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My lovely relationship with dry eyes is a fairly long one. I was told as a young teenager after getting a battery of tests done for other issues that I had some sort of marker that means in predisposed to dry eye syndrome. They left if at that and I the time I thought "I went through all this and THAT is what they tell me? What a joke." I made actually jokes about it for years. Puh, dry eyes, how bad could that be?
Sometime after I had my second child, I started to have horrible pain in the mornings or when I blink, but it would go away after a few hours. I went to my family doctor about it and he gave me steroid eye drops and told me to come back, but he left the practice and I lost my insurance. I just went on occasionally dealing with the pain and not realizing that my vision fluctuating was connected.
Almost two years later, a month after having my third child, I blinked and suddenly was in horrible, searing pain. It hung on for days and since it was the weekend I went to the ER it was so bad. There, they told me I had a rather large laceration on my cornea and didn't seem to believe me that I hadn't stabbed myself in the eye with something, despite my insistence that I would probably remember that. They gave me antibiotic eye drops and the ER doctor "snuck" me numbing eye drops. He told me to use them as needed, because from what he's read there isn't any reason I shouldn't. He gave me a number and told me to follow up with an eye doctor. Over the next few days, because of course it was the weekend again, the pain became worse and my vision in the eye faded to almost nothing. It what just white/gray nothingness and shadows.
When I finally arrived to my follow up appointment, my new eye doctor told me I had one of the worst corneal infections he'd ever seen. I remember my mom drove me and we had the baby with us. They gave me the little board thing to block my vision in my good eye and the nurse asked me which line I could read on the screen. I told her I couldn't actually see the screen, although I was pretty sure I could see it glowing. She then asked me how many fingers she was holding up and I told her I couldn't see her hand. She went flying out of the room saying she was going to get the doctor. I put the board down to see my mom staring at me in shock. I damn well told everyone I couldn't see, so I don't really know what they thought I meant.
For the next two months I had to do antibiotic drops every hour, 24 hours a day. After a couple weeks we switched antibiotics because I must have been resistant to what I was using. It still took weeks for the infection to clear up.
I hadn't realized my post cut off for some reason. Rest of the long story shorter, I have less frequent reoccurrences with a new doctor, but still wake up in excruciating pain at least once a month.
I'm not a depressed person my nature. I try to be positive. But this has been so hard and I just want to be a good mother. I read and write as a hobby, but there are days when I can't dream of looking at a computer screen and then there are days that I don't even care because the pain is too much.
I have to wear glasses now because I have had rce in both eyes and it has damaged my vision. I have a permanent scar on the eye that was infected. I'm spending 100s of dollars a month on eye care that I can't get help with through insurance or prescriptions. I don't feel like I can work or get through school like this.
I hate to be negative, but I just don't know what to anymore.
Sometime after I had my second child, I started to have horrible pain in the mornings or when I blink, but it would go away after a few hours. I went to my family doctor about it and he gave me steroid eye drops and told me to come back, but he left the practice and I lost my insurance. I just went on occasionally dealing with the pain and not realizing that my vision fluctuating was connected.
Almost two years later, a month after having my third child, I blinked and suddenly was in horrible, searing pain. It hung on for days and since it was the weekend I went to the ER it was so bad. There, they told me I had a rather large laceration on my cornea and didn't seem to believe me that I hadn't stabbed myself in the eye with something, despite my insistence that I would probably remember that. They gave me antibiotic eye drops and the ER doctor "snuck" me numbing eye drops. He told me to use them as needed, because from what he's read there isn't any reason I shouldn't. He gave me a number and told me to follow up with an eye doctor. Over the next few days, because of course it was the weekend again, the pain became worse and my vision in the eye faded to almost nothing. It what just white/gray nothingness and shadows.
When I finally arrived to my follow up appointment, my new eye doctor told me I had one of the worst corneal infections he'd ever seen. I remember my mom drove me and we had the baby with us. They gave me the little board thing to block my vision in my good eye and the nurse asked me which line I could read on the screen. I told her I couldn't actually see the screen, although I was pretty sure I could see it glowing. She then asked me how many fingers she was holding up and I told her I couldn't see her hand. She went flying out of the room saying she was going to get the doctor. I put the board down to see my mom staring at me in shock. I damn well told everyone I couldn't see, so I don't really know what they thought I meant.
For the next two months I had to do antibiotic drops every hour, 24 hours a day. After a couple weeks we switched antibiotics because I must have been resistant to what I was using. It still took weeks for the infection to clear up.
I hadn't realized my post cut off for some reason. Rest of the long story shorter, I have less frequent reoccurrences with a new doctor, but still wake up in excruciating pain at least once a month.
I'm not a depressed person my nature. I try to be positive. But this has been so hard and I just want to be a good mother. I read and write as a hobby, but there are days when I can't dream of looking at a computer screen and then there are days that I don't even care because the pain is too much.
I have to wear glasses now because I have had rce in both eyes and it has damaged my vision. I have a permanent scar on the eye that was infected. I'm spending 100s of dollars a month on eye care that I can't get help with through insurance or prescriptions. I don't feel like I can work or get through school like this.
I hate to be negative, but I just don't know what to anymore.
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