check for any dry eye symptoms as he is able to see the level of dryness in my eyes by using the sit lamp. I am also very sensitive to the preservatives that are in the eyedrops used during the examination and have gotten a severe reaction in the past when the doctor put these drops in my eyes, so he doesn't bother using them

Does you eye doctor rely solely on the symptoms you described to him as well as the sit lamp examination?

[Ahmet]

Improvements

Yes my doctor also uses slit lamps, however I am not sure how well they can spot dryness using those. On the ther hands, it has been almost 4 months now since I started Restasis. I am definetly noticing improvements. Firstly, I notice that I wasn't using as much artifical tears and was able tolerate computer use for longer period times. Now I am not using any artifical tears unless I am about to watch a movie.

Restaisis still burns upon application, however that is something I can tolerate as long as my eyes continue to improve. My doctor belives that I am very prone to inflammation. Therefore suppresing T cells are working out for me.

[Keymaker]

I am at 7 months now. With my doc's permission I went to 1 drop per day before bed 5 weeks ago and I am almost there. TBUT is 15 and Schirmers is 8 and 6 but he thinks it should continue up. I had PRK 16 months ago and he hopes to drop me to 1 drop every other day soon and then hopefully off. It was around 4 months when I really started to feel good, 1 month was tolerable.