Wondering how people manage to work with des...

[cherrybrandy]

Hi all well here i am in the pits of unrelenting pain as per usual.. A thought just ocurred to me how do those that are working cope with this dreadful condition...I personally have been put onto long term sickleave cos of des..Also for my slipped disc but predominantly the eye pain ..I mentioned in previous threads that i have uncontrollable blinking due to my eye pain, so gp reckons anyway.. I feel sad i had to give up a promising career through this and am curious as to how many other folk were forced to give up employment...And how people cope from day to day...As maybe i can pick up some tips towards a better life somehow......As at the moment i feel as if im on a jail sentence as i can hardly leave the house, owing to light sensitivity and pain..Best wishes for those of you who are bravely battling it out in the workplace..Yous are very brave..regards...cb.

[Rebecca Petris]

There are some good threads in the new Workplace forum. Also, lots of practical tips on the Living with dry eye / Office page.

[fernellen]

I work very few hours and on my own time

It seems I am working fewer and fewer paid hours. I am trying for disability. I still make too much money. The up side ?? I don't spend as much money as I can't do very much in public. I am becoming more knowledgable about classical music due to many hours of NPR listening. Eyes closed, hot compresses, ears open.

fernellen

[Niteyorkie]

Working with burning eyes

I am sorry to hear about your story. I too am finding it harder to work with these burning eyes. I have been to the eye doc once a month for the past 4 months. I work Mon-Fri so I usually have to take off to go. I do work one weekend a month and have a day off in the week then. I have told myself I have to schedule my appointments then. I am finding it hard to relax, because my usually relaxation is watching TV, which now causes my eyes to burn. I have to take a break almost every 2 hours at work to put drops in.
What medications caused your dry eyes? Are you still on them? I use to take Paxil, but stopped it in March. My anxiety is worse than ever and I want to go back on Paxil, but not if it means losing my vision.
I hope your eyes get better. Are you on Restasis? I started in yesterday and I think my eyes are drier today.

[Lucy]

Nitey, reading your posts made me think......(which is a rare occurrence for me). But--

I've been on the boards for many years and the subject of antidepressants and dry eyes comes up all the time. This board is full of conversation regarding this subject. Maybe others will come in here and add to this, too.
But I think if you are really anxious, depressed and having problems at work that an antidepressant may be in order...with your doc's approval, of course. I can't remember reading where quitting an antidepressant MADE DRY EYES COMPLETELY BETTER. In other words, while most or all antidepressants seem to contribute to dry eyes, I don't think it's something that may warrant the benefits of trying and staying on an antidepressant which may make your life better in the long run.

I use to take Paxil, but stopped it in March. My anxiety is worse than ever and I want to go back on Paxil, but not if it means losing my vision.

I just don't ever remember reading where anyone has lost vision because of taking antidepressants along with dry eyes.

I have been through the working 5 years with dry eyes and bad vision, then another eye surgery where it made working impossible regardless of dry eyes. My vision was not good enough. Then through the disability process and the whole shabang. 7 years of this. I had taken an antidepressant for a long time, even before my lasik disaster, but stopping the drug much later did not in any way improve my eyes. The antidepressant probably helped me hold my shoulder to the wheel during those difficult years. Maybe not.

I doubt that in most cases an antidepressant makes the eyes considerably worse, UNLESS YOU CAN NOTICE AND TELL WITHOUT HESITATION THAT IT'S THE CAUSE. I hope this helps start some dialogue on this.

Being anxious, depressed in addition to dry eyes is not a good tradeoff. You may be less anxious and depressed and still have dry eyes. I'd rather take the latter. I am not saying the drugs do not contribute, but you (and others) may be foregoing treatment that would make your life a little better.

Lucy

[Rebecca Petris]

I pretty much had the same thought as Lucy. If the benefits of a medication are clear, and the only reason not to take it is that it might be exacerbating dry eye (which is a complex disease and antidepressants are rarely if ever the primary or sole cause of dry eye), it's a rational tradeoff.

...Restasis? I started in yesterday and I think my eyes are drier today.

It'll take several weeks at least to know whether it is going to help you. The day to day ups and downs of dry eye make it hard to assess longer term benefits. Some people find it helpful to keep a dry eye diary or use a questionnaire like the OSDI now and then.

[Niteyorkie]

Paxil and dry eye

Thanks so much for the replys. I have been giving it a lot of thought. I can't sleep at night because I am so worried about my eyes. I have to keep telling myself that I have done all I can do. I still might go to yet one more doc for a second opinion ( or 3rd at this point). I was on Paxil for 3 years and wore contacts and didn't notice any problems. So I would think if it was all due to the Paxil and I would have noticed it the first couple of months. I wore contacts for 16 years and took Accutane 11 years ago. So it could be many factors involved.
It also seems the more stressed and more worried I am the redder my eyes are. I don't remember my eyes really bothering me as much as they are now and that is when I was on the Paxil. It is just what if I take Paxil and they find out 10 years from now that it does cause blindness. Can I live with myself knowing I made the decision to go back on. I have tried all the other SSRI's and none of them helped. So at least I know I did try other options.
Sorry for venting all this anxiety here. Thanks again for listening.

[neil0502]

Hi, Niteyorkie!

I'm not going to be telling you anything here that you don't already WELL know, but it's still worth saying for anybody else who might read it.

We humans have a wonderful and fascinating biological fight or flight response that served us REALLY well when dinosaurs were chasing us, and STILL serves us well very occasionally.

But ... so many of us DO seem to trigger it these days in "inappropriate" situations and I've never read anything anywhere that says that this HELPS in cases of chronic medical conditions. Clearly, it seems to make most medical conditions worse.

I know that in my case--declared disabled from work because of a wicked combination of eye problems BEFORE we realized I had ALSO become a serious DES patient bcause of long-term use of BAK-preserved eyedrops--I've had to wrestle with this particular monster (anxiety) frequently, regularly, daily, or all the time.

But it may be the highest priority battle that I fight. I went from a brutal but fulfilling 80-100 hour a week job to a full stop in a few short weeks (December 2004). I've always been outdoorsy and physically active and now THAT doesn't seem to work.

So ... like everybody else here ... I'm dealing with losses (grief) and physical pain.

But I'm learning more and more every day that the anxiety that can so understandably result from all of this is totally unhelpful and has, in fact, gotten me into trouble in the past.

As I've told a few others, I'm working on more meditation, guided visual imagery, yoga, and other sort of calming endeavors, and maybe putting a little less emphasis on my former passions of rollerblading, road and mountain biking, running, etc. Time for this one to go slower, not faster.

I've often heard it said that anxiety results from living in the future and that depression results from living in the past. Whenever I find myself living in the future (so what if the Boston Lens doesn't work? Then what ), I feel the anxiety and the tension rising in my body. It is at those times that I remind myself to breathe ... slowly and deeply ... and to try to bring myself back to the moment (even though the moment isn't always that cool, either )

In other words: there are lots of ways to work with this problem (anxiety). I would imagine that many of us would benefit from trying to incorporate a few of them into our "treatment protocols."

I know I am.

I wish you all the best,

Neil

[Lucy]

Neil, I didn't realize your "moment of recognition" was the very time of mine. Dec 2004 was when I had to hang up my job. I find myself, just this week thinking of all the celebrations going on at work, the two weeks off with pay during the holidays. I am going to a small off campus party with a group that has dinner together and I joined them each of the years I was there. It should be fun.

To balance things, I have to remember our plans on a trip to Fla around February this year. No big yank on hurrying back on account of my job restrictions. Hubby is semi-retired and has a flexible schedule.

This gives me a lump in the throat for sure. But, what IS..........IS.
It surely is harder for a younger person like you, but nonetheless, it hits us all hard just the same. Right in the gizzard.

[Judy]

Neil,

I love the expression you wrote: "I've often heard it said that anxiety results from living in the future and that depression results from living in the past. " Thanks for the insight.

Judy

[cherrybrandy]

Hi niteyorkie..in answer to your reply to my thread..

I am sorry to hear about your story. I too am finding it harder to work with these burning eyes. I have been to the eye doc once a month for the past 4 months. I work Mon-Fri so I usually have to take off to go. I do work one weekend a month and have a day off in the week then. I have told myself I have to schedule my appointments then. I am finding it hard to relax, because my usually relaxation is watching TV, which now causes my eyes to burn. I have to take a break almost every 2 hours at work to put drops in.
What medications caused your dry eyes? Are you still on them? I use to take Paxil, but stopped it in March. My anxiety is worse than ever and I want to go back on Paxil, but not if it means losing my vision.
I hope your eyes get better. Are you on Restasis? I started in yesterday and I think my eyes are drier today.

Hi niteyorkie imcertain that it was high doses of codeine using a nasal spray which had bak init and escitalapram, did some research on escitalapram and found out some scary stuff, its labelled as something else in the us.. im slowly coming off them as was advised not to stop them suddenly like i wished..I wish i knew of one antideppressant guaranteed not to cause des.. as my anxiety levels are very bad also..Im not on restasis...good luck and i hope you feel a little better v.soon...