Ups and Downs

[blinky]

I am a 45 year old female in Dallas, Texas. I went to Iowa last summer (May/June) to take some rigorous classes (lots of computer time!) and after 4 weeks noticed my eyes were "heavy and tired". I came home in July after a total of five weeks in Iowa to the worst heatwave and drought Texas has ever seen. (We are talking over 100 days of WELL over 100 degrees and no rain AT ALL). I immediately started getting horrible headaches, which lasted about a week or two, then the dry eye hell set in.

Fast forward ten months later. July through October was horrible. I'm sure a lot of you have experienced this...no one else understands! Up every hour all night with warm compresses, all day laying around in misery, so forth so on. November began to see relief. December through April I have been "functional" meaning I work then go home. If I go out to dinner in air conditioning, I get very uncomfortable after more than an hour or two. My social life is non-existent.

My job is as an SAT tutor in the evenings. I have had to cut my workload by 30% because of the pain. Pretty embarrassing when you have constantly pour eye drops in your eyes or hold a cold water bottle on your eye lid to finish a session with a student!

I am taking all the oils: fish, flax, krill. Also, I am taking eye supplements, I purchased 7 eye glasses with foam insert, night goggles, Briza computer glasses. humidifiers, you name it, I have done it. (rubbed castor oil around eyes, put coconut oil and coconut water IN my eyes, etc.) I've tried every drop in the market and only use the preservative free vials.

Sure, everything helps, but now the heat is creeping back and my eyes are in decline. I am one month in to Restasis and haven't noticed anything. But I will keep on using it because I know that three months is the defining point.

The question is, I can FEEL that it comes from inflammation in the body, and I have also read this. Has anyone had any experience dealing directly with this inflammation in the body as a cause of dry eyes? Also, this dry eye fun has made feel depressed. I now understand the difference between sadness and depression. I started taking Natrol 5HTP, and it helps a lot.

I am so grateful for this forum because NO ONE understands the pain and debilitation of dry eyes like you guys do as "outsiders" helpfully suggest to "use eye drops" and think everything will be better. The feeling of sunburned eyeballs. Shards of glass. Aching sockets. Does anyone else get the overall body fatigue that comes with the bad days?

Warm chamomile tea bags as an eye compress seem to work great for the inflammation, on a positive note.

[jax8it]

Hi Blinky,

I am in the Dallas area too. I live in Sunnyvale. I have dry eye as a result of lasik and I have felt everything you described. I am dreading the summer heat on my eyes. I don't know which is going to be worse the dry heat outside or the pumped up ac inside.
I do get the overall fatigue as well. This dry eye is exhausting both mentally and physically. I am suffering from depression and anxiety. Just know you are not alone and you have come to the right site for info and support. I know I have found this site a godsend.

Thanks for the info on the tea bags. I am going to try it.
Bianca

[abbygirl]

Hi blinky and jax8it,
I too live in Texas.. 40 miles North of Houston and I know what you mean about the heat of the Summer making our dry eye worse!! I finally had lower plugs put in and they have really helped.
Blinky, try not to stress yourself out too much..it will get better and you will find ways to get thru the Summers. I bought a pair of Onion Googles at Sur La Table and am wearing them right now along with some Celluvisc drops. I was so stressed (about 1 1/2 years) that I took an antidepressant for 3 months and it really took the edge off and helped me think better and so deal with this in a less emotional way.
Yes, when I am having a bad eye day..especially when the pain is in my eye socket, it really takes all of my energy not to give in and just sleep all day. I try to take a walk, garden, anything to get my mind off of my eyes!!
Hang in there and maybe we should have a Texas support group!!

[vivian3090]

Hi everyone, I am from the Dallas Area as well! Currently Denton, Texas for school; Grapevine Texas before that.

I have dry eyes from contact overuse/overuse of "get the red out"/lasik/allergies.

It doesn't help when I am also allergic to every grass, weed, and tree that is in Texas either.

For me the biggest issue is the inflammation, my veins get SO inflamed that eye appear red/pinkish. It's not so much bloodshot anymore, just something is the air and the dryness cause my eyes to get super inflamed :/

I also get the dryness and lately since the weather is getting warmer I have had to up my eye drops. I use more and more with every passing day of summer.

I work in a pathology lab where I work a good amount of time on the computer doing data entry; and the fact that the buliding is old, dusty, and probably moldy too. I wish my company could keep up with the maintenence, (it is a lab after all....)

I too suffer from depression and anxiety because of my eyes.

For the fatigue question. I have my good and bad days. It depends on how much sleep I get, what crap is floating in the air, etc....It really sucks waking up every day and asking myself "is today going to be a good eye day?" I noticed too (lets just say that I got into an arguement with someone and shed quite a bit of tears, and if you want to see bloodshot eyes, look at mine after a bit of crying!) that when I cry for a period of time, that I pay for it the next day. My eyes are puffy, inflamed (but not blood shot) and dryer than usual. This sucks because all I want to do lately is cry b/c of how upset I am of this whole situation; but I try to refrain simply because I don't want my eyes to get any worse than they already are.

I am still stumped as to why my eyes are the way they are. I have heard the doctors reasons, but they have never given me an actual diagnosis. It's only speculation. But, am I stupid to still have hopes that once they figure out what is wrong that everything will get a bit better? I've been on Restatis for about a month now, a long with Pataday and Flarex (I will have to quit this soon b/c my opthamologist doesnt want me on it long term...). I havent seen much improvement from Restasis; but other people who have seen me the past few months say the see improvement (it's hard to believe them when I SEE MYSELF that they are still inflamed and ugggh).

I see my opthamologist for a follow up apt. for Lasik/Restasis tomorrow/today. I'm going to ask him about the possiblities of this being occular rosacea. Who knows though.

As awful as it sounds, I'm glad to see I am not a lone in the eye struggles in Texas. It feels that I'm the only person dealing with this situation in my area, because I never see people I come into contact with everyday with the slightest bit of eye problems. So it is nice knowing I'm not alone in Texas!

[farmgirl]

Hi Blinky: Just curious, do you have a diagnosis for your problem, I don't recall seeing that because normal eyes are able to tolerate heat and light if conditions are not out of the ordinary. I think it is really important to get a diagnosis so that you know exactly what you are dealing with as the treatment will vary with the condition.

[blinky]

No, the only diagnosis I have received is dry eyes. Its very frustrating. Has anyone had any luck with any opthamologists that specialize in dry eyes in the Dallas Fort Worth area?