Post Your Daily Routine

[Judy]

Hello skygoddess,

Welcome!! I got tired just reading your routine too!! It sounds as though you have quite a routine going on though and are devoted to sticking with it, which is probably wise. I wish I could stick to mine better, although it seems my needs are constantly changing.

I just wanted to mention that two of the treatments you are using have steriods in them: Alrex and Tobradex ointment. I've used both of these as well. Over the last several years, I've been on and off Alrex. I also used the Tobradex eyedrops after my last lacrimal duct surgery for several weeks at Dr. direction. Both of these seemed to help my eyes quite a bit, but I developed steroid-induced glaucoma as a result. I was treated with several types of eyedrops for this condition and it appears to be about gone, although I am monitored fairly regularly...

Just wanted to mention this. You may not have this issue, but I hope you are seeing an opthamologist on a VERY REGULAR basis.

Take care and have a FANTASTIC non-dryeye day, week, year....

[skygoddess]

Judy,
Thanks for the info on the Tobradex. I try to limit it ,to only when I am at my worst. I see my Dr. so much , I think we will be doing the holidays together next year. I am sure you understand.

[Adar]

Very interesting, reading everyone's routines!

Mine:

-- I carry Dakrina all the time and use as needed. I'm in a dry climate, and some days I will use the drops 2-3 times during the day.

-- I have sunglasses that go over my eyeglasses that stay in the car. (Actually, as with the drops, I've got them scattered all over my life.) The second-worst moment for me most days is when I drive from the shady parking under my apt building into the bright eastern light on my way to school or work. I *always* wear shades for that.

-- If I'm feeling particularly "dry" at school, I wash my face with warm water and/or make a warm compress of paper towels for my eyes.

-- Night routine: rinse eye area with plain water, put in Dwelle drops, put on the Tranquileyes. Drops handy at bedside, in case.

-- Morning routine: Open eyes as gently as I can. Put in drops, whether I "need" them or not (I need them, just sometimes I'm impatient and will regret it later.)

-- On a hard morning: If I have pain in the left eye (for some reason, the "bad" eye prone to corneal erosions) then LOTS of drops, get up and do whatever I have to do, baby it, maybe hot shower with steam, and if the pain gets worse instead of better, lie face down, eyes shut, and meditate. Keep the eye as still as possible to give the cells a chance to knit. Ditto if later in the day I start suddenly feeling that "erody" feeling.

Multivitamin, Omega-3 capsules, lots and lots of water.

For air travel (I commute from Oakland to LA once a week, so I spend about 2.5 hours a week on an airplane) -- I carry sample-size bottles of my drops and my Tranquileyes in a separate ziplock baggie instead of the can that it comes with. That way the security folks can SEE it without handling it (so it is still clean if I need it on the plane.) I turn off the fan over my seat on the plane, apply more drops as soon as I'm seated, and close my eyes and meditate or doze while in flight. More drops if needed.

And that's it.

[Jeff H]

Just diagnosed with DES so here is what the Dr has me doing:

> AM 2 Pills (HydroEye Supplment)

> ALL day Every Hour or more 2 Drops of Thera Tears In Each Eye

> Dinner Time = 2 more pills

> Continued Thera Tears Each Hour

> At Bedtime 4 Drops of Thera Tear "Gel" in each eye

Just had lower collagen plugs put in today...

Jeff

[stella]

5-7am - Wake -- put in minims artificial tears
Try to sleep again
Wake properly - activate tranquieyes gel and "warm up" the eyes (while still in bed)and massage the lids and yawnto produce tears
after breakfast - sterilid eye scrub + celluvisc and
then apply " oil of Ulay anti- aging gel "on lids (this is new to try to moisten the lids ) It contains camomile and cucumber which are meant to be soothing
9am ----------------- 10 pm
mostly minims artificial tears + occationally celluvis
On a really good day - none
On a bad day 2-6 times
(10pm) -- 5 mins steaming followed by Dr latkany,s method of lid hygiene (see book)
11pm BED
1 Use either tranquieye goggles with moisture pads - NOT the gel pads - I use them as soon as i wake in am seperately
2 OR (more recently) a soft cotton eye mask with a clean hankerchief inside
3 OR a combination of both
I find night difficult and am experimenting !!
MostlyI wake 2x in the night and use Minims artificial tears
Stella
PS I have found a new trick that temporarily helps!!!
Cup your hands and place over the eyes and hold for a while - the heat from your hands + your moist breath will give temporary relief

[KimH]

Routine

AM:
-Hot shower using warm compress/washcloth while in shower
-Restasis

THROUGHOUT DAY:
-Refresh Celluvisc (Bad day-every hour or so, Good day- 4 or 5 times during day)

Evening:
-Restasis
-Refresh Celluvisc as needed

PM:
Lacri-lube

[darcie]

good success

My eyes have felt much better (moist, liquid sort of feeling) afer using this regimen for the past few weeks:

daily hot compress
homeopathic eye drops (similasan for dry eyes) several times during the day.
Bion tears once each day
Flax seed oil capsules (I take 6/day). I also put freshly ground flax seeds on my meals (approx 1 tsp) whenever practicable.
Chlorella capsules, 8 -12 each day with meals
holy basil capsules, 2 with breakfast
vitamin A - 10,000 units
yoga pose - inverted lake
dwelle at night

This may seem like a lot but once you get into a routine it doesn't take much time at all.

I've also played a little bit with reflexology. The relevant point is between the middle and ring fingers on each hand.
Of course, I drink lots of water.

[TRiBaL]

Everyone seems to have to do alot more things for there eyes lol.

Morning - Take theratears in a bottle, use presevative free eye drops by theratears then i try to drink more water and yawn more. I rinse my face alot too with cold water. Oh ya and take a vitamin for my eyes.

[cityhunter62]

My current routine

Wake up in the morning, pretty late because of a big lack of motivation. The left eye is already gritty and scratchy...
Going straight on to the shower, where I can do the home eye spa in its "lazy version".
Taking lots of supplements : Vitamin A, Omega 3, Oligo Zinc, quantum medication, and a supplement for dry skin.

Going to work - surprinsingly, travelling by car doesn't bother me. I'm not staring, I'm looking around in all the directions so it's ok.
Arriving at work - big apprehension. Going to spend 8 hours or more in front of a computer with the air conditionning. Wondering why I've choosen such a job - didn't have dry eyes when I chose that I wanted to work in an office... Well, it's time to start, already late !!!

Spending half the day on the internet, looking for solutions to the disease and reading forums. Working the other half, not so efficiently, but hey !
After a boring day, come back home. The left eye (and sometimes both when the day was harsh) will bother me during all the evening , until I go to bed -early, in order to face another day.
Looking forward to the w-e, when I can see friends and familly...

[LianaT]

Jackie

daily routine:

warm compress to clear out the lacrilube

flush with saline
rinse with genteal moderate
one drop restasis
one drop pataday

genteal moderate drops hourly
genteal gel at lunch and dinner

saline flush at night
one drop restasis
1/4 inch of lacrilub each eye

On a bad day with lots of outdoor late night games upgrade the genteal to systane and wear wrap around safety glasses or sun glasses

[Isis]

I do an eyelid scub after waking and use Gental geldrops. A few hours later, I do a hot compress. Before I go to bed, I repeat the process only this time hot compress first, then eyelid scrub and drops.

[cathleen]

My Daily Routine

Morning:
-Take shower and use TheraTears Lid Scrub in shower. (Let foam sit on lids and lashes for 1 minute while in shower before i rinse it off)
-Put 1 drop of TheraTears Gel (single vial, preservative free) in each eye
-Take 3 TheraTears Nutrition (ie. Omega-3/Flaxseed Oil supplement) orally

Throughout the day (i sit in front of a computer for 8 hours at work), put TheraTears Gel in eyes as needed. (Note: i keep the same vial all day)

Night:
- Once a week, put a hot washcloth on lids (with eyes closed) for 5 minutes.
- Nightly, wash face then use TheraTears Lid Scrub again, letting foam sit on lids and lashes for 1 minute.
-1 drop GenTeal Gel before bed
-Sleep with a Humidifier on (at least 50-60% humidity)

I have been on this routine for a month religiously and have found that there are many time during the day that I don't even notice my dry eye. I really stand by this routine. Would love for someone to try this and see how it works for them. -- I do still, though, get very red veiny eyes during the day. This is gone in the morning, but develops during the day.

NOTES:
I used to use Bion Tears. Became ineffective after several months. Switched to TheraTears. I found TheraTears Gel to last longer between drops than the regular TheraTears.
Have tried systane, but don't find it lasts but a few minutes, and the preservative bother my eyes.
I used Restasis before and after my Lasik surgery (which was Jan 2007). I personally did not find Restasis to do a bit of good. Was on it 3+ months. At the end, I would wake up at night with BURNING eyes. So, i stopped using it.
I have plugs in my bottom punctum.
I have been using TheraTears Nutrition for 6 weeks and have found an amazing improvement in the way my eyes feel in the morning and have found to need less drops during the day.
I don't use TheraTears Gel at night just before bed because I have found to to clump in the corners of my eyes. It does not do that during the day with my eyes open.

[Terri]

My current routine

I am experimenting and modifying my routine in an all-out assault on my DES. I'll come back and edit this post as I eliminate things that don't work and add or replace them with things that do:

5 AM: Some days I wake up feeling great and don't need drops until later in the day. Other days, I need to use drops from the beginning. In this case, I'll use a single-use vial of Refresh Plus Tears because I bought a lifetime supply at Costco and I'm trying to use them up.

Most mornings, I put on a pair of sports goggles that seal around my eyes and take the dogs for a 45-minute walk.

7 AM: Shower and get ready for work. Use Restasis (one drop in each eye). Put opened vial in shot glass in refrigerator to use again in the evening.

Breakfast, followed by multivitamin, NAC and fish oil supplement. Just ordered TheraTears Nutrition based on other reviews and plan to see if they work better than the fish oil supplement I've been taking. Just started NAC, so I can't say if it makes a difference yet.

Throughout day: As needed, I'll use one drop of Bion Tears in each eye (a bicarbonate-containing drop that's supposed to promote healing) followed 5 minutes later by one drop in each eye of TheraTears (single-use vial; selected because TheraTears are moderately hypotonic, which is also supposed to promote healing). I was also using Celluvisc because of it's increased viscosity, but I didn't like the way it blurred my vision. I also believe that it increased my need for artificial tears, although it could just be coincidence that after I stopped using it, my need for drops has declined. I carry one single-use vial of each brand with me in a small, wide-mouth Thermos filled with crushed ice. When at home, I leave the opened vials in the refrigerator with the Restasis.

Environmental changes: Just bought a humidifier for my office and just picked up some clear wrap-around glasses to wear around the house and/or office to help block air currents.

7 PM: One drop of Restasis in each eye.

8 PM: Wash face and remove eye makeup. Use rice baggy or Eye Spa pad as warm, 5-minute compress. Clean lids with Q-tip as described in Dr. Latkany's book.

9 PM (or so): Toss out all remaining open vials of drops. Warm pads and put on Tranquileyes goggles. I have lagophthalmos and was previously using ointments at night. I agree with DEZ's opinion that ointment use over time makes things worse, and I was glad to find a better alternative. (Note: I experienced the problem with vision blurring reported by other Tranquileyes users. I believe it's because I tightened the straps too tight. For the next few nights, I'm going to tape my right eye shut and use the goggles without the pads. Once my vision is clear, I'll try them again with pads and much looser straps.)

Coming soon: Getting a plug installed in my dry eye on Dec. 20.

[stella]

Things have improved

5-7am - Wake -- put in minims artificial tears
Try to sleep again
Wake properly - activate tranquieyes gel and "warm up" the eyes (while still in bed)and massage the lids and yawnto produce tears
after breakfast - sterilid eye scrub + celluvisc and
then apply " oil of Ulay anti- aging gel "on lids (this is new to try to moisten the lids ) It contains camomile and cucumber which are meant to be soothing
9am ----------------- 10 pm
mostly minims artificial tears + occationally celluvis
On a really good day - none
On a bad day 2-6 times
(10pm) -- 5 mins steaming followed by Dr latkany,s method of lid hygiene (see book)
11pm BED
1 Use either tranquieye goggles with moisture pads - NOT the gel pads - I use them as soon as i wake in am seperately
2 OR (more recently) a soft cotton eye mask with a clean hankerchief inside
3 OR a combination of both
I find night difficult and am experimenting !!
MostlyI wake 2x in the night and use Minims artificial tears
Stella
PS I have found a new trick that temporarily helps!!!
Cup your hands and place over the eyes and hold for a while - the heat from your hands + your moist breath will give temporary relief

THIS ROUTINE IS NO LONGER APPLICABLE 11/20/07
I now do eyelid hygiene once daily only - at night
I use celluvisc once or twice daily - only if i feel burning
I use claramist frequently during he day
I wear onion goggles at night
I wear "cocoons" (sun glasses over Rx glasses)when on the computer
I am much better and feel my DE is under control

[Rebecca Petris]

[B]
I am much better and feel my DE is under control

That is so awesome. Love to hear it.