Help!!!!

[theresa74]

Hi, I need some advice. Ok so I dumped my old eye doctor went to a well respected eye institute in my area (Rand Eye) and they have helped me so much. They did Schirmers on me. My score is 5. They found my lattice degeneration first eye doc to find after my hundreds of exams. LOL. Anyways, my new doc put plugs in my eyes. They are not helping. I am on Restasis. Have Plugs. I am ready to scream. I have good days and bad days. Some days don't even seem like I have dry eye, and others I get the blurred vision, and am in pain. today is one of those days uggghh! My eye doc thinks I could be a Sjogrens patient based on my Schirmer test. I went in to see him a couple of weeks ago and he said my eyes were bone dry. He gave me Alrex and it was such a heaven sent. He had me do taper doses. 4X a day for for a few days, 3X a day for a few days 2X a day for 2 days and then 1x every other day. I have finished my tapering instructions and I am miserable. It seems Alrex was such a help. Is Alrex bad to take all the time? Can I stay on it? Does anyone know anything about it? I think Alrex combined with Restasis is so wonderful. Any insight anyone can provide me will help as I am miserable today. Blurry vision and dry dry dry.

[Nanerpus]

I'm sorry to hear you are so miserable and know how you feel. I know a little about Alrex. It's a weaker steroid on the spectrum. I am on it right now and have my pressue checked regularly. I've been on it for really bad allergies, 1 drop a day (very low dose) to keep things at bay (and am currently on it). I've also been on it in the past at 3 times a day for an inflammed pingeucula. You always do a tapering dose when going off steroids.

From what my doctor said, if you are not a known steroid responder, and you have your pressure checked regularly, Alrex is very safe. It does have a preservative which is never good, but you need to weigh the pros with the cons. Cons include increased risk of cataracts, steroid induced glaucoma, and risk of infection moreso than if you are not on it. All in all, for me, I'd love to be off it and hope to go back off soon but for the last while, it's keeping my allergies under control and allowing me to live my life!

Hope this information helps.