New Member - Moderate Dry Eye

[trackrunner]

First off let me say that this website is very informative and extremely helpful! I have been able to try far more treatments then my eye doctor could recommend.

For starters, I have absolutely no clue why I have dry eye. I am 20 years old, male, PERFECT health, and very athletic. I have moderate dry eye, and am trying to get back to being able to wear my contacts all day long. I currently wear my contacts when exercising (1-2 hours) but they dry out approximately 2 hours after I put them in (this is very consistent). I have tried not wearing contacts for a week, to no avail.

When recommended I started taking one flaxseed pill a day, a year later (about a month ago) I upped my dosage dramatically by switching to 2 tablespoons of flaxseed oil daily. Never once did I notice any improvements. I have tried taking time off from running, stopping my caffeine intake, taking hand fulls of vitamins (multivitamin, E, B12, fish oil, C, etc) but nothing has helped. I started restasis last week as a last ditch effort.

I read on here the other day that someone takes 3 tablespoons of flaxseed daily, my next move will probably be to purchase barleens flaxseed (I had been using the walmart brand) and take 3-4 tablespoons daily so that I can fully rule out flaxseed. Any other recommendations would be gladly appreciated.

Sorry for the long post; I figured the more information I could give, the better.

[rhad]

have you been to an eye doctor? if it is a problem with lack of tears, you could try taking Borage oil, it is supposed to help with tear production.

good luck

[liz56]

Welcome

Hi, Trackrunner.

I'm sorry to hear that you, like so many other young people here, are having dry eye symptoms.

I agree with Rhad that seeing a doctor is good.

Do you use the computer a lot? If so, there are some really good tips all over this site about how to manage long hours of computer use.

I hope that you soon find relief!

--Liz

[bernmee]

Hi and welcome,

I think for most of us it is trial and error. Doing a search, putting ideas to other members and seeing what their experience has been.

First off I would recommend you get the book by Dr. Robert L. available through the dry eye shop, or you could order it from your library. Get reading that (you should get through it on a weekend day) and make that your starting point.

As for the Flaxseed oil, the oil is better value then the pills, keep taking it even if you don't see a differecen. It is good for you either way so don't give up on it.

Also look at your diet. Do you eat whole grain, low fat, unprocessed food. If not try to see if you can make changes. Also try to eat more fish. I for one went all out in that and have given up meat and eat fish only. I can't say for sure if any of this is working but I know it is better for me so what have I got to lose?

Dry eye is said to be caused by inflammation in the body, here is a link to this. make sure you clink on the link for nightshade plants.

http://nutrition.about.com/od/dietsf...inflamfood.htm

Also in Chinese medicine there is a link between the liver and the eye. I now drink alot of mint tea as mint is supposed to have a cooling effect on the diet and mint helps the liver, and therefore the eye. I make strong mint tea, let it cool and then pour it on ice. It tastes really good.

Before I got my post Lasik dry eye I eat what I considered a healthy diet, but right now I am borderline health freak when it comes to my diet. There is nothing I won't do to help my healing.

In addition to this I use all the things in Dr. L's book.

Good luck with your search and you will get lots of help here.

B.

[trackrunner]

Health Kick #2

As of today I have started what I am calling Health Kick #2 (#1 was at the beginning of the summer). Yesterday I spent $80 at the local co op; heres the plan:

Every morning I'm going to make a shake that consists of:
3 tablespoons of Total Omega (Barleens)
1 teaspoon Super B Complex
1 tablespoon Greens (Barleens)
Anything that will make this taste decent (banana, yogurt, juice...)

In addition, I'm going to completely stop drinking pop and caffeine.
Note that I am still taking Restasis.

I'm going to give this diet 1 month, and if it fails I will be able to completely rule out anything diet related for my dry eye.

[Plat]

Who told you it takes a month to realize that diet is the problem. I would think it would take much longer than that. It takes many months to develop dry eye and it does not take 1 month to correct it. The reason why there are no scientific studies with supplements is becuase it may take a long time to see the results. My guess.

How often did you drink pop and how often did you drink caffeine other than pop?

I remember before I got dry eye, I got on a kick of drinking pop everyday that previous month. I remember the last day before the dry eye kicked in I had 3 cans of Orange Crush pop and a lot of sweets that day. I also use to eat a lot of junk(chocolate, chips). I had a really bad sweet tooth the year prior to dry eye. Before that I ate sweets with moderation. Now, did this cause the problem? Who knows. I am 36, male and 165lbs. Pop has a lot of High Furctose Corn Syrup with I now realize is bad.

[trackrunner]

Did switching back to a healthier diet stop your dry eye?

I have an absolutely terrible diet, probably because I find it absolutely impossible to gain weight. 2-3 cans of pop a day is not uncommon. On the contrary, I run 50+ miles a week, which requires significantly more calories then the average Joe. Cutting pop and adding vegetables to my diet is about as healthy as I can see myself getting. Trying to make it though a work day without caffeine is torture!

[Plat]

I haven't done a strick healthy diet yet but when I eat better I think it helps. Personally I think pop and the unhealthy diet may have triggered it. I had/have a terrible diet. I eat the opposite of an anti inflammatry diet. Never ate fish, fruit, or vetables until dry eye. When I did eat vetables it was along with an unhealthy meal. But never fruit. If unhealthy food never caused any problems, why won't everyone eat it? It taste a lot better. It is because it causes problems.

[bernmee]

I am really with Plat on this one.

if you want to maintain your weight you should do it through healthy means, not through soda. Introducing that type of sugar or unhealthy fats into your diet is not going to help your baody, and by default your eye.

I always used to eat healthy, definately more healthy then most. I was 115lbs and 5.6 before my Lasik. However Through the anxiety that came from my post LAlsik experience I dropped down to 100lbs as I just couldn't eat.

I hae gone back up to 110 lbs and plan to put on a little more. I am very strict aout my diet now. I would never have eaten chips or friend food before Lasik as to me it tasted gross, and sweets were just too sweet for me (though at certain times of the month I had to have them!) I was a fruit freak though. Now to watch how much fruit I eat as know I know too much sugar in my diet is not good for me, no matter what the source. When I do feel the sugar cravings I binge on fruit, the lesser of two evils!

Now I eat more veg now that I didn't do before. I eat the whole grain rather then the the processed grain. I don't eat meat, only fish.

I can't say for sure if this works but research has shown that nutrition is important for the body. I think if you suffer from dry eye you are more senstive to things. I do find though that eating extra healthy does mean that I have to eat more, and as I just can't grab it off the shelf and heat it up, it does take longer as I have to prepare it myself.

I do think you have to give yourself more then a month to see a difference. Soda's and stuff need to be cut out, you are doing yourself no favors...what about switching to smoothies. What about ordering fish when you are eating out. It is easier if you make changes over time then all together, crash diets never work. I really think if you can slowly start making changes you will see a difference over time.

Don't get me wrong here. If it's someones birthday I am going to have a piece of cake, but I'm just not going to order that sweet thing when I go into a cafe.

Best of luck.

B.

[trackrunner]

Once again, thank you for all the replies!

It has been exactly two weeks since I started taking my relatively expensive health shake every morning. I am also proud to say that I haven't touched caffeine or soda (except decaffeinated tea) since I started cold turkey two weeks ago.

Just this weekend I noticed that my eyes were starting to produce more tears, which is extremely exciting. It's nothing dramatic, but it's also very early. I'm really hoping this isn't another fluke.

Also, after actively researching omega 3's I am considering switching from Total Omega to both Fish Oil and Borage Oil alone. I read that many people can't convert flaxseed oil efficiently, and that this new combination should produce better results even for those that can convert flaxseed.

[bernmee]

That is really good news. May it continue! If you do suffer a set back remember that it is two steps forward one step back, though sometimes it can feel like the other way around.

I am not an expert but I think it is important, as you are so young, to look after your eyes now, and not have to deal with the mess of severe dry eyes later. I have read a post or two of people who had a "hint" of dryness but didn't listen, and in later life they wished they had.

Also, while you are making expensive shakes at the moment remember that when you stop taking these shakes that it is cheaper to eat in a healthy way, rather then buying processed food, it just takes more time and more effort. In the long term small and consisiten changes are more effective then big dietary changes.

Tanks for the tip on the flaxseed oil. I will look into it.

Keep well,

B.