Post Your Daily Routine

[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.

[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]

Hi,
My routine varies, depending on how bad things are, but the most important lesson I have learned the HARD way, is when I actually reach Nirvana,
( otherwise known as maintenance ) This is NOT the time to slack off. Three months of hard work, can be lost, ( sorry can't resist) In the blink of an eye!
Seriously, I get all happy and think ," Hallelujah! I am Healed! " Only to have the whole vicious cycle come back on me again.
So every day,
A.M. Hot shower .or Hot compresses with chamomile tea bags, (gentle and reduce puffiness)
Minocycline 50- or-100 mg, depends on my condition
Cod Liver Oil 2x daily, Fish Oil 2x daily

Alrex drops 3x daily ( these really helped me)
Systane or Refresh plus throughout the day

Late afternoon, Sterilid scrubs and rice baggy compresses, eyelid massage.
Tobradex ointment , when times are tough

Lid scrubs ,compresses and massage before bed
Humidifier in bedroom
Laci lube at night , systane drops always within bedside reach.
I get tired just looking at all this, no wonder I get Lazy

[YGB]

BEFORE BED:-
Hot compress on the eye-lids for 5 minutes. Then using the massage technique to clear the lid glands.
Wash eyelids with STERILID (baby shampoo a waste of time).
Then, and very importantly, wash the eyelids down with COLD water....this is to close up the glands agains otherwise they can just run empty!
Finally, Ocumed drops once again to hydrate the eyes before hitting the sack.

Ian.

Ian - this is an interesting, methodical routine. I do warm compresses for 15 minutes. Perhaps this is too long although I thought I saw somewhere that this was an appropriate amount of time. How did you come up with 5 minutes? Also, washing the eyelids down with COLD water to seal them up again is something I have never come across, but sounds interesting in concept. Did your MD recommend this? Thanks for sharing.

[IanJ]

My routine

6:30AM: Apply Ocumed eye drops. Doc says it's important to hydrate the eye for any losses of tear film through the night.

6:45AM: 1 Aspirin to combat retinal vein occlusions (I have one in each eye already), 3 theratears nutrition Omega 3 pills. Any other pills I'm trying.

7:00AM: Apply more Ocumed eye drops to really hydrate the eyes and set them up for the day. (PS. Before I did this I used to get really dry eyes in the car drive to work).

ANY AM: Apply eye drops as and when required. Usually a couple of times....sometimes more. Depends on air-con/heating at work.

ANY PM: As above.

BEFORE BED:-
Hot compress on the eye-lids for 5 minutes. Then using the massage technique to clear the lid glands.
Wash eyelids with STERILID (baby shampoo a waste of time).
Then, and very importantly, wash the eyelids down with COLD water....this is to close up the glands agains otherwise they can just run empty!
Finally, Ocumed drops once again to hydrate the eyes before hitting the sack.

Ian.

[Steve]

I'm still working on mine

I've posted my ongoing experiments to http://spreadsheets.google.com/pub?k...Sf0SAkiTd2nmRA and to the "My Dry-Eye story" forum.

Google Spreadsheets are awesome -- anyone can publish an excel sheet for free and link to it on the web. Sign up at http://docs.google.com/

Thanks so much to all of you for saying what works for you!

[laine]

have sjogrens too and I use mild saline

Hi,
I too have Sjogren's and I use just a few grains of salt with about a quarter of a cup of water and use a q-tip to apply along the lashline and the smooth area of skin just below the lashline. I have tried lidscrub and baby shampoo and found both to be extremely drying to my eyes and the skin around them.
I notice that you use 'biontears' as well.

[Elegiamore]

Thank you Rebecca

Rebecca,

Thank you for your response. Today the Dakrina feels fine! Maybe I am healing up. My doctor suggested the dry eye was environmental and gave me no information about glands. Should he have checked this with me? Thank you for the information on Genteal Gel, but I haven't seen it at any of the stores I've frequented yet.

I have dry spots on my cornea. If the pain is gone, should I assume the dry spots are also or do you have to be re-examined to be certain?

This is a great site and you do a fantastic job! I feel at home here and hope to contribute some myself after I do my research.

Thank you,
Elegiamore

[Rebecca Petris]

Hi there and welcome!

Plugs were all I needed until now. My doctor is absolutely no help at all with a routine.

...Trying to educate myself, but would LOVE some advise.

I'd start with getting a new doctor. If that isn't possible, have a look at our treatment summary sheet for some ideas, and also the pain management page. While some of the best things for dry eye are rather costly, there are quite a few things you can do to work on improving eye comfort that are very economical. Many people with evaporative dry eye get good mileage from warm compresses, which don't need to cost anything.

Had pain from Dakrina - should I try it again? I see very few people here use the Dakrina and Dwelle products - how come?

Actually quite a few do (check the poll results). If Dakrina disagrees I think it is still worth trying Dwelle. Dakrina is just Dwelle plus Vitamin A, but it has a different consistency that does not agree with everyone. Kind of a love-it-or-hate-it thing. I have had times when Dakrina worked very well for me and other times when it made my eyes uncomfortable. I'd also hit up your doctor for free samples of any other artificial tear products he has that you can try out. - Re ointments, I'm personally not keen on them at all for regular use but you might try Genteal Gel. It is not greasy like ointments but many people here find it helps them at night.

[Elegiamore]

Open to Suggestions

Plugs were all I needed until now. My doctor is absolutely no help at all with a routine.

How do I get started? I am without insurance and a job, so money is really tight and Restatis is out of the question. My doctor said flooding my eyes every two hours should heal the dry spots on my cornea; one doctor said no Refresh PM and one said to do it. Had pain from Dakrina - should I try it again? I see very few people here use the Dakrina and Dwelle products - how come?

Trying to educate myself, but would LOVE some advise. Stopped using eye makeup because sterile eye scrubs too expensive and trouble putting in drops all day.

Thanks for the help!

[Deniz]

Daily routine

I have lower plugs.

- Wash face with lancome cleansing gel (10am)
- one drop of Theratears to clear the RefreshPM gel residue from the prior night (10:05am)
- Lotemax drops to each eye (11am, 2pm, 5pm, 10pm)
- Theratears once in every hour till bedtime
- Refresh PM before bed (midnight)

Sometimes I wake up to reapply the refresh pm at night.

[Ben]

I have never been that good with routines, some call it lazy! No comment!

That said certain things are starting to become normal practice:

The joyous morning of eye..

Wake and attempt to peel eyes open.
Rub them to get the feeling of lubrication going.
Blink lots.
V hot shower washing away effects of whatever it is goes on with the little bighters over night.
Fill sink with hot water, submerge face and attempt to drown myself for 30 second bursts, despite not be able to breathe, feels lovely and warm on the eyes.
Have been kown to then do a lid scrub, usually with sterile saline solution, recently tried baby shampoo(stung), however my eyes are very fussy in the AM and don't like to be messed with too much. Sometimes scrubs make them worse.


A good day at work- use Refresh Soothe & Protect single use vials every few hours and keep a smile on my face.

A bad day at work - use Refresh Soothe & Protect & wash single use vials every few hours and wash face at numerous intervals to make eyes feel less red, dream of getting away from work and computer screens, no trace of a smile anywhere.


The evening return..
Depending on how red and irritated with PC Use, a rice baggy is a must!

Sometime in the hour before bed..
Wash face in hot water
Do lid scrubs, as mentioned usually with saline solution.
Rinse face off
Drop of Refresh Soothe & Protect in each eye.

Go to bed, read for too long, wake up and find eyes have been off partying all night again.

Weekends
All of the above but not in any particular frequency or order.

I know i need more for the eyes overnight, just don't know what is best. had a bad experince once with Lacrilube and have always been very apprehensive about what i put in there when i sleep.

cheers
ben

[Silverlady]

Lid scrubs?

Do any of you ever get really dry, itchy eyelids (skin in the eyesocket area) when you use the scrubs? I'm having a lot of residue collect in my eyelash area due to the increased inflammation and a lot of my eyelashes are falling out. I have had to quit using the eyelash scrub in the past due to my eye area getting so irritated. Oh..I have super dry skin everywhere due to the Sjogrens. I'm looking for another way to clean the eyelash line.
Billye

[William53]

my routine

My current regimen is:

~ use Genteal Moderate eye drops upon waking and then throughout day as needed

~ before breakfast, hot compresses, eye scrubs w/ diluted baby shampoo + restasis

~ 50 MGs of doxycyclin once a day w/ breakfast + eye-health multi-vitamin + 1,000 MG of omega-3 fish oil

~ after breakfast, one drop in each eye of Acular; two more drops of Acular for each eye in afternoon, and then again in evening (Acular is a new part of daily regimen; am working with my ophthalmologist to figure out anti-inflammatory needed to deal with condition while minimizing side effects)

~ during day, rest eyes every hour or so depending on computer use, reading

~ in evening, hot compresses, eye scrubs w/ diluted baby shampoo + restasis

I also try to eat healthy foods

[Silverlady]

My Routine

For some reason I didn't finish my routine. Must have been late at night.

PM Cont'd:
While soaking goggle pads,
I put otc eye ointment around the eye area to keep them from getting chafed. I don't put it in the eyes. Then I put in a liberal amt. of Genteal GEL for severe dry eyes from the tube
Then I squeeze out almost all of the moisture in the pads and put the pads in my goggles. Then put the goggles on and go immediately to bed. If I have to get up in the night, I put more gel in my eyes.

Sometimes if my eyes are hurting/burning really bad, I use another clean washcloth soaked in really warm water and wrung out over my eyes for about 15-20 min.

This is all I do, and it has worked well for about 6-8 months. Oh yeah, I could wish for more tears, but it's not going to happen for me, so I cope. I could not live without the goggles or the Genteal Gel. I'm packing 2 pair of goggles and lots of the Gel for the trip to Mayo in Dec.