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Hello everyone,
This is my first time posting here, but I have read many DEZ threads over the past couple years. Not sure whether I'm supposed to post this here or in the dry eye triumphs section, but hopefully this is okay. There could be more exposure in this section, which is good in the chance that I'm onto something. I realize this post is very lengthy but I want to be thorough and provide sufficient context.
I have been having a couple crazy weeks, to say the least. It's hard to decide where to start. I guess I'll start by saying that I have been suffering from dry eye for 6.5 years, since I had Visian ICL refractive surgery. I was very near-sighted. I didn't get Lasik because I have thin corneas. The surgery went perfectly according to the surgeon and my optometrist, but I noticed dry eye symptoms immediately after the surgery. When I closed my eye lids and touched them, my eyes felt harder than before, I didn't produce as many tears, I would wake up in the middle of the night with dry, painful eyes, I became very sensitive to wind, I stopped producing tears when I woke up in the morning, it always felt like something was in my eyes, I couldn't focus them as well, and it felt like my blinking changed somehow. Eventually my meibomian glands became atrophied. Refractive eye exams even became a challenge for me, as when the optometrist would ask me "which one is more clear, #1 or #2?" I felt my eyes involuntarily changing focus slightly.
My optometrist said there was no link between refractive surgery and dry eye, but I just couldn't believe there was no connection given the experience of myself and those on this forum.
Thankfully, after seeing my dry eye doctor last time (in April of this year), he said my symptoms had improved and he would now classify the severity of my condition as minor. All of my glands are producing oil though the oil in my lower left lid is more globular and the doctor said he wouldn't expect that to be expressed through blinking. Hot compresses and massage help this. I have been using erythromycin eye ointment and I was previously taking doxycycline as well. Naturally I take omega-3 supplements and use a lid cleanser too. If I didn't have that improvement I believe punctal plugs would have been the next step.
I noticed a couple months ago that the muscles in the back of my neck were very tense. Truthfully, I had experienced increasing tension (especially in my neck as I tried to compensate for my vision issues) and anxiety for several years, along with a host of symptoms secondary to these (including motor control being affected). This really wore me down. Then, three weeks ago I did a Google search for "dry eye and tension", and came across this site.
http://eyestrain.sabhlokcity.com/201...-eye-symptoms/
What jumped out at me was Dr. ******'s connection between tight neck muscles (in back, I think especially where they meet the head), the occipital nerves, dry eye, and referred eye pain.
I have been studying mindfulness for a couple years now because of my increasing anxiety and inability to concentrate. After reading that article, I started to focus on and become very aware of the tightness in my neck and tried to identify what was triggering that tightness. I noticed that if I could try and keep my neck relaxed, I seemed to experience less tension on the left side of my body (where it was a problem). Eventually I traced pain and discomfort to my eyes, specifically the muscles around my eyes. After a couple more days, it seemed that if I could relax my neck and the back of my head, the muscles around my eyes would relax even more.
Then a week and a half ago I decided to lay down on the floor in my apartment. Normally I find myself adjusting my head and neck a lot when I lay down, but this time I just let my neck stretch out. I let my head tilt forward and I actually pressed the back of my head and neck down (specifically the area where I felt the most soreness) to the floor and held it there. I think it was within minutes that I actually felt a muscle(s) move/loosen and I eventually made my way to my bed, as it was late in the evening. I didn't sleep on a pillow. I tried to keep my head and neck in that position, pressed against my bed, and over the course of the next hour or two, I started having VERY STRANGE sensations.
The most notable ones were that I felt my eyes move in my head, followed by a dramatic increase in tear production and increased sensation in my eyes and tear ducts. By morning I felt much more relaxed (physically and emotionally) and clear-headed. I also thought my eyes felt a lot more "normal" and my visual acuity had significantly improved. Everything looks clearer now. My eyes/eyelids also felt softer to the touch. I actually called Dr. ******'s office in Florida to report my experience with his receptionist, but I have yet to receive an email or phone call back from them since talking with her.
Over the course of the next several days, I tried to keep those neck muscles (again, mostly on the left side) loose and stretched out, but I had problems with mounting anxiety as soon as I moved my head into a different/wrong position. Then this (last? It was a week ago) Monday I made the connection between anxiety and muscle tension and found a way to release much of that tension (basically through trauma release techniques, which can be found online - I suppose a massage would work equally well but doesn’t provide the same cathartic release of tears). Now my anxiety is drastically reduced. I think my left eye might even be moving faster in my socket. That would explain why I sometimes felt like my eyes were fighting each other for dominance (my left eye is my dominant one). This added to my frustration and tension, but I would be comfortable if I just looked at one thing and didn't move my eyes. I bought an eye patch two weeks ago and wore it for almost a week, switching between which eye I covered. That seemed to improve my comfort, and now I know why.
I've also been taking ibuprofen and icing my neck periodically.
So this is my theory.
I recall the sedative wearing off between when my eye surgeon finished the surgery on my right eye but before starting on the left. As he continued the surgery, I unconsciously tightened up my neck to an extreme degree, and the same thing probably happened with my orbital muscles (with there being nerves that connect those muscles). However, my eyes were kept open during the surgery. Unable to blink and keep my eye in place, the contracting muscles pushed my eyeballs forward in their sockets. This resulted in the following:
1) Some nerves getting disconnected (and decreased sensation in the front of my eyes signaling when I should blink)
2) Blinking action getting interfered
3) Eyestrain from difficulty focusing
4) Pain behind my eyes
5) Developing tension in the front of my orbital muscles/eyelids
6) Decreased tear production, foreign body sensation, etc.
This then leads to MGD, blepharitis, demodex infestation, and cylindrical dandruff.
Tying back to what I did to loosen my neck by laying on the floor (perhaps using a tennis ball or foam roller would be easier), the important part here in my hypothesis is to loosen that perpetually tight neck muscle(s) (which actually might be at the base of the skull itself rather than the neck). So if I'm making the correct conclusions, it's important to find the optimal way to do that. I will also say that during my trauma release experience, I found myself blinking (and holding) EXTREMELY hard. This was probably to release tension in the front of my orbital muscles. I find that blinking feels extremely normal and comfortable now, and I don't find myself doing half blinks when I look up anymore. Sometimes my blinks would feel kind of twitchy before too, and they don't now.
I feel better now than I have in a number of years, and it's much easier for me to concentrate and I don't feel distracted. I think the decreased tear production reduced my ability to expel cortisol (stress hormone) through tears, causing my anxiety to build up over time, and that contributed to and was exacerbated by more muscle tension.
I feel like I'm being cured and my eyes feel like 100% when I can keep my neck loose (it will be fine for several hours now, and then there’s one specific muscle - actually seems to be on my head rather than my neck - that will start to tense up (which then spreads, and I’ll also feel a little pressure in my left eye) if I don’t stay attentive to it). My eyes look less red around the margins, and I can even see improvement in my meibomian glands, which I expect to continue. I also think the skin under my eyes looks less sunken in.
I did actually get a massage on Friday, and there was more remaining tension in my neck than I anticipated. Depending on how things go in the next several weeks, I may get another one if I think it would help. My next appointment with my dry eye doctor is in a month. I will report back here with his comments at that time. I can say that with feeling a lot less tension and anxiety now, along with my improved vision and sleep quality, I'm enjoying life a lot more. I also noticed yesterday that it seemed like I don’t need to have everything bathed in light in order for me to see things clearly. That was another issue I had after my surgery.
I don’t know if there is any nerve inflammation and how that would affect my continued recovery. I had a neck x-ray (though that doesn’t show nerves) and there is no arthritis there so that's good.
Despite how crazy this must sound (surely people are aware of how to relieve neck tension), I think if enough people read this (particularly those with similar characteristics as myself), I would be surprised if someone doesn't report back here in the near future telling of similar improvements. I wouldn't expect the fact that many of you developed dry eye after Lasik (rather than having the procedure I had) to make you any less likely to achieve relief. Many of you also have more severe symptoms than me so I don't know how much recovery can be hoped for there, but if my idea about my eyes getting pushed forward in their sockets is true and the solution is to relieve muscle tension, then maybe those that started having problems from a similar cause might be helped by this.
Chad
This is my first time posting here, but I have read many DEZ threads over the past couple years. Not sure whether I'm supposed to post this here or in the dry eye triumphs section, but hopefully this is okay. There could be more exposure in this section, which is good in the chance that I'm onto something. I realize this post is very lengthy but I want to be thorough and provide sufficient context.
I have been having a couple crazy weeks, to say the least. It's hard to decide where to start. I guess I'll start by saying that I have been suffering from dry eye for 6.5 years, since I had Visian ICL refractive surgery. I was very near-sighted. I didn't get Lasik because I have thin corneas. The surgery went perfectly according to the surgeon and my optometrist, but I noticed dry eye symptoms immediately after the surgery. When I closed my eye lids and touched them, my eyes felt harder than before, I didn't produce as many tears, I would wake up in the middle of the night with dry, painful eyes, I became very sensitive to wind, I stopped producing tears when I woke up in the morning, it always felt like something was in my eyes, I couldn't focus them as well, and it felt like my blinking changed somehow. Eventually my meibomian glands became atrophied. Refractive eye exams even became a challenge for me, as when the optometrist would ask me "which one is more clear, #1 or #2?" I felt my eyes involuntarily changing focus slightly.
My optometrist said there was no link between refractive surgery and dry eye, but I just couldn't believe there was no connection given the experience of myself and those on this forum.
Thankfully, after seeing my dry eye doctor last time (in April of this year), he said my symptoms had improved and he would now classify the severity of my condition as minor. All of my glands are producing oil though the oil in my lower left lid is more globular and the doctor said he wouldn't expect that to be expressed through blinking. Hot compresses and massage help this. I have been using erythromycin eye ointment and I was previously taking doxycycline as well. Naturally I take omega-3 supplements and use a lid cleanser too. If I didn't have that improvement I believe punctal plugs would have been the next step.
I noticed a couple months ago that the muscles in the back of my neck were very tense. Truthfully, I had experienced increasing tension (especially in my neck as I tried to compensate for my vision issues) and anxiety for several years, along with a host of symptoms secondary to these (including motor control being affected). This really wore me down. Then, three weeks ago I did a Google search for "dry eye and tension", and came across this site.
http://eyestrain.sabhlokcity.com/201...-eye-symptoms/
What jumped out at me was Dr. ******'s connection between tight neck muscles (in back, I think especially where they meet the head), the occipital nerves, dry eye, and referred eye pain.
I have been studying mindfulness for a couple years now because of my increasing anxiety and inability to concentrate. After reading that article, I started to focus on and become very aware of the tightness in my neck and tried to identify what was triggering that tightness. I noticed that if I could try and keep my neck relaxed, I seemed to experience less tension on the left side of my body (where it was a problem). Eventually I traced pain and discomfort to my eyes, specifically the muscles around my eyes. After a couple more days, it seemed that if I could relax my neck and the back of my head, the muscles around my eyes would relax even more.
Then a week and a half ago I decided to lay down on the floor in my apartment. Normally I find myself adjusting my head and neck a lot when I lay down, but this time I just let my neck stretch out. I let my head tilt forward and I actually pressed the back of my head and neck down (specifically the area where I felt the most soreness) to the floor and held it there. I think it was within minutes that I actually felt a muscle(s) move/loosen and I eventually made my way to my bed, as it was late in the evening. I didn't sleep on a pillow. I tried to keep my head and neck in that position, pressed against my bed, and over the course of the next hour or two, I started having VERY STRANGE sensations.
The most notable ones were that I felt my eyes move in my head, followed by a dramatic increase in tear production and increased sensation in my eyes and tear ducts. By morning I felt much more relaxed (physically and emotionally) and clear-headed. I also thought my eyes felt a lot more "normal" and my visual acuity had significantly improved. Everything looks clearer now. My eyes/eyelids also felt softer to the touch. I actually called Dr. ******'s office in Florida to report my experience with his receptionist, but I have yet to receive an email or phone call back from them since talking with her.
Over the course of the next several days, I tried to keep those neck muscles (again, mostly on the left side) loose and stretched out, but I had problems with mounting anxiety as soon as I moved my head into a different/wrong position. Then this (last? It was a week ago) Monday I made the connection between anxiety and muscle tension and found a way to release much of that tension (basically through trauma release techniques, which can be found online - I suppose a massage would work equally well but doesn’t provide the same cathartic release of tears). Now my anxiety is drastically reduced. I think my left eye might even be moving faster in my socket. That would explain why I sometimes felt like my eyes were fighting each other for dominance (my left eye is my dominant one). This added to my frustration and tension, but I would be comfortable if I just looked at one thing and didn't move my eyes. I bought an eye patch two weeks ago and wore it for almost a week, switching between which eye I covered. That seemed to improve my comfort, and now I know why.
I've also been taking ibuprofen and icing my neck periodically.
So this is my theory.
I recall the sedative wearing off between when my eye surgeon finished the surgery on my right eye but before starting on the left. As he continued the surgery, I unconsciously tightened up my neck to an extreme degree, and the same thing probably happened with my orbital muscles (with there being nerves that connect those muscles). However, my eyes were kept open during the surgery. Unable to blink and keep my eye in place, the contracting muscles pushed my eyeballs forward in their sockets. This resulted in the following:
1) Some nerves getting disconnected (and decreased sensation in the front of my eyes signaling when I should blink)
2) Blinking action getting interfered
3) Eyestrain from difficulty focusing
4) Pain behind my eyes
5) Developing tension in the front of my orbital muscles/eyelids
6) Decreased tear production, foreign body sensation, etc.
This then leads to MGD, blepharitis, demodex infestation, and cylindrical dandruff.
Tying back to what I did to loosen my neck by laying on the floor (perhaps using a tennis ball or foam roller would be easier), the important part here in my hypothesis is to loosen that perpetually tight neck muscle(s) (which actually might be at the base of the skull itself rather than the neck). So if I'm making the correct conclusions, it's important to find the optimal way to do that. I will also say that during my trauma release experience, I found myself blinking (and holding) EXTREMELY hard. This was probably to release tension in the front of my orbital muscles. I find that blinking feels extremely normal and comfortable now, and I don't find myself doing half blinks when I look up anymore. Sometimes my blinks would feel kind of twitchy before too, and they don't now.
I feel better now than I have in a number of years, and it's much easier for me to concentrate and I don't feel distracted. I think the decreased tear production reduced my ability to expel cortisol (stress hormone) through tears, causing my anxiety to build up over time, and that contributed to and was exacerbated by more muscle tension.
I feel like I'm being cured and my eyes feel like 100% when I can keep my neck loose (it will be fine for several hours now, and then there’s one specific muscle - actually seems to be on my head rather than my neck - that will start to tense up (which then spreads, and I’ll also feel a little pressure in my left eye) if I don’t stay attentive to it). My eyes look less red around the margins, and I can even see improvement in my meibomian glands, which I expect to continue. I also think the skin under my eyes looks less sunken in.
I did actually get a massage on Friday, and there was more remaining tension in my neck than I anticipated. Depending on how things go in the next several weeks, I may get another one if I think it would help. My next appointment with my dry eye doctor is in a month. I will report back here with his comments at that time. I can say that with feeling a lot less tension and anxiety now, along with my improved vision and sleep quality, I'm enjoying life a lot more. I also noticed yesterday that it seemed like I don’t need to have everything bathed in light in order for me to see things clearly. That was another issue I had after my surgery.
I don’t know if there is any nerve inflammation and how that would affect my continued recovery. I had a neck x-ray (though that doesn’t show nerves) and there is no arthritis there so that's good.
Despite how crazy this must sound (surely people are aware of how to relieve neck tension), I think if enough people read this (particularly those with similar characteristics as myself), I would be surprised if someone doesn't report back here in the near future telling of similar improvements. I wouldn't expect the fact that many of you developed dry eye after Lasik (rather than having the procedure I had) to make you any less likely to achieve relief. Many of you also have more severe symptoms than me so I don't know how much recovery can be hoped for there, but if my idea about my eyes getting pushed forward in their sockets is true and the solution is to relieve muscle tension, then maybe those that started having problems from a similar cause might be helped by this.
Chad