New member + Question

[FWM]

Hi, i have been reading for some days the forum, and i find it very encouraging, and a relief to be in touch with people with similar symptoms..
I am a 23 year old male from Argentina, Buenos Aires.. if you are willing to read it may bore you or maybe not

Like a lot of people around here, i thought i was the only one with this issue.. so it is quite conforting when i started reading, and therefore thinking i was not so crazy after all.. since everybody minimizes dry eye, as you sure know.

My story began in september 2007, since then, i have been to 35 doctors of different kinds..
I thought that the incompetence was exclusive from my country at first, but now i realise its worldwide.. that's a relief

I had blood tests (5) and everything was fine, nothing out of normal..
So no diagnosis.. and started to give several treatments with no effects (ciclosporine, patanol, topical corticosteroids, puntum plugs as well as my dear friend systane..)

Besides my default dry eye i got a viral conuntivitis (it is hell for a normal person, but for a dry eye sufferer its like nothing, cause you know sonner or later it will eventualy get away), i assume that it happened for using topical ciclosporine..
So this was the beggining of my depression.. I couldnt get out of my house for a month.. my eyes were REALLY inflamated.., i couldnt recongnize my face anymore.
They gave me a systemic cortcosteroid (Decadron)..
And ALL my symptoms suddenly started to vanish !.. i couldn believe my dry eyes were gone too.. but the effect only lasted 7 days..

And optician said it was allergy, so i went to an allergist but he said it wasnt because my serum igE was normal..
Then other dry eye especialist ordered me to do an study of specific eye igE, it was a little above the normal standard, but his treatments didnt work out as well..(alket, alrex, ciclosporine AGAIN).
Some doctors started to talk about reumatic dissease.. so i started reading and feel petrified..
Others directly said that i had primary sjogren sindrome..
I april of 2009 .. i was given systemic corticosteroid pills and metrotexate as "empirical" treatment
i dont know what caused it if the deppresion + immunomodulators or what , but i had to be in the hospital for one week with endovenous antibiotics, cause a normal throat infection didnt want to go away..
Not to mention that some started to think about HIV

Well.. out of the clinic, i began to realise that the profesionals were far away from the truth and knowledge.. so i started my own desperated research
and come to the conclusion that it was allergy and went to 2 more allergists, it almost was my final stand..
They performed a prick test, and i resulted allergic to dust, pollen, and fungus..
One of them started Allergy shots (inmunoteraphy)..

The other is an specialist of eye allergies and (this is something i havent read here) is giving me topical inmunotherapy treatment.. What do i mean?, antigens in teardrops, that i have to put in my eyes everyday in increasing concentration as the time passes by

I have been doing for this for 6 months, i had a lot of secondary effects (flu, skin eruptions, Geographic tongue), and realised that i had been really alergic all my life without noticing it.. somedays i breath better, some i am worst.. very few days i noticed positive changes in my eyes, but i dont know if it is my mind.. i have lost a lot all these years, girls, my career, friends, will to be.. at the same time i gained A LOT of self confidence and knowledge about myself, disseases, tenacity means and patience, that it will be very good for the rest of my life if i solve this problem..
What will happen?, who knows.. i will update my status if i improve, i hope it will be soon.

if anyone has allergy doubts, you can contact me, and maybe i can help out

My question is.. does MGD has conection with allergies?
Allergy ---> MGD --> dry eye
or like i think now..
Allergy --->igE -->histamine--> dry eye

i mean..does any dry eye syndrome have conection with MGD?? i was never mentioned MGD..

Thanks for reading.

[FWM]

Hi, thanks for the advice..
Some doctors checked my TBUT, they didnt give me numbers but they said it was very low..
Then when i was given systemic corticosteoroids (intramuscular, pills dont seem to have any effect) my TBUT was 7 and they said that i didnt have dry eye.
But i was never mentioned about MGD, but one mentioned "little blepharithis" once, and he gave me some gel, Ciloxadex (ciprofloxacina+dexametasona), and said it was gone.

[Michael2]

its absolutely insane how doctors minimize this problem. its true that its not life threatening, but when its severe enough it can pretty much ruin your life. maybe it should be renamed? severe ocular pain syndrome?

yeah, dont be surprised if they skip over your diagnosis of MGD...that was obviously my problem, it does make sense that your glands can stop working due to inflammation. yet the only people who even noticed it were my local optometrist and the Assil staff...everyone else just thought 'he's in super mega pain' must mean he has depression. ive asked very 'renowned'' doctors about my MGD when it was at its worst, and they said they saw no signs of anything wrong...but maybe i should take an anti-depressant. you have to take ownership of the disease, find out what's wrong (Schirmer's isn't very valuable in my opinion, but TBUT is incredibly valuable), and find a way to treat that problem. i promise as you start to see improvement, youll feel validated and incredibly confident with yourself as an individual, and life's not quite the same

[irish eyes]

Michael2

You are so right in saying that many doctors seem to want to `skip over' these problems. Perhaps it's because they lack an answer - and isn't it much easier to suggest that a person is suffering from depression because there are far more things one can do to address that.

I cannot praise highly enough the attitude of doctors when I needed treatment for unbearably painful episodes of iritis (uveitis). Mine was a great text book case for students so there was always a lot of interest shown on teaching days. I also made recoveries so that made things better all round. Of course I am very grateful to them all.

My dry eye problems on the other hand have always been dismissed; never being able to look forward to brief remission of it has made it far harder to deal with than iritis. Doctors often don't even try to hide their boredom and I have had many a reminder that `things could be worse'. It can feel like kicking a person when they are down.

[FWM]

Hi, yes it really makes sense that glands stops working due to inflamation, that's with this MGD draw my attention, althought i have never heard from it before..

And my fear is that i could be misdiagnosticated, so should i suggest my allergist to try doxyxycline on me and see what happends?, i havent been to ocular doctors for 6 months, i got tired of their ignorance and lack of compromise..

i think this problem IS life threathrening, not by itself, but you can reach really depressive moments, when suicidal thoughts are the norm.

[Aaron77]

i have lost a lot all these years, girls, my career, friends, will to be.. at the same time i gained A LOT of self confidence and knowledge about myself, disseases, tenacity means and patience, that it will be very good for the rest of my life if i solve this problem..

I feel much the same and now realize that life was pretty darn good before I got hit with my lasik induced dry eye. If I ever can get back to a normal state I figure the knowledge I gained through this experience will allow me to enjoy life a lot more then previously.

[Michael2]

doxycycline is the first line treatment for MGD. azasite or even erithromycin also can help you, especially if you have a bacterial infestation due to MGD. finally, Toyos and Assil's IPL will help if you have severe, non-atrophic MGD (that means your glands are completely blocked up but they're still present and not destroyed). id recommend targeting the inflammation cycle as soon as possible. it takes along time though, i didnt get over the line of 'unbearable pain' and menthol sensation for almost 7 months, and i still have a ways to go

[FWM]

Gathering the facts, I think i could have MGD.. but unfortunately i dont think IPL is available in my country, so i will ask to be treated with doxyxycline to begin.