Nahzee's intro.

[nahzee]

I'm excited to have found this place! Uh, hi, I'm nahzee. and I have dry eyes.

My dr thinks it's medication related, but as I'm on twelve different prescriptions that can cause dry eyes, and none of them are replaceable.. my dry eyes are here to stay. He recommended a drop called 'systane' for me, I tried it for a few days, and by the third day I had wanted to claw my eyes out.

With my own treatments, they're 'managed' but not amazing- I use celluvisc between every 20-30 minutes while awake. After soaking my eyes in my boiled 'eye shirt', I use lacri-lube and a mask every night- and still wake up with horrible eyes, so I usually rinse my eyes off with bausch and lomb 'eye relief eye wash.'

I spend most of the day wearing very well-fitting sunglasses, a few I've lined with foam at home (what can't you find from home depot, these days?)

I used to wear prosthetic contact lenses, and while I'm getting a new pair in a few days, I doubt I'll be able to wear them for anything save for the odd special event where my eyes shouldn't be covered with glasses.. and even then.. Well, I miss the contacts- they meant having the confidence to actually look at people, without glasses covering my eyes.

It's generally just very expensive to try and manage- I have to figure out how to get rides from people or go for a nice long walk to the nearest grocery store that carries everything I need, and then having a wrangle with a pacmate (or worse, my hearing aids) and whatever genius who barley speaks English they have helping me look for the right products (I'm Deafblind)... not fun. Then, of course, there's the cost. My eyes are a very expensive habit, and this is now that I've more or less 'settled' on what I do daily- was a great sight worse when I was still figuring out what didn't work.

Basically, I'm here first to find new ideas and hopefully make this something I can better manage, and I guess more importantly, I'm here so that I can know I'm not the only one who feels something others would view as so silly.. a few drops of tears, is essentially taking over most of their waking life.

[Terri]

Nahzee: Welcome! I think you'll find, as I have, that this board and the Patient Information Center are a great find in understanding and managing dry eyes.

Here are a couple of quick thoughts:

1. Keep wearing protective glasses during the day. They're one of the most important things you can do create a humid, protective microclimate around your eyes.

2. Long-term use of Lacrilube in not a good idea. Petroleum-based ointments interfere with tear formation and end up making DES worse, not better. (I used Lacrilube at night for years, so I can personally attest to that. You'll find other information about ointments and alternatives on the page about Lacrilube and in the Eye Lubricants Forum.)

3. Using drops every 20 minutes is also not good, although if you're using Celluvisc or almost any other OTC drop, that's what you're stuck with. Try replacing both the Lacrilube and Celluvisc with Dwelle. You'll only have to use Dwelle a few times during the day and once before you go to bed. It's the longest-lasting drop available.

4. If you still have problems with your eyes when you wake up in the morning, try taping them closed at night with 3M surgical tape. It's available at any drugstore (or in the Dry Eye Shop) in either paper or plastic form. People have strong preferences for one or the other, so if the paper version bothers you, try plastic, and vice versa. You can always use whatever's left in a roll for other home healthcare purposes, like securing bandages, etc.

Good luck, and keep us posted!