POSITIVE OUTCOMES only

[janedoe1969]

Hi. I seem to be in this anxiety state for the moment. Yesterday and this morning were pretty bad, mentally. I'm a worry wart anyway and this has just thrown me over the edge. It just takes one person to say the one right thing and that helps me. All the negative things are stuck in my head & I can't get passed that. For me, I just can't understand how January was perfectly fine for me, not one dry eye problem at all, and now this......a daily battle with a whole new eye routine. I'd like to hear from those of you who have seen a huge positive difference from when your eyes were bad to where they are bearable or back to normal and also what you did and how long it took. Thanks alot!

[Rojzen]

protective eyewear: instant relief; Dr. Holly drops: long-term transformation

Your request is so smart! Indeed, one needs to see examples of improvements, replete with the steps leading thereto, in order to construct hope and climb out of the abyss. . .To answer: Moisture chamber glasses took me from completely nonfunctional to highly functional, and sometimes very comfortable, in a matter of minutes. This shift occurred within my first year of dry eye. The Dr. Holly drops brought me from dependency on moisture chambers to near freedom from these, much of the time, in a period of about 7 months. That shift occurred 10 years after onset of dry eye. I SO hope that you find these experiences to be concrete sources for hope. . .

[Terri]

After reading Dr. Latkany's book last November, I started keeping a log of all the various things I tried to improve my DES. My first major breakthrough was determining I had lagophthalmos and beginning to wear Tranquileyes goggles at night (on November 17). That allowed me to reduce my daytime dependence on drugstore eyedrops to every two hours. (I had been using PF drops every 10 to 20 minutes before then.)

Here are two entries from my eyecare log that capture my next major breakthrough:

12/28/07: Began using Dwelle at night.
1/6/08: Can't get my eyes to stick together with Dwelle, as others have claimed; however, I'm intrigued by how good my eyes feel in the morning when I wake up. They feel wetter, and I'm not needing to use drops until the evening.

I bought Dwelle because I thought I could use it to stick my eyelids together, further ensuring my eyes would stay closed at night. Well, I couldn't (and still can't) stick my eyelids together with Dwelle but, in a period of only nine days, I went from using eyedrops every two hours to using them once or twice a day.

I know all progress in dealing with DES can't be miraculous or swift, but with these two steps, I'm 180 degrees away from where I was four months ago. Hope this helps...

[Rich S.]

Because of this site i have just put together one of the best weeks ever and it is because of this site. Im far from out of the woods esp after 40 yrs of dry eye and the last 15 yrs unbearable.Just to have a nice day is something but ive put together 3 or4 on the trot.

Raw cold day yesterday and i was out in it all day had pains in the eye because of the wind but somehow felt a tad better than normal got home and definately better than they would have been in the evening,great!

So far ive used a homemade rice baggy 2 or 3 times a day esp just before sleep and first thing in the morning and just a drop of clinitas ultra3 1/2 an hr before bed and loads od hope from you wonderfull people on this website which i stumbled upon whilst looking on the nett in desperation about dry eye and i thought i was always on my own,not with this forum!

I know early days but for me to have one good day is amazing but nearly a week is out of this world

Just about to go to work on another cold wet windy day and for the first time in years im nearly looking forward to it,crikey!!

So yep v. positive results here

Rich

[stella]

I feel my MGD - evaporative DE is well under control and 6 months ago i despaired of ever arriving at this point
Interestingly i have not noticed the symptoms so much 'cos i have developed other health issues more pressing in nature and equally uncomfortable, so i am obsessing about that instead of my dry eyes !!
Also VERY interesting - I developed an over -all prickle and itch so decided to stop all but essential medications to see if i was allergic to something.This included stopping fish and flax oil and eye vits - in fact all suppliments and i have not noticed any difference at all In fact my eyes have been better if anything
Maybe we can only concentrate and obsess on one pain at a time ?
or maybe it is just coincidence - I dont know
I am trying to go on anti depressants at the moment to help me cope - I'm finding it hard to get something suitable Psychiatrist insists that antidepressants dont dry the eyes and only the mouth He says it is a different nerve supply to the eyes than the mouth and in all his years of experience he has not come across anyone who complained of dry eyes as a side effect of antidepressants - just dry mouth.His own mother suffers sjogrens so he should know

[rubyslippers]

I only found this site recently, but the tips here have made me so much better that I feel light at the end of the tunnel. I have moved from constant pain to intermittant mild to moderate discomfort. I can actually forget about my eyes for 1-2 hours at a time, where only a week ago I was sobbing each evening. This site has been helping so much. Firstly, it was good to know that my despair was not unusual. I felt like I should just buck up and I couldn't. I thought I was all alone, and this site bridged that for me. Secondly, I think the 2 1200mg caps per day of Omega 3 fish oil are helping. Even my skin has responded in an amazing way. Thirdly, the idea of hot wet compresses on my eyes has been nothing short of a godsend. When things get bad, I can count on this to bring me to a bearable level. My doctor is so pleased that he thinks I might be ready to try my new contacts by early next week.

Also, I had no idea that my eye drops could make things worse than better until I read here. Through trial and error I figured out that Refresh Endura was making me worse, Soothe drops worked well, Gen Teal gel at night was great, and Refresh Plus are only for mild discomfort. My light sensitivity is much less and I can actually do bits of computer work if I don't stay on more than 10 minutes at a time.

The information here has been so invaluable that I cannot tell you! Thanks so much for this board and the wonderful people here.

[shells]

Hi Jane Doe,

YES, I have definitely been in a low where you are and have gone on to feel much much better. Many times infact. Most recently I started to feel awful in December, and struggled pretty much the whole month, and all of January too. Like you, I could not figure out why I was manageable in November, then all of a sudden, the pain came back full force out of nowhere. Nothing seemed to help, even steriod drops which have ALWAYS helped in the past, so I was very worried and struggled mentally as well. I'm still not really sure what was up, and I imagine it had something to do with the start of the winter and the heat running alot, but the heat is still running and I'm back to manageable now. I would say that I finally had a turning point in early February, and I have felt much better since then. I'm not even sure what I changed in my routine, my eyes just finally came around. They always do, and so will yours. I did start doing cold compresses sometimes, and got plugs in my left eye, but the plugs were not inserted until after I started feeling a bit better, so I don't think they played a huge role. If you felt great in January, then just keep focusing on that, and how good your eyes are capable of feeling. You are going to get through this. Sometimes there really is no obvious explanation as to why we have ups and downs. I think Lucy suggested it is the color of our socks, and the more I deal with this dry eye, the more I'm starting to believe it! Hang in there, and I hope this rough patch passes for you soon.

-Shells

[liz56]

Hi, Janedoe1969.

No improvement story is complete without starting with what needed to improve.

My problem came upon me rather suddenly. I've had dry eyes for some time and have complained. Friends just said that I should get used to it, because that comes with age. (I was 32 when I first complained.) Eye doctors told me that "everything looks good." So, when I had some staining and the first abrasion, I just figured it would heal. I had no idea that in a month's time i would be incapacitated, totally disabled by double vision, headaches, nausea (from the double vision, which caused the headaches), painful tearing, and the inability to sleep throughout the night. I was in the darkest of places. Then, a caring doctor told me about Rebecca and Dwelle. I came here, and I saw that people knew about the dark place (and even made a thread for it). There, Rojzen promptly responded, and texaseyes did, too. Rojzen's words really helped me a lot, and, in fact, saying that sleeping would help the healing process was a comfort to me. I would repeat those words to myself when I was lying awake, terrified to go to sleep. It got me through a lot of scary, lonely times.

So, in addition to all of the practical stuff here at the DEZ, plus the updates on clinical research and medical knowledge, the support from caring people experienced with this misunderstood condition helped me to not only get through the hardest part but to teach me a lesson about how to face bad things that can and do happen to people.

I'm so grateful, and I know that even though things have improved a LOT for me, I may have bad days and even worse days, but I can get through them, because I did. Thanks, Rebecca!!

[kkahthesea]

Hi,
Does Dwelle help? I'm looking for some kind of eye drop that will help me heal and not cause any further injury.
I've been really down about this whole situation and I do find it good to connect with others in the same type of situation. Nobody understands the pain I go through except the people here.
Karen

[Terri]

In my opinion, Dwelle is fabulous and works better than anything on the planet. If you try it, though, please make sure to: 1) use it for at least two weeks; and 2) don't use any drugstore drops during that time.

Within 9 days of starting to use Dwelle, I reduced my need for drops to only once or twice per day and the surface of my eye had noticeably improved in appearance. After a month of great success, I tried using some drugstore drops one day (since I have a large supply left). Within two days, my eyes began deterioriating, and I started feeling like I needed to use more and more drops. Luckily, I realized the drugstore drops were causing the problem and immediately discontinued them.

There may be some drugstore drops that you can use at the same time you are using Dwelle, but if you want a really good test of what it can do, try using a drop of Dwelle in each eye at night and another one to three drops during the day, if needed. If you need to rinse your eyes at any time, Unisol unpreserved saline solution does not seem to interfere with the therapeutic properties of Dwelle.

[Mika]

ohh i know how u feel dear dry eyes friends.. we are on the same boat.... me too sometimes i feel my eyes is great and wanna jump around, climb the roof top and shout my joy!...
but.. sometimes this joy is of short duration.....
for a week approx, my eyes were so wonderful...!... but i feel its bcoz in mauritius, we are experiencing a small tropical depression and the temp is so comfortable....

anyway, its a shame that our eyes must depend on the weather!

Mmm for a while now im using my facial steamer... i hope for the longterm it will make a difference as from what i read, facial steamer:
"Facial steamer helps open the pores of your skin for deep clean up. "

(http://ezinearticles.com/?How-To-Bes...sics&id=360687)

wel... i do it on my face and i hope it open my pores for deep clean of clog glands...

[roy007]

I do an eye wash with bottled water (not tap) at morning and night. It has helped alot. It cleans all the stuff that builds up in our eyes when we sleep