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**Lucy** · 04-Jun-2008, 20:17

Hi Jeanne and welcome,
I see you've made another feel welcome already. You came to the right place, for sure. I'd like to mention something about patching your eye without your doctor's knowledge/instruction. A patched eye is a "catchall breeding ground for bacteria" and not to be done routinely. (I have patched my own eye(s), so I didn't follow my docs instructions.) I once did have a corneal ulcer which is ultra bad and had to go on a two week hourly drop regimen. You might ask your doc about this if you haven't. If you have, I apologize. Lucy

**Jeanne D** · 04-Jun-2008, 20:49

Hi Lucy,
Thanks for the welcome.
Actually I haven't asked the dr. about patching my eye. It seems to be a big help when I have an erosion, in that it keeps me from accidentally opening it and experiencing that horrible pain. I can see where bacteria would be an issue, so I will talk to the dr. about it and see what he has to say.
Thanks for the info.

Jeanne

**Mcgoldilocks** · 05-Jun-2008, 02:30

Have you tried taping your eyes down?

I recommend you train yourself to wake up with your eyes closed, using the technique below (adapted from http://www.stevepavlina.com/blog/200...larm-goes-off/)

What�s the real solution then? The solution is to delegate the problem. Turn the whole thing over to your subconscious mind. Cut your conscious mind out of the loop.

Now how do you do this? The same way you learned any other repeatable skill. You practice until it becomes rote. Eventually your subconscious will take over and run the script on autopilot.

This is going to sound really stupid, but it works. Practice waking up with your eyes closed as soon as your alarm goes off. That�s right � practice. But don�t do it in the morning. Do it during the day when you�re wide awake.

Go to your bedroom, and set the room conditions to match your desired wake-up time as best you can. Darken the room, or practice in the evening just after sunset so it�s already dark. If you sleep in pajamas, put on your pajamas. If you brush your teeth before bed, then brush your teeth. If you take off your glasses or contacts when you sleep, then take those off too.

Set your alarm for a few minutes ahead. Lie down in bed just like you would if you were sleeping, and close your eyes. Get into your favorite sleep position. Imagine it�s early in the morning� a few minutes before your desired wake-up time. Pretend you�re actually asleep. Visualize a dream location, or just zone out as best you can.

Now when your alarm goes off, imagine yourself becoming suddenly awake and alert, but with your eyes closed. Then take a deep breath to fully inflate your lungs, and stretch your limbs out in all directions for a couple seconds� like you�re stretching during a yawn. Then sit up slowly, lean forward and do the 'opening eyes' ritual you've already worked out, opening them slowly and gently. Then smile a big smile. Then proceed to do the very next action you�d like to do upon waking. For me it�s getting dressed.

Now shake yourself off, restore the pre-waking conditions, return to bed, reset your alarm, and repeat. Do this over and over and over until it becomes so automatic that you run through the whole ritual without thinking about it. If you have to subvocalize any of the steps (i.e. if you hear a mental voice coaching you on what to do), you�re not there yet.

Feel free to devote several sessions over a period of days to this practice. Think of it like doing sets and reps at the gym. Do one or two sets per day at different times� and perhaps 3-10 reps each time.

With enough practice � I can�t give you an accurate estimate of how long it will take because it will be different for everyone � you�ll condition a new physiological response to the sound of your alarm. When your alarm goes off, you�ll get up without opening your eyes automatically without even thinking about it. The more you run the pattern, the stronger it will become.

You can also practice mentally if you�re good at visualizing. Mental practice is faster, but I think it�s best to run through the whole thing physically. There are subtle details you might miss if you only rehearse mentally, and you want your subconscious to capture the real flavor of the experience. So if you do use mental practice, at least do it physically the first few times.

The more you practice your wake-up ritual, the deeper you�ll ingrain this habit into your subconscious.

Once this becomes a daily habit, you won�t have to do anymore daytime practice. This type of habit is self-reinforcing. You only have to go through the conditioning period once. Then you�re basically set for life until you decide to change it.

Any behavior pattern you experience when your alarm goes off will become self-reinforcing if you repeat it enough times. Chances are that you already have a well-established wake-up ritual, but it may not be the one you want. The more you repeat your existing pattern, the more you condition it into your subconscious. Every time you open your eyes suddenly when your alarm goes off, that becomes ever more your default physiological response. If you want to change that behavior, you�ll need to undertake a conscious reconditioning program such as the one I described above.

**Mcgoldilocks** · 05-Jun-2008, 03:36

Here's something I wrote on how I deal with erosions, might be helpful:

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/blog.php?b=71

**liz56** · 05-Jun-2008, 05:34

Welcome

Dear Jeanne D,

I have a question for you. In the couple of years that you were between RCE's, did you still experience sticking eyes or were you able to sleep like normal?

Dr. Holly has two posts in particular that address the problem of RCE's. In one, he explains the history of how he came to solve the problem:

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=4908

In another, he explains in greater detail why that darned epithelium refuses to "stick" to the basement membrane:

http://www.dryeyezone.com/talk/showthread.php?t=4960

I was an eye patcher, too. My fourth doctor (Dr. Michael Mesaros) told me to go ahead and do it myself, if the erosion was bothering me. I did it lots of times, and he showed me how to do it, mentioning that I should always do it tightly and never use cotton, because the fibers could get into the eye. He even had me do it myself in his office so that he could advise me on how to use the tape. I did it a lot-- every time I was having erosions, and that was every few nights.

One time, however, I complicated it. I put the patch on and went to sleep. Of course, I put loads of pressure on my eye while I slept, and I ran straight to his office when I got up, because the pain was intense, but it was not erosion pain. I had folded, yes, folded my cornea over itself. I had triple vision, and he was so patient with me. He said that it would smooth out. He folded his white coat over his lap and pulled the under side out, and said that my cornea would naturally do that itself. It did. It took days, and I never patched again.

It sounds like you, too, have a great doctor if he / she noted lagophthalmos just by identifying the staining in your eye.

My erosions came like yours, in the middle of the night. However, they would awaken me. Now, I avert them upon awaking, like you do, by using protection at night.

I hope that the Muro 128 5% works for you. I had trouble using it in the long run, because I felt like it stung and dried out the tissue around my eyes in the lids and such.

Take care,
Liz

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