Hi, would like support :)

[Kitty765]

Hi, I've been suffering from dry eye for 5 months now in my left eye, just started randomly got plenty of useless advice from the doctor, no improvement for months (been just using carbomer gel, every app just kept gettin told to use the drops even though I had been to no avail), ended up in eye casualty because it got so bad and the nurse gave me FML and advised me to tape my eye shut. The FML seems to do very little but from I started to tape my eye shut at night there was a big improvement far less bloodshot and eyelid swelling reduced greatly. Does anyone else get eyelid swelling with their dry eye? I still wouldn't say my eye is back to normal yet though, will it take a few weeks of taping my eye shut for this to happen or should it happen immediately? Also I got new glasses, wore them for one day and BOTH my eyes flared up and i had eye pain and a headache, stopped wearing them and eyes calmed down again. Phoned optician and they basically called me a liar and said that couldnt happen...has anyone else experienced this? I work in a vets and I have to say I have a new found empathy for frustrated clients because the dr/optometrist have been next to useless, only people who were in anyway helpful were the nurses in eye casualty no answers anywhere else!

[waterbee]

Hi, I've been suffering from dry eye for 5 months now in my left eye, just started randomly got plenty of useless advice from the doctor, no improvement for months (been just using carbomer gel, every app just kept gettin told to use the drops even though I had been to no avail), ended up in eye casualty because it got so bad and the nurse gave me FML and advised me to tape my eye shut. The FML seems to do very little but from I started to tape my eye shut at night there was a big improvement far less bloodshot and eyelid swelling reduced greatly. Does anyone else get eyelid swelling with their dry eye? I still wouldn't say my eye is back to normal yet though, will it take a few weeks of taping my eye shut for this to happen or should it happen immediately? Also I got new glasses, wore them for one day and BOTH my eyes flared up and i had eye pain and a headache, stopped wearing them and eyes calmed down again. Phoned optician and they basically called me a liar and said that couldnt happen...has anyone else experienced this? I work in a vets and I have to say I have a new found empathy for frustrated clients because the dr/optometrist have been next to useless, only people who were in anyway helpful were the nurses in eye casualty no answers anywhere else!

Hi kitty,
I read a post a few weeks back from a chap who said he felt wearing his glasses made his eye symptoms worse, he felt his dry eye was possibly caused by eye strain, perhaps someone can link his post who has it to hand or knows if any light was shed on his situation?
If your eyes have improved with taping one theory could be you don't close your eyes fully at night, and taping corrects this! But there are lots of people here that know lots about this so I will let them help you with that. Have you found out what type of dry eye you have? It can help so much once you get the basics as to what to do next.
Eyes do tend to a while to improve so I would consider it normal for progress to be on the slow side.

[Kitty765]

Thanks so much for the reply would be great if someone could link me to that post! Also good to know that there are fellow nighttime tapers out there! Lol. Maybe I can pick up a few tips, suprisingly difficult to get your eyelid to stay taped shut lol. No I have no idea! I didn't know there were different types. In 5 months I'd had no tests done at all until I went to eye casualty and they put that orange dye in my eye to see if blinking cleared it, checked my intraocular pressure and did a slit lamp exam. Hopefully with a couple of weeks more taping I'll feel a bit more normal again. Was so bad before I started taping that my eye was half shut and really bloodshot most days

[lizlou29]

Am I misunderstanding or are you taping your eye shut during the day or is it just at night? If it is just one eye and your other eye is completely normal then that indicates it isn't systemic (obviously I can't say that for certain).

I see you are in England but do you mind saying what region? It sounds like you haven't had the best experiences with doctors and I think most of us have been there! Have you tried any other gels and drops? I personally can't tolerate any thing other than Hylo Forte/ Gel or Celluvisc.

[Kitty765]

Just at night time. Although I taped it last night today the eyelid is really swollen and it looks bad again sometimes I don't think I tape it the best though and my eye mask i use to cover my eyes had fell off last night. It's disheartened me that its bad today again i don't know what else would be causing it though, I've had the list given to me a few times and none of it appies, i dont work in a drafty environment, dont sit in front of the computer, i dont have mbd, i dont think i have blepharitis as the swelling only started as they eye got more irritated, in 25 so i doubt its hormonal. I really hope today is just a random set back otherwise im back to square one again i have tried different drops (systane and celluvisc) but the carbomer seems to be the best but even at that it only stops it getting any worse it doesnt make it better. Oh in from NI btw, musnt have put my location in right lol. Also to my knowledge other eye is normal, been no issues with it (other than the time i put my new glasses on). Just my left eye

[waterbee]

Just at night time. Although I taped it last night today the eyelid is really swollen and it looks bad again sometimes I don't think I tape it the best though and my eye mask i use to cover my eyes had fell off last night. It's disheartened me that its bad today again i don't know what else would be causing it though, I've had the list given to me a few times and none of it appies, i dont work in a drafty environment, dont sit in front of the computer, i dont have mbd, i dont think i have blepharitis as the swelling only started as they eye got more irritated, in 25 so i doubt its hormonal. I really hope today is just a random set back otherwise im back to square one again i have tried different drops (systane and celluvisc) but the carbomer seems to be the best but even at that it only stops it getting any worse it doesnt make it better. Oh in from NI btw, musnt have put my location in right lol. Also to my knowledge other eye is normal, been no issues with it (other than the time i put my new glasses on). Just my left eye

Hi again,
I read that if it's just one eye, it can be related to other eye issues (I would google this as I don't wish to give Faulse hope but I'm pretty sure I've read it can be treated more reliantly then mdg). I would look into seeing a speclist optometrist with experience in dry eye and who could give you the information you need, is this dryness caursed by lack of tears in your eye? Are you sure it's not an issue with oil? Is your eye effected by a tear? Can they check your lower lids for signs of allergies? There are lots of options, drops and taping are not good options if that's all your doing, not because they will do you any harm, but because it's only ******g the problem, and you really need to find out the reason.

[Kitty765]

Hi, thanks for the reply. I don't think its an issue with oil, i tried hot compresses and my eye got 10 times worse. Dr checked my lids and no sign of abnormality apart from the fact it was swollen, not red/infected/sore or anything though. And as far as why the dryness is occuring I'm not sure, everytime I go they just do the flourescein test and tell me I have patches of dryness/irritation on my eye (you don't say). Today she said it wasn't too bad though and was mostly in the inner corner (I attribute the improvement to taping it at night). But they referred me yday!! So I might finally get some answers! Who would have thought something seemingly straight forward is actually so difficult!! But thanks to this forum I'm realising there are loads of options which has made me feel better just about findin out what exactly it is and then what treatment is going to work best. I was speaking to a friend who is a nurse and I mentioned how I'd been sleeping only on the left side of my head for 6 months (long story) and then was also saying my [left] eye had been bad for 6 months, she wondered if there was a connection...who knows? I've started changing sides though so we'll see. I wonder if fluid retention/increased pressure could have something to do with it