My story

[DianaG88]

Hello everyone, this is my first post, so I apologize if I make any noob mistakes.
My name is Diana, I am 24 years old and live in Florida. Around 2 months ago I was helping to clean my Uncles condo, he move away with his family and told me I could take his and his wifes mattress, which he bough a few months ago new for over $1000.
I got the mattress home to my apartment and thats when my troubles began. The first night sleeping on it, I woke up in the morning with an bad headache, and my whole nose and mouth felt dry. I felt fine when I exited my bedroom, but when I came back home that night, even when I approached the mattress, my head immediately began to throb.
I decided to return the mattress to the empty condo and sell it the next day. Approximately three days later, my eyesight changed suddenly. Everything I saw was too BRIGHT, literally as if I was staring into a lamp, allll day long. Every bit of light bothers me. My eyes do not water, itch, burn, hurt and I get no "floaters", its just that light bothers me so much, I have to close my eyes!
I want to detour, and state I was always very healthy, physically and emotionally. I have never had any diseases in my life. I do not smoke, drink or use any legal, or illegal drugs and there are absolutely no diseases in either side of my family.
I moved into his condo with my Mother and when I entered his room and his daughters rooms, I got hit with this moldy smell, and the air is EXTREMELY dry in both bedrooms. I tried to sleep in the daughters bedroom, and woke up with a headache again the next morning, like when I slept on the mattress that one day.

I have had acne and very oily skin all my life, but now, my skin is flaky and dry, my acne has been disappearing since I moved into this condo. My Mother does not seem to experience any of these symptoms and claims she cannot even smell the moldy, mildewy smell in the bedroom. I am not imagining this! I went to the ER to have a CT scan and standard blood tests for things like Diabetes, all came back good. I do NOT have migraines.

I finally could not take anymore, I felt incredibly depressed (as I still do) and I resorted to go to an Ophthalmologist and pay $175 for an exam, because my job does not offer medical insurance. I told him about my sensitivity to light. He did a few tests and told me that my eyes were dry, I said "what do you mean, dry? are they very dry?" He said yes, that they were very dry and to use artificial tears.
I have used three brands of artificial tears, and eye wash, and none relieved my symptoms in the slightest. My sensitivity has increased over the last 2 months in fact.

I then went to another eye doctor, who told me that my eyes were not dry (umm contradiction much??), but that the glands of my lower lashes were blocked.
I forgot the medical term for the glands. He suggested hot compresses, which I have been doing for a few days, but still no results. Not even a little.

I am wondering if this could be due to the environment? Could this condo have some sort of strange mold or dry air that is drying my skin and eyes?
Could it be the Demodex Mites?
or could it be something like Sjogrens syndrome?
I have no insurance and cannot keep going to doctors, no one will see me for free.

If anyone has had similar experiences in any way, please let me know. I am really down and feel beat. The only thing that keeps me strong is thinking that at least I am not blind.

Diana

[sazy123]

Hello everyone, this is my first post, so I apologize if I make any noob mistakes.
My name is Diana, I am 24 years old and live in Florida. Around 2 months ago I was helping to clean my Uncles condo, he move away with his family and told me I could take his and his wifes mattress, which he bough a few months ago new for over $1000.
I got the mattress home to my apartment and thats when my troubles began. The first night sleeping on it, I woke up in the morning with an bad headache, and my whole nose and mouth felt dry. I felt fine when I exited my bedroom, but when I came back home that night, even when I approached the mattress, my head immediately began to throb.
I decided to return the mattress to the empty condo and sell it the next day. Approximately three days later, my eyesight changed suddenly. Everything I saw was too BRIGHT, literally as if I was staring into a lamp, allll day long. Every bit of light bothers me. My eyes do not water, itch, burn, hurt and I get no "floaters", its just that light bothers me so much, I have to close my eyes!
I want to detour, and state I was always very healthy, physically and emotionally. I have never had any diseases in my life. I do not smoke, drink or use any legal, or illegal drugs and there are absolutely no diseases in either side of my family.
I moved into his condo with my Mother and when I entered his room and his daughters rooms, I got hit with this moldy smell, and the air is EXTREMELY dry in both bedrooms. I tried to sleep in the daughters bedroom, and woke up with a headache again the next morning, like when I slept on the mattress that one day.

I have had acne and very oily skin all my life, but now, my skin is flaky and dry, my acne has been disappearing since I moved into this condo. My Mother does not seem to experience any of these symptoms and claims she cannot even smell the moldy, mildewy smell in the bedroom. I am not imagining this! I went to the ER to have a CT scan and standard blood tests for things like Diabetes, all came back good. I do NOT have migraines.

I finally could not take anymore, I felt incredibly depressed (as I still do) and I resorted to go to an Ophthalmologist and pay $175 for an exam, because my job does not offer medical insurance. I told him about my sensitivity to light. He did a few tests and told me that my eyes were dry, I said "what do you mean, dry? are they very dry?" He said yes, that they were very dry and to use artificial tears.
I have used three brands of artificial tears, and eye wash, and none relieved my symptoms in the slightest. My sensitivity has increased over the last 2 months in fact.

I then went to another eye doctor, who told me that my eyes were not dry (umm contradiction much??), but that the glands of my lower lashes were blocked.
I forgot the medical term for the glands. He suggested hot compresses, which I have been doing for a few days, but still no results. Not even a little.

I am wondering if this could be due to the environment? Could this condo have some sort of strange mold or dry air that is drying my skin and eyes?
Could it be the Demodex Mites?
or could it be something like Sjogrens syndrome?
I have no insurance and cannot keep going to doctors, no one will see me for free.

If anyone has had similar experiences in any way, please let me know. I am really down and feel beat. The only thing that keeps me strong is thinking that at least I am not blind.

Diana

Hi,

It sounds like when you moved his bed into yours it activated an allergy. Maybe mold or dust that was in the mattress. Allergy can cause dry eye. Scratch allergy tests are fairly cheap, natropaths can do them.

The glands on your lower eyelid are Meibomian glands- any blockage of these causes dry eyes. This oil is needed for a healthy tear film. Do your eyes feel 'dry'?. Hot compresses are used for this. If they alleviate symptoms, even if just for a few minutes you have Meibomian gland disorder.

The underlying issue could be anything, but it could just be allergies. Which is what it sounds like.

There is lots of info on here about how to treat allergies and MGD.

Im sorry to hear you are going through this. You are in the right place!

[DianaG88]

Hi Sazy,

Thank you for your reply, nice to meet you, I am also glad for this website, it contains a lot of information and nice people.
Perhaps the worst thing about this is not knowing the root cause. I fight my battles head on and very quickly. I also believe in cures and not treating symptoms. I was always a very positive person, and happy, but this has stopped me dead in my tracks. It is destroying my life day by day and caused me to become clinically depressed. I went to a free clinic (they don't offer eye care though) and the doctor wants me on anti depressants.

I noticed a strange thing I wonder if anyone has experienced this or read about it, the two times when I had my pupils numbed/dilated at the two eye doctors visits, I did have glare and some cloudiness like its suppose to be with dilations, however, the light did not bother me as much, I noticed perhaps a 70% improvement, but of course, within 5 hours once my pupils returned to their normals size, the sensitivity came back, how strange is that??

My Uncle did have a pet rabbit, I have never been around rabbits, so this is a possibility? hmm..I was around cats as a child but never noticed any allergies.
I have never heard of allergens/mold/ that can dry the skin and eyes. I am happy my skin is magically cleared, but wow, 15 years of very bad acne gone in 5 days.
Can you please tell me what sort of scratch test I should request, or does it test for a myriad of things?

I somehow get the sense that I am in for a long battle, but I will fight with all I have.

Thanks, Diana.

[sazy123]

Hi Sazy,

Thank you for your reply, nice to meet you, I am also glad for this website, it contains a lot of information and nice people.
Perhaps the worst thing about this is not knowing the root cause. I fight my battles head on and very quickly. I also believe in cures and not treating symptoms. I was always a very positive person, and happy, but this has stopped me dead in my tracks. It is destroying my life day by day and caused me to become clinically depressed. I went to a free clinic (they don't offer eye care though) and the doctor wants me on anti depressants.

I noticed a strange thing I wonder if anyone has experienced this or read about it, the two times when I had my pupils numbed/dilated at the two eye doctors visits, I did have glare and some cloudiness like its suppose to be with dilations, however, the light did not bother me as much, I noticed perhaps a 70% improvement, but of course, within 5 hours once my pupils returned to their normals size, the sensitivity came back, how strange is that??

My Uncle did have a pet rabbit, I have never been around rabbits, so this is a possibility? hmm..I was around cats as a child but never noticed any allergies.
I have never heard of allergens/mold/ that can dry the skin and eyes. I am happy my skin is magically cleared, but wow, 15 years of very bad acne gone in 5 days.
Can you please tell me what sort of scratch test I should request, or does it test for a myriad of things?

I somehow get the sense that I am in for a long battle, but I will fight with all I have.

Thanks, Diana.

Hi i completely understand about the depression, my eyes went from normal to severe dry eye over night and ever since i have had clinical depression. I do get light sensitivity which i put down to my crappy tear film, but its not my worst symptom as it sounds like for you.

Dry eye can be caused by many things. Things to consider- do you have acne rosacea, are you fair skinned? the eye component of that is ocular rosacea, you may have had an underlying condition which was triggered by allergies. Some people do well on antibiotics, such as doxy or topical azasite for ocular rosacea. High strengh/quality fish oil and other supplements.

Be carefull regarding anti depressants, they can make dry eye worse. Not for everyone. I suspect they triggered my dry eye. There are some that are less drying than others, and some people have talked about them on this site. but the potential is there.

The scratch test covers many different allergies, mold, dust is standard. Not sure about rabit, but if you arent around the rabbit now- you shouldnt still have issues.

I find that one health problem gets better when i get another one. My eyes always get better if im sick or have another health issue. Its the immune system working in strange ways.

[DianaG88]

Hello,

Thanks for the input about anti-depressants, I agree. I carefully read the warning signs on the pamphlet; Severe diarrhea, mood swings, sleep walking, weight gain, memory loss, and even suicide...erm I will stay away.

I am very fair skinned and have light eyes, but do not nor have I ever had rosacea, just standard acne.

I have been putting this OTC overnight oil into just my left eye for 3 nights and still don't notice even a slight difference in my vision. In fact, I cannot say they've ever been better (except when the pupils were dilated) I feel stooped.
I am thinking of visiting a Naturopath to do the allergy test and someone who knows Acupuncture, perhaps it will help?
I wonder if this could also be Sjogrens syndrome, since my skin has also become so dry. I have very bad luck with doctors, every single one Ive visited has turned out to be a mega pain in the butt. Even the expensive Ophthalmologist my neighbor suggested I see. He only did a basic sight and lamp test, literally 5 minutes or so, said my eyes were dry and that was that, no suggestions for treatment/drops (he left that to the receptionist, who knew nothing). He did not even write me my new prescription for glasses. $175 for that!??
I just don't get it, I am thorough with the explanation of my problem, listen very well, am polite, but I have always gotten the opposite back
If someone can suggest a good eye doctor near Saint Petersburg/Tampa Florida area, please let me know.

[littlemermaid]

UK NHS is putting money into talking therapies now to support depression and anxiety. Sazy and anyone else UK who wants to avoid antidepressants, see GP and ask for access to counselling. The first step is a local assessment to find out what's available, eg:

- cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) is NHS funded now for 10 sessions, sometimes with group follow-up
- national and regional charities have paid and voluntary local counsellors, either NHS funded or sliding scale of payment according to income

It's about Googling and phoning to enquire what's available. We would definitely qualify for support from sight-loss charities although I call it 'chronic eye inflammation' rather than 'dry eye' at this stage.

Just for a first enquiry, try the GP and try the hospital Patient Liaison Service (PALS) at the regional office.

Diana, Do you think if you left the apartment your eyes would slowly get better and the sensitivities would decrease? Do you think a deep-clean would sort out the allergy problems, but do you think it's the a/c that needs cleaning and sorting out? Definitely, dump the mattress, of course. Problem seems to be with so many of us that the eyes get dry because of an event and then allergy-type sensitivities get worse, including sensitivity to drops as you say. The allergic person feels it even years after eg the cat has gone or whatever - microbiology is so interesting, it's amazing what we co-habit with.