22 and dry eye

[Dryeye22]

Hello everyone,

I'm having really hard time dealing with dry eye because as you all know probably to well I am in constant pain.

I developed this condition six months ago when I woke up with dry eye after sleeping in my contacts.

My schirmer test is a 3 and I was just recently put on restasis. I have my eyes plugged and have used every drop and ointment known to man.

Does anyone have any suggestions? I want to go back to living like a normal 22 year old but it is so hard.

Thank you for listening! I look foward to your responses.

~Erin

[bassfan]

Well you've made one of the first big leaps in finding this website. My biggest recommendation to you at this point is to learn everything you can about dry eye. DES is just as much an emotional issue as it is a physical issue for a lot of people...its hard to function and be happy in day-to-day life when you have so much eye trouble...at least for me it was. I think learning exactly whats going on with my eyes has helped me cope with this a lot. This forum has oodles of information for you and Rebecca has put together a lot of good info outside of this forum in the dryeyezone website as well. Further than that, I would recommend you get a copy of Dr Latkanys recently released book about DES. That will arm you with even more information about your condition. With all that done...

I have seen four different local opthamologists before I ended up making a trip to see Dr Latkany. Now obviously I dont know much outside of the four I saw but none of them really knew much about DES. They all seemed to blow it off as not a serious thing...basically use artificial tears and be done with it. Now Im not saying that your doctor is as naive as this, but after I learned alot about DES, it was much easier for me to pick up on the fact that my doctors were totally ignorant on DES symptoms, levels of severity, and different solutions.

My first thought (because I went through the same thing) is that you are probably trying too many different drops/ointments right now and kind of overloading your eyes with crap. They are probably not enjoying the fact that they have so many different kinds of liquids put into them and I think you need to slow down with that. There likely is not one "magic pill" to cure this for you...as I sought for so long.

Ok gotta run, thats enough of my random thoughts for now. BTW, im 25 and sure dont live like a normal 25 yr old...but most people dont realize that and I can usually put on a good face.

Daren

[sazy123]

Hi i am 22 as well had dry eye since i was 20. I can concur with you coz dry eye is no picnic and espically hard at this age coz we are at the age when going out and socialising is a big thing- but very hard with dry eye.

Your situation sounds very simular to a guy who used to post on here but doesnt anymore as 'restasis' was very successfull for him. Any way he was about your age, he fell asleep in contacts and woke up the next day with severe dry eye. He tried things for years, eventually after 8 months on restasis he got the relief he was looking for. He had low tear production too. So persevere with restasis and try other options on this site.

Take care S