A good night's sleep

[jranieri]

When was the last time you got a good night's sleep? How do you manage to do so?

I have dry eye, but most of the time am not in severe pain. However, it is far worse at night and on a good night I wake up every two hours to add drops. On a bad night, it could be as often as every ten minutes! I've tried ThermoEyes, but they only work for about four hours. I've tried various drops, ointments, etc., but nothing seems to really work. In fact, some make it worse. I've been using warm rice bags (thanks to this forum!), especially just before bed and that helps for a short while.

I feel like I am exhausted all of the time! Does anyone have any suggestions?

[mlittlem]

Sleepless

I hesitate to say it, but my only hope is sleeping pills. After nights of only 1 - 2 hours sleep, I have had to resort to this. Not happy about it, but less enamored with the idea of not sleeping.

[liz56]

Jranieri,

It sounds like you might have recurrent corneal erosions (RCE's). Is the pain sudden and severe? Are you left with a "foreign-object feeling" in your eye or eyes the next day? That might be something to ask your doctor about.

When my erosions were really bad, I was putting in Genteal Gel every two hours. I'd set an alarm, so that I would beat my eyes to the punch. It worked well, and I went a full six weeks with no pain, but I was exhausted. It came to be that I was frightened of sleep. And, it was emotionally distressing, because my family would say, "Why don't you just sleep?" It was a really vicious cycle. If I slept soundly, I'd have an erosion, if I woke myself up, I'd be exhausted, irritable, and not functioning well.

If the pain is simply constant from dry eyes, even it if is not RCE's, you might want to try Tranquileyes goggles and Genteal Gel as a combination. The gel lasts longer than drops, and it is not an ointment but a preservative-free gel. Now that I use Tranquileyes, I look forward to wearing them, because nothing blocks out all light like they do, making it easier to sleep. Even if I were suddenly cured of my eye problems, I'd probably still wear them, because they give me a better and more sound night's sleep.

I hope you get to the bottom of your problem!

--Liz

[Stanza]

At the beginning I woke up every 2.. hours, it drove me crazy then I relaxed a bit more with it all. At the start, I think I kind of patterned myself into being afraid to sleep very long because of the pain and fear of more pain in the morning. Now I only wake 1-2 times. I do think at the beginning i did live in fear of 'not' waking and putting drops in but eventually I found out that my eyes seem bad no matter how many times I wake, put drops etc, -- they aren't better or worse.

Not sure if this will help you, we're all different and looking for the magic solutions, I guess I'm trying to say it did change for me over time. I found things also got better when I started using Dwelle at night, before then it was really a nightmare.

But it does sound like it's worth trying to sort out with a doc, perhaps you're not sleeping with your eyes closed too, hope you can find some relief

[stella]

I hate to advocate this as it is contraversial - Ointment at night (in my case antibiotic ,and on lid margins only - it migrates into the eyes over night ) has solved my problem .I also take a small dose of tryciclic antidepressant at night prescribed for chronic pain - in my case ,the eyes and arthritis )
Also i would put a light smear of vasaline on the outer lids ,and i really have much less trouble and can sleep all night now and can actually open my eyes much easier in the morning
I have been doing that for over a year and it has made such a difference

[hkgcomet]

Don't use SLEEPING PILL

Sleeping pill is one of the thing cause me loss sleep and then dry eye burst out. Sleeping pill throw me to the hell...

You should reduce the pressure for a good sleep.

I use viscotears/genteal gel at night. I am sensitive to the ointments.
Use a wet sleeping mask. You might use tranq. eye for that.

If you still dry in midnight, use humidifier! Make your bedroom 90% humidity.
Place water tanks, cups, hot water pot, making foggy everywhere.
May sleep in bathroom, haha.

Nothing more important for a good sleep, do most you can do and then go sleep without too much concerning.