No HOPE?

[Alexandra]

Hi Everybody

I ve been at the dryeyezone since about 6 month now I guess and I have read many threads.
I now have a question:
Why is the common tenor so hopeless?
Dont think I am not depressed too, but still: I AM SURE that there will be something like a cure in the next 5 to 10 years!
Am I naiv about that?
I am sorry if I am hurting someone by writing that. But I think we should all be a bit more constructive!
There are about 10 products in the Pipeline!
Companies are doing research!
Novartis has already invested several hundred millions of Dollars in Rebamipide!
Something is happening!
Today's there medicine for cancer, AIDS and other horrible deseases.
It cant be that hard to find a good medicine for dry eyes!

We just have to wait and be a bit optimistic!

I really dont want to offend anybody with this!

Take care and be optimistic! We will handle this!

[sazy123]

Yes hope in 5-10 years problem is i dont want to waste the best years of my life at 21 waiting for it!

[Alexandra]

I am 24, studying and I feel just the same! Its ****! That's why I say: we have o try to be optimistic, even if its f***ing hard!

[kitty]

I'm not so sure that what you perceive to be hopelessness on the part of many of us is in actuality acceptance of what was, what is, and what could be. I think it is a protective mechanism of sorts, not to get ones hopes too high for fear they might be shattered. There are so many causes of DES, there will need to be many cures as well. Sure, I hold out hope but I am not holding my breath waiting for that cure either.

[sazy123]

TBH me personaly-im not holding out for a cure either, at this stage all i want is something that will manage the condition alot better than whats on offer now, so using something like a drop or a cream that makes your eyes better and allows me to function as a normal 21 year old but as long as you stay on it would be fine for now (which isnt a cure), Abit like restasis i suppose.

[Alexandra]

yep

yep, Sazy.
I dont hope for a cure in the next 5 years too. I just believe that in 5 years there will be 3 more products on the market. And we all will be able too choose the best product for our eyes.
And if we all feel 50% better that would be a big big step compared to today. And I dont want to loose the hope that this will happen
Otherwise I will have to do another master, one in chemistry and then do research on my own!
This is one thing that freaks me out: We are so dependent on these companies and researchers!
Take Care!
P.S. Where do you live in the UK?

[Amy09]

Alexandra, I completely agree with you that a cure will be found for us. I'm obsessed with the Discovery Health channel, and am always seeing shows about people with the most unusual diseases and disorders who are finding cures for their problems. If they can be cured, then certainly, within ten years or so, there should be a cure for people with mere dry eye problems. While I also agree with Kitty on some level (acceptance towards dry eye is a coping mechanism and we don't want to get our hopes too high), I personally feel that it IS better to keep my hopes high about finding a dry eye cure. I've had these painful, embaressing eye problems for over five years, since I was 14 years old!!! If I just let myself think that this will never get any better and that I'll be stuck with this for like another sixty years, I'll make myself super depressed all over again. Believing that my problems will one day get better makes it that much easier for me to get up in the morning.

[Helen26]

Alexandra

I agree too. Like you, maybe I'm a bit naive, as I've only had dry eyes for 5 months, but I do believe that in the next 5-10 years there will be better treatments available. I'm not hoping for a cure, just more effective drops which I can use perhaps a couple of times a day to keep it under control, and then be able to forget about my eyes for the rest of the day. Whilst I don't want to be unrealistically optimistic, I think that several of the products currently in the pipeline will help me in some way and I agree that these companies wouldn't be ploughing billions of pounds into these developing these products if they didn't think they would work. You only have to search on the internet for dry eyes to see how much research is currently being undertaken and, from what I can see, it's only in recent years that the true nature of dry eye has been understood and there's still some way to go. There are many more complex medical problems than dry eye with more effective treatments it's just that dry eye seems to have been ignored for a long time because it is seem by many as a minor problem - that certainly seems to be the opinion of everyone I have come across in the NHS.

So I think we need to try to keep our spirits up! And whilst I don't think there will be any miracle cure, I believe that there is light at the end of this dark tunnel.

[Alexandra]

Hi Helen

I guess everybody deals different with DES.
My way is it to be optimistic, even if I get dissapointed.
It's just the right way coping with DES for me.
But I guess everybody needs to find the best for themselves.
But I think it's never wrong to spread out optimism

I dont know since when there actually is research on dry eyes. maybe 5 years? thats nothing! and look what they already know!

and: Someone told me that when for example Novartis does research on rebamipide, during the process or research they find out other stuff connecting dry eye.
thats why (I guess) they already have another product in the pipeline.

We just have to survive the next 5 years!

And hey: maybe it will be possible to combine different medications.
A mix of Restasis , Rebamipide and Androgen Drops <== That would improve all layers.
I guess that sounds very naiv to many of the people here. BUT I BELIVE IN IT!!!!!!

[Abbey]

I've already waited 10 years

Although dry eye is only part of my problems I've been as i put it "putting up with my symptoms". It might have helped if I knew what was wrong in the beginning instead of being told it was something else (which makes me angry sometimes).
The thought of another 10 years the way I am isn't overly appealing but the alternative isn't so appealing either.
I try to take each day as it comes hoping it's better than the day before even when as the next day comes I relise my hope was pointless because tomorrow might be the day.

[Lucy]

One sentence or two sums this up occasionally, I have been whining about dry eyes just about longer than anyone, and sickeningly often, repetitive, sometimes in despair, many times offering support to others.

Dry eyes is not the worst thing we can have. I would rather have DES than a cancer diagnosis. I would rather have a DES diagnosis than MS diagnosis.
At least DES allows us to *itch, vent, seek, offer help, hope, despair and share. I am at the point now where I'm ready to have one eye shut, but it's beats having totally blind eyes.

And a great deal of thanks for the board here. Loads of support, wisdom, whining, information. Dry eye will not kill you, although your eyes might feel that way. No one has died from dry eyes, miserable, certainly.
PS. I am on prednisone for the next 12 days and cannot sleep so I might be rambling all around the place. If my posts are too long (!), just pull them. I probably won't notice.

[Mika]

i understand the frustration ABBEY because we all feel we have waited long enough. And for some poeple, they have fought for so long, switching doctors to doctors, medications, vitamins and years etc, and to know that they have "failed" to cure it, that they are back to step1.

Because, man that really sh** living with it. Its like your feet are cuff with a big weight and everywhere you go, you just have to pull it, pull it...

and finding all these other people living happily with no health problem, saying maybe it can be you...feeling all the hope that maybe tomorrow will be more blue..

but hey, its hard hell yeah, but its good to hope, without it; man wouldn't have invented cars, sticking to theirs horses; they wouldnt have landed on the moon. yeah sometimes, you fall so down and don't wanna standup again..

but hey, we must NOT let our illness guide our life, cuz after all we have only 1 life (apart from those who believe in reincarnation)!!...so with or without dry eye, with or without hope, with must all live for the day...its hard, but we must try, try to be cheerful, try to BE the healthy person we sometimes envy...coz after all cheerfulness and lively spirit, will boots not only ur moral but mayB even ur immune system in the longrun....:a lively spirit = lively mechanism....

i fink.,.