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Hi everyone,
I first noticed my dry eye symptoms about a year ago, 2 years after the onset of other perimenopausal symptoms (I'm 40 now). I think I had mild dry eye that I didn't recognize for a while before that (eye fatigue, a few months before things got bad one eye would water profusely in the a.m. sometimes) and things have gotten worse over the last year.
I've started bioidentical hormone supplementation which may have helped a bit but because of my other problems (lethargy/fatigue, cognitive difficulties) and my continuing search for a doctor who can help with that-- hormones tend to stump most docs-- it's hard to stay on top of the eye stuff.
I last saw an optometrist several months ago and haven't been back because he prescribed Restasis and I've been wanting to give the hormones a chance to work, busy trying to deal with other problems, and resisting Restasis because it seems like part of a non-specific 'try everything' approach (the Alrex was waaay expensive and did nothing...).
Back in Dec. my tear volume was something like 4 mm (?) rather than the ideal 10 and my tear break-up time was 6, and my tear production has decreased since then (eyes don't fill up at first cry...if I cry hard they come out, but less).
Drops don't help much but I'm going to try Oasis brand. I can't tell if warm compresses help or not. I learned to spritz my eyes w/water (while closed) to create a bit of a moisture cloud. Hoping to get some info here about how to deal with the various aspects of dry eye, since there are different components and all. My eyes look fine, but I feel like all 3 parts (mucin layer, aqueous & oil) are affected to some degree by hormone decline/fluctuation.
Thanks for reading!
I first noticed my dry eye symptoms about a year ago, 2 years after the onset of other perimenopausal symptoms (I'm 40 now). I think I had mild dry eye that I didn't recognize for a while before that (eye fatigue, a few months before things got bad one eye would water profusely in the a.m. sometimes) and things have gotten worse over the last year.
I've started bioidentical hormone supplementation which may have helped a bit but because of my other problems (lethargy/fatigue, cognitive difficulties) and my continuing search for a doctor who can help with that-- hormones tend to stump most docs-- it's hard to stay on top of the eye stuff.
I last saw an optometrist several months ago and haven't been back because he prescribed Restasis and I've been wanting to give the hormones a chance to work, busy trying to deal with other problems, and resisting Restasis because it seems like part of a non-specific 'try everything' approach (the Alrex was waaay expensive and did nothing...).
Back in Dec. my tear volume was something like 4 mm (?) rather than the ideal 10 and my tear break-up time was 6, and my tear production has decreased since then (eyes don't fill up at first cry...if I cry hard they come out, but less).
Drops don't help much but I'm going to try Oasis brand. I can't tell if warm compresses help or not. I learned to spritz my eyes w/water (while closed) to create a bit of a moisture cloud. Hoping to get some info here about how to deal with the various aspects of dry eye, since there are different components and all. My eyes look fine, but I feel like all 3 parts (mucin layer, aqueous & oil) are affected to some degree by hormone decline/fluctuation.
Thanks for reading!
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