New Here

[Cali Girl]

So glad to find this site, glad to see I'm not alone. I'm 36 and have what I thought was severe dry eyes, that is until I've read some of your stories.

I do not know what is causing my dry eyes yet. I suspect hormonal.

I first found myself at the eye doctor last October. My eyes hurt so bad, I could feel them rubbing over my eyes when I blinked and in the morning when I got up, instead of feeling refreshed, they felt like someone dumped a bucket of sand in them. He tested my eyes and said they were producing very little tears at all, but did not tell me the number. He told me to use preservative free drops as often as needed and we tried the temporay plugs. I did not find any relief immediatly from that. On my own, I began using ointment before bed to help me get through the night. By the time I had my follow up appointment, the plugs had been disolved for several weeks and my eyes were continuing to improve without them. I decided not to go for the permanent ones. Little by little, the problem seemed to deminish to where my eyes did not bother me at all.

Then, about a month ago, they began to bother me again. Steadily they got worse and worse until I once again found myself at the eye doctor. He presribed me Restasin and I'm back to the eye drops all day and ointment at night. We'll see how it goes at my next follow up but I don't want this band-aid, I want to know why this is happening to me. As I mentioned, I think it is hormonal because I don't think Dry eyes just come and go as severly as mine have been. I can't tell these days if my headaches are true headaches or if they are caused by my eyes.

I've been scouring the internet reading as much as I can about dry eyes and am so glad to have found this site.

[Lucy]

Hi Cali,

Welcome to Dry Eye Zone. Sorry for your reason for being here, but you are not alone. There is just so much valuable information on this website! Also, the members have dry eyes for many different reasons. Some of us have dry eyes because of lasik (or other) surgery.

Did your doctor recommend warm compresses twice daily for you? You can find this information on the website. It cannot hurt, and depending on what is causing your dry eyes often helps.

I have one other suggestion since I'm pounding on the keyboard. In another section of this bb, you can find some "fixes" for dry eyes. Dr. Holly's drops are available at a very reasonable cost. You can get sample sizes for something like 3 bucks, including postage. The drops have helped many of us.

In some cases, folks just don't ever find the cause of their dry eyes. Or, sometimes it is a guess at best. In the meantime, try to wear glasses or goggles when you are outdoors especially.

[Cali Girl]

Thank you for your response. My doctor did not recommend the warm compresses, but I had read about them and do one every morning and every night and they do seem to sooth my eyes a bit. I will explore the site more.

Just curiose, in your sig it states "Restatis is not an Antibiotic". Are there a lot of people who think it is? I understand it to be a non-steroid anit-imflamitory eye drop.

[kitty]

Welcome! So sorry you ended up here, but we are glad to have you. You will find lots of support and help here. Have you been taking any medications, over-the-counter or prescription? Do you suffer from allergies? These things may contribute to your dry eye and can cause it to flare. Also, changes in weather can cause the symptoms to wax and wane, as can stress. I believe my dry eye was at least in part caused by hormonal changes and in part long-term contact lens use, and now I have come to believe stress as well. Personally, I have not found a correlation between the severity of the dry eye and my monthly cycles. I have noticed that the symptoms flare during allergy season.

[Lucy]

Just curiose, in your sig it states "Restatis is not an Antibiotic". Are there a lot

Just curiose, in your sig it states "Restatis is not an Antibiotic". Are there a lot of people who think it is? I understand it to be a non-steroid anit-imflamitory eye drop.

Cali wrote:

My tag line is actually an "inside joke". There was a long discussion on the bb awhile ago about this. I answered someone saying that Restasis was not an antibiotic. Several others went on and on to say yes, maybe, no, it is/isn't and in the end seems the majority opinion was "Restasis is not an antibiotic."

Ignore it. My way of saying "I told you so in the first place."

[Cali Girl]

Cali wrote:

My tag line is actually an "inside joke". There was a long discussion on the bb awhile ago about this. I answered someone saying that Restasis was not an antibiotic. Several others went on and on to say yes, maybe, no, it is/isn't and in the end seems the majority opinion was "Restasis is not an antibiotic."

Ignore it. My way of saying "I told you so in the first place."

That's pretty funny. Great sense of humor!

I'm having a really good eye day today! First in 2 months!