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Introducing myself
Hi, everyone, I'm just introducing myself to the boards. I've suffered with dry eyes for over 6 years now. I first started wearing contact lenses in January 2003 (prior to that I'd been wearing eyeglasses) and for nine months I had no issues. Suddenly that October I could not tolerate the contacts. My eyes were so dry and sore and they'd water and water so that I couldn't even see. I went to several eye doctors and none of them could help. They just kept telling me to add more artificial tears which helped only for a few minutes.
I went to another doctor and he agreed that my eyes were very dry. He wrote me a script for Restasis (which I like except for sometimes it makes my eyes tear up too much) and that worked well for awhile. We tried a bunch of different contact lenses but I never found one I could tolerate for very long.
I also use the Blink moderate to severe eye drops. They help but sometimes it's very temporary.
He eventually put punctal plugs in as well and they've fallen out a few times. When that happens I can usually tell because within a few days my eyes are very dry again. I just make an appointment and go back in to have new ones inserted.
I also have had problems with crusty eyelids/eyelashes where my eyes just feel very gooey. I was told to wash my lids nightly with baby shampoo and warm water. I was not given any diagnoses but from what I read it sounds like I might have blepharitis along with something else. Next time I see my doctor I'll ask for a diagnosis because it seems weird I don't even know what condition I have.
Most recently I am using Lacrisert. My eyes are nice and moist with them but I'm not sold on them yet. I get the sticky eyelashes and blurred vision with them. I also have lots of seasonal allergies so I rub my eyes a lot and knock them out of place (either out of my eye altogether or right onto the cornea causing even more lovely blurred vision). I'm very new to these so I will give it some time.
With all of this I still have days where my eyes are so dry. It causes me to get a headache over my eye and then the headache is so bad I get nauseous and start vomiting. It feels so unfair that I have all those problems and still can't wear contacts. I think if I could get the contacts in the side effects wouldn't be too bad. But the fact I'm wearing glasses and still having eye problems just seems wrong!
So for now that's my story of the past 6 years.
I went to another doctor and he agreed that my eyes were very dry. He wrote me a script for Restasis (which I like except for sometimes it makes my eyes tear up too much) and that worked well for awhile. We tried a bunch of different contact lenses but I never found one I could tolerate for very long.
I also use the Blink moderate to severe eye drops. They help but sometimes it's very temporary.
He eventually put punctal plugs in as well and they've fallen out a few times. When that happens I can usually tell because within a few days my eyes are very dry again. I just make an appointment and go back in to have new ones inserted.
I also have had problems with crusty eyelids/eyelashes where my eyes just feel very gooey. I was told to wash my lids nightly with baby shampoo and warm water. I was not given any diagnoses but from what I read it sounds like I might have blepharitis along with something else. Next time I see my doctor I'll ask for a diagnosis because it seems weird I don't even know what condition I have.
Most recently I am using Lacrisert. My eyes are nice and moist with them but I'm not sold on them yet. I get the sticky eyelashes and blurred vision with them. I also have lots of seasonal allergies so I rub my eyes a lot and knock them out of place (either out of my eye altogether or right onto the cornea causing even more lovely blurred vision). I'm very new to these so I will give it some time.
With all of this I still have days where my eyes are so dry. It causes me to get a headache over my eye and then the headache is so bad I get nauseous and start vomiting. It feels so unfair that I have all those problems and still can't wear contacts. I think if I could get the contacts in the side effects wouldn't be too bad. But the fact I'm wearing glasses and still having eye problems just seems wrong!
So for now that's my story of the past 6 years.
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