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I'm going to keep this short, because I could sit here and type all day about the absolutely awful year 2013 was for me. I just want to post my story in brief in case anyone has questions about how they can get better. You never know what could help.
FYI, I'm a 31 year old male living in Southern California. I stay in good shape. I have a minor dairy allergy and some acute sinusitis. Otherwise, I'm a perfectly healthy dude.
In May of 2012, I suffered an eye injury as a direct result of exposure to excess UV light. I'm not going to go into specifics, so don't ask. In short, it left me with photo-sensitivity (just sunlight, no indoor issues) and minor dry eye. At that point, I was still a pretty "normal" human being and could do pretty much everything I used to do prior to the accident EXCEPT go outside without sunglasses on. I was even wearing my contacts on a daily basis without issue and doing everything else normal human beings do.
However, come January 2013, my eyes started to slowly dry out over the course of a three-week stretch. I work as a video editor, and after working 8-12 hour days in front of a bright computer screen for three weeks straight, my eyes just began to quit. It should be noted it was also very cold at the time, I was running a heater non-stop in my office, and I was taking anti-histamines to battle the sniffles.
But the biggest contributor to my "crash" (besides the eye injury) was probably overusing prescription and OTC acne medicine. I have minor oracea, which has never affected my eyes, but gives me lame-awful acne on my forehead & cheeks. If you're curious about the prescription acne meds I was on, one was called Tazorac and the other was a sodium/sulfur foam. Pretty funny... when my eyes went to ****, my skin actually looked amazing.
So an eye injury, antihistamines, acne meds, overwearing contact lenses, and running a heater non-stop in cold, dry weather... a perfect storm for drying out your eyes. Did I mention drinking too much? Cause I probably was doing that too at the time.
On January 25, 2013, my eyes bottomed out. I was done... general ATD had contributed to super-inflamed and super-stressed eye balls that still to this day haven't fully recovered. I had to stop working and essentially live in the dark for a while. No screens, no going outside (even with sunglasses for a while)... pretty much disabled. I remember going to CVS with a hood on and sunglasses for many weeks... I felt like a homeless guy.
I went home for about a month so my mom could help me get through the worst of it (this was in March/April 2013 if you're curious). I got rid of my old eye doctor, found a new one, went to another, more expensive one (waste of money), went to USC to look into PROSE (didn't work), and eventually just stuck with my original "new" doctor.
Time was my greatest ally in getting better. There are a lot of stories I could tell, little things I learned a long the way, different steps I took as I got better. If you're curious and want to know more specifics, please ask. All I know is that the forward progress one would expect to make after a day of recovery takes about a week. Patience, patience, and even more patience is required to get better, and even then I don't think there are any guarantees. But I do know if you're nearly as bad as I was, it's gonna take at least 3-5 months until you actually feel like you're going to be normal again. So you LASIK peeps who are frustrated after a month of recovery, BE PATIENT, cause you've got a long way to go. I don't know how much better every person can get obviously, but I have learned this kind of thing takes a LONG time to recover from.
So it's a year later, January 2014, and I'm a generally functional human being again. Life isn't perfect, but I can use the computer with about a 70% success rate (I use http://justgetflux.com/ and keep the brightness low) and watch TV without much worry. I can exercise without issue, which is nice, but playing sports outside with others is still a challenge because it requires a lot of quick eye movement (whereas running & lifting does not and I can blink a bunch). I do have to wear sunglasses outside at all times and still can't wear contacts though. Overall, I have to be cautious with my body.... too much of anything is never good. Moderation of computer use, alcohol, spicy food, hours awake, etc.
The only thing I still can't do is go to the movies, though I haven't tried it in the last year either. Just not sure it'd be a good idea yet. Hard to tell.
I should stress that this was NOT easy, and it continues to NOT be easy. I keep reading that dry eyes is a "disease." I look at it as more of a medical condition or temp/perm disability. Every time I meet a girl for a date, I have to explain to her the situation with my eyes. I have to ask friends what the "viewing environment" is like if I'm going over to a stranger's house to watch a football game (if the TV is in front of a window, my eyes can't handle it). I mostly keep the shades closed in my apartment until about 4PM every day. I have to watch how much beer I drink. I have to make sure I eat at certain times during the day, otherwise my body gets upset and my eyes start to get angry. I miss my contacts a lot... my confidence is not as high with my glasses. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go skiing again. I don't know if it's smart to ever go to Vegas again. I used to shoot video as well as edit for TV... I don't think I can work a camera outside again. I've lost things in my life that I might never get back.
But you can improve. You can get better. It just takes time and meticulous attention to detail. You have to be smart, cautious, and live within your means. But now, I can go to a sports bar now and watch 3-4 hours of football and probably use less than 10 drops, sometimes less than 5. A year ago, that seemed unheard of.
So this is the Cliff Notes version of my story. I'm going to post my supplement/prescription regimen in my next post. After that, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about ANYTHING related to your dry eye condition and also maybe throw some encouragement my way if you can. You can email me on here, but I'd prefer just to answer your questions here instead so everyone can benefit.
Finally, I would like to say this site helped me a TON in both finding things that could help me get better and with general emotional/psychological support as well. It helps a lot to know you aren't alone.
FYI, I'm a 31 year old male living in Southern California. I stay in good shape. I have a minor dairy allergy and some acute sinusitis. Otherwise, I'm a perfectly healthy dude.
In May of 2012, I suffered an eye injury as a direct result of exposure to excess UV light. I'm not going to go into specifics, so don't ask. In short, it left me with photo-sensitivity (just sunlight, no indoor issues) and minor dry eye. At that point, I was still a pretty "normal" human being and could do pretty much everything I used to do prior to the accident EXCEPT go outside without sunglasses on. I was even wearing my contacts on a daily basis without issue and doing everything else normal human beings do.
However, come January 2013, my eyes started to slowly dry out over the course of a three-week stretch. I work as a video editor, and after working 8-12 hour days in front of a bright computer screen for three weeks straight, my eyes just began to quit. It should be noted it was also very cold at the time, I was running a heater non-stop in my office, and I was taking anti-histamines to battle the sniffles.
But the biggest contributor to my "crash" (besides the eye injury) was probably overusing prescription and OTC acne medicine. I have minor oracea, which has never affected my eyes, but gives me lame-awful acne on my forehead & cheeks. If you're curious about the prescription acne meds I was on, one was called Tazorac and the other was a sodium/sulfur foam. Pretty funny... when my eyes went to ****, my skin actually looked amazing.
So an eye injury, antihistamines, acne meds, overwearing contact lenses, and running a heater non-stop in cold, dry weather... a perfect storm for drying out your eyes. Did I mention drinking too much? Cause I probably was doing that too at the time.
On January 25, 2013, my eyes bottomed out. I was done... general ATD had contributed to super-inflamed and super-stressed eye balls that still to this day haven't fully recovered. I had to stop working and essentially live in the dark for a while. No screens, no going outside (even with sunglasses for a while)... pretty much disabled. I remember going to CVS with a hood on and sunglasses for many weeks... I felt like a homeless guy.
I went home for about a month so my mom could help me get through the worst of it (this was in March/April 2013 if you're curious). I got rid of my old eye doctor, found a new one, went to another, more expensive one (waste of money), went to USC to look into PROSE (didn't work), and eventually just stuck with my original "new" doctor.
Time was my greatest ally in getting better. There are a lot of stories I could tell, little things I learned a long the way, different steps I took as I got better. If you're curious and want to know more specifics, please ask. All I know is that the forward progress one would expect to make after a day of recovery takes about a week. Patience, patience, and even more patience is required to get better, and even then I don't think there are any guarantees. But I do know if you're nearly as bad as I was, it's gonna take at least 3-5 months until you actually feel like you're going to be normal again. So you LASIK peeps who are frustrated after a month of recovery, BE PATIENT, cause you've got a long way to go. I don't know how much better every person can get obviously, but I have learned this kind of thing takes a LONG time to recover from.
So it's a year later, January 2014, and I'm a generally functional human being again. Life isn't perfect, but I can use the computer with about a 70% success rate (I use http://justgetflux.com/ and keep the brightness low) and watch TV without much worry. I can exercise without issue, which is nice, but playing sports outside with others is still a challenge because it requires a lot of quick eye movement (whereas running & lifting does not and I can blink a bunch). I do have to wear sunglasses outside at all times and still can't wear contacts though. Overall, I have to be cautious with my body.... too much of anything is never good. Moderation of computer use, alcohol, spicy food, hours awake, etc.
The only thing I still can't do is go to the movies, though I haven't tried it in the last year either. Just not sure it'd be a good idea yet. Hard to tell.
I should stress that this was NOT easy, and it continues to NOT be easy. I keep reading that dry eyes is a "disease." I look at it as more of a medical condition or temp/perm disability. Every time I meet a girl for a date, I have to explain to her the situation with my eyes. I have to ask friends what the "viewing environment" is like if I'm going over to a stranger's house to watch a football game (if the TV is in front of a window, my eyes can't handle it). I mostly keep the shades closed in my apartment until about 4PM every day. I have to watch how much beer I drink. I have to make sure I eat at certain times during the day, otherwise my body gets upset and my eyes start to get angry. I miss my contacts a lot... my confidence is not as high with my glasses. I don't know if I'll ever be able to go skiing again. I don't know if it's smart to ever go to Vegas again. I used to shoot video as well as edit for TV... I don't think I can work a camera outside again. I've lost things in my life that I might never get back.
But you can improve. You can get better. It just takes time and meticulous attention to detail. You have to be smart, cautious, and live within your means. But now, I can go to a sports bar now and watch 3-4 hours of football and probably use less than 10 drops, sometimes less than 5. A year ago, that seemed unheard of.
So this is the Cliff Notes version of my story. I'm going to post my supplement/prescription regimen in my next post. After that, please feel free to ask me any questions you might have about ANYTHING related to your dry eye condition and also maybe throw some encouragement my way if you can. You can email me on here, but I'd prefer just to answer your questions here instead so everyone can benefit.
Finally, I would like to say this site helped me a TON in both finding things that could help me get better and with general emotional/psychological support as well. It helps a lot to know you aren't alone.
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