Suffering and getting worse

[artsaves1228]

I'm 25 years old(26 in a few weeks I've suffered with dry eyes, honestly, probably since I was about 12, when I started wearing contacts and glasses. My eyes are just awful. My vision is horrible. I just found out I have astigmatism in my right eye also. Even with contacts and glasses I can't see well. I just found this site about a month ago, just browsing and stalking I guess I've been to a few eye doctors who notice how bad my dry eyes are but don't really seem to "care" I guess? it's getting so bad it's starting to really affect my confidence, and making me feel depressed, and it's scaring me. There's a lot going on in my life that I already feel like I"m suffering from depression and adding this on top makes it worse. To be honest about it all, me and my husband are just living off of not much money at all. I'd love to go to a few eye doctors and maybe even a psychiatrist for help but it's just impossible. I recently switched to a cheap brand of contacts because I couldn't afford Acuvue Oasys anymore. I didn't think it would matter since my eyes seemed so bad no matter what. Over the past 2 months, my dry eyes have gotten worse. Normally when I walk in to a store, the mall, restaurant, bars etc. I have to constantly look down and blink over and over again! it's embarrassing, especially when I step in the bathroom and see how red my eyes are. I can't even go out with my friends to a bar without feeling self conscious. I'm even starting to get darker circles under my eyes. anddd my eyes seem to feel tired and puffy. I can't even look people in the eyes when I talk to them, it's just so awful. Those few rare occurrences where my eyes decide to not act up (which is like 5 times a year!) I'm so happy. I can walk through the store without feeling self conscious or feeling like someone lit my eyeballs on fire. I want to feel like that all the time. It's taking a toll on me in the past 2 months that I just start crying because it's hurting so much(emotionally and psychically) even now as I'm writing this my eyes are burning so bad and I'm squinting and blinking a lot!

blah, honestly, I have no one to talk to about this. It just sucks but I'm glad to vent a little. It sounds like a small thing(dry eyes) but it's really not. It really messes with your confidences and how you live life. I'm 25, I should be happy, enjoying life instead of being scared and hiding.

I hear mixed reviews about Restasis but I think I wanna try it out when I have the money. on that note, does anyone know how you can go about getting Restasis cheap? or if there's a cheap health insurance to get on that would help with paying for it?

sorry for my whiny story, but there ya go

[alisonW]

Hi there -

So sorry you're going through this - at least you know you're not alone - many of us have gone through the very same thing. I have, and my number one piece of advice for you is to quit wearing your contacts! They are not helping your problems at all, and are probably making it much, much worse. Wearing glasses all the time will give your eyes time to heal and then from there, you can assess again how dry they are and at that time maybe look into Restasis. I know of no cheaper options for that either. If you were not paying for contacts though, that's extra money right there. I realize it may be hard to go to glasses full-time (it honestly took me an entire year to get used to wearing them since I wore contacts for 23 years & my vanity was a huge problem, my eyes were frequently complimented and I felt they were my best feature) but for the future health of your eyes, it's likely very important. Since you are still able to wear you lenses (although not comfortably) this may also be why the doctors you've seen have been hesitant to believe the severity of your problem - I personally know of no one with truly dry eyes who can still wear contacts (not talking about scleral lenses). Good luck!

[Pinky]

Hi artsaves1228,
You can have the Restasis active ingredient (cyclosporine) compounded into drops at most compounding pharmacies. It is a fraction of the cost, and should be just as effective. PM me if you need more info.

[Lacey1]

Hi artsaves,
Sorry you are going through pain. I think it's something most of us on this website can relate to and we do understand. I am 26 and I know what you are talking about when you say dry eye messes with your life. I'm still trying to figure out what is triggering mine. I've been on Restasis for about 4 months (dealing with dry eyes since I was about 17, but got really bad about 9 months ago). I think the Restasis might be starting to have an effect. I can actually go through part of the day without feeling the awful burning sensation (still uncomfortable, but I can deal with it). I think a turning point for me was using moisture goggles (I only wear them on certain occasions now...high ventilation, smokey, etc.). They aren't very attractive, but they allow what tears I have to stay on my eyes and I think that helped to start the healing process. Please do try to stop wearing contacts. I think they make things much worse and I believe that is one of the things that started my dry eye. Try reading the Triumph stories. That really helped me get over my depression (I too have a tendancy to be depressed) and gave me some ideas as to what may be causing this. Feel free to ask questions and talk to people. It's hard for people who have not suffered dry eye to understand, but thankfully on this website we can find connections. Good luck. :-)

[artsaves1228]

well I've noticed since I started wearing the cheaper brand of contacts(SofMed) is when my eyes started feeling even worse than usual. but I didn't really start noticing until about a month ago, when Winter starts it always seems to be worse. The combination of the cold air on my eyes then walking into the mall or a store is just crappy! I think I'm even getting wrinkles around my eyes from squinting so much and I'm only 25

I've also tried limiting my contact use more. Typically I put them in about 11am and they're in until about 11 at night. but I've been trying to take them out about 5pm. It feels better to take them out BUT honestly, my eyes have always still felt dry even when I wear glasses :/ it's hard to get used to wearing them, like I said my vision is pretty bad. for anyone who's familiar with the strength of the contacts, my right eye is -5.50 and left is -4.75. so without anything, I can't even read a book sitting in front of my face. It's weird, because they always say dry eye is from a lack of tears in the eyes, but when I cry, it actually seems to make my eyes like 3x worse, it feels good on my eyes at first then about 5 mins later it starts burning even more.

does anyone wear those masks over their eyes when they sleep? I been thinking about trying it out and see if it works even a little.

Pinky-I've actually never heard of that! is it safe?? I just don't wanna go blind or anything

ohh and my name is Robin btw, sorry for not mentioning it.

[RonnieD]

Hey Robin,

I feel the same way as you with the eyes burning and having to look away from people because the pain is confidence crippling.

I have spent a ton of money over the past 14 years seeking a solution and nothing has worked. I live in Canada but flew to the US 6 years ago to get Restasis before it was available in Canada. I used the drops for months as prescribed and experienced the worsening effects (as predicted) but did not realized any improvement, even after months of use. I personally consider Restasis a complete waste of money for people with severe dry eye like us. It is probably successful for people with very mild dry eye. I recommend not spending a dime on Restatis. I have never heard of one person with extreme bad eye generating relief from Restasis.

I've posted some detailed messages on this site over the years about the efforts I have tried for a solution. The most recent one I posted is from today and is: http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showt...and-Probiotics

Feel free to go through my old posts to look at what I've tried in the past to see what efforts I consider to be a poor allocation of money; it may help you save money going forwards.

Let me guess, you've taken a number of antibiotics and/or birth control in your life?