no relief, eyes getting worse... any ideas?

[angela641]

Well everyone, my eyes have gotten worse and worse since I have been living here in Iowa.... i believe allergies have alot to do with my eyes getting worse. They were already severely dry before I moved here from Vegas, constantly watering, I wipe my eyes literally every 10-15 seconds with a kleenex, so my eyes are VERY sore and red from that alone. I also have a stringy mucus always blocking my vision, so I am always in the bathroom every 5-10 minutes putting my fingers in my eyes wiping it out so I can see... so that causes my eyes to get irritated and red also. Now I believe I have allergies since moving to Iowa b/c my eyes keep getting worse, very red and VERY itchy. I also get LOTS of crusty stuff on my upper eyelids where the eylashes connect to your eyelid... doesnt matter what time of the day, they come whenever, but definately mostly when i wake up... I use warm washcloths and baby soap to scrub them for a few seconds of relief... and back to pain. I use preservitive free artificial tears (endura) they feel great for 1 min and then hurt again. I use refresh pm eye ointment before bed, and I just started using some allergy eye drop its a prescription, it starts with a P, i forgot.. but I just started that 3 days ago, twice a day.

Anything else I can do? I feel like my life is over and I am trapped in my house b/c of my eyes. I cant go out in public without ppl saying "are u ok??" b/c im wiping my eyes all the time they think im crying, or when im not wiping them they think i jus got done crying b/c my eyes are so red and puffy ...

Angela

[Abbey]

Hi

Hi, I have a similar problem and I stay at home alot and don't go anywhere unless I can wear my sunglasses. It makes life limiting and hard for my family.
These are only suggestions and they may or may not help.
Firstly I'd stop with the baby soap, it may say it's gentle but personally I wouldn't put it near my skin. Try and find a gentle non irritating cleanser for sensitive skin. I use cetaphil which I've found to be great and I got it from the pharmacy.
I know it's going to be hard but since your at home anyway get rid of the cleanex, I'm speaking from experience. Try instead a cold, wet compress and apply gentle pressure, This should help with the excess tearing. After this try using your dry eye drops and again use the cold compress while tilting your head back letting the drops do their work.
I too have had stringy mucous in my eyes for about 10 years now and some days it's bad and some days it's good and I only get a couple of bit's a day. I'm a bit naughty in the way I get it out, while applying gentle pressure the compress I move my fingers in a circular motion. This tends to move it to a more accessable location so I don't have to stick my fingers in my eyes. I'm not saying this is the best way to go but it makes life a bit more bearable and helps reduce the inflamation and my eyes tend to get better as the day goes on as they are really bad first thing ie watery, crusty and a fair amount of discharge.
Also allergy drops tend to make my eyes more inflamed and the stringy discharge worse so I'm trying to control my allergies with oral antihistamines.
I hope this helps in some way, I know it won't get rid of the problem but you may find some parts of it help.
I hope things improve for you soon and goodluck.

[shells]

Hi Angela,

I'm so sorry to hear that things are going so badly for your eyes right now. My symptoms sound much different from yours, so I don't really have any advice from experience. I just though I would suggest maybe trying a different product at bed. I know that for me, my eyes were worse when I was using the ointment because it caused my tear film to be even more unstable. I imagine that with all you've been through, you've probably experimented with other products, but just incase, I thought I'd bring it up. I use Genteal gel at night and find it to work well. Many people on this site use the drops you can by here (Dwelle) and also find them to help alot. Anyway, just my 2 cents...you may have already tried this stuff. It sounds like Abbey gave some good tips, so I hope that some of them may help you! Also, have you tried finding a different doctor...one that might have some more suggestions? I know that the doctor I'm seeing now is so much better with my treatment than the others I've seen in the past. Good luck, and I hope you get some relief soon!

-Shells

[Abbey]

I agree with Shells

Finding a good doctor is important. I've probably spent thousands on doctors over the years, half of them don't know much and the other half don't care. It's disheartning and I know I felt stranded and alone. No-one seemed to know what was wrong with me. My first Opth told me there was nothing wrong with me and told me I was lucky to be able to see at all. Maybe if I had been diagnosed when it all began I wouldn't be in the situation I'm in and I may have retained more vision in my left eye. Maybe I wouldn't have the nasty scars around my eyes either, one never knows.
I don't want you to go down the same road as me and accept that there's no hope.
Be wary of the allergy drops and anything else you stick in your eyes as your eyes are irritated (that's what the stringy suff is) and they may aggrivate them making all you are currently going through worse.
Keep us posted on your progress as you may even find something that will help me lol.

[Silverlady]

If I understood

the problem correctly. You may have blepharitis. I've enclosed a link. You really need to see an eye doctor. It may not be allergies.
http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/Blepharitis.asp

Good luck.
B

[Scott ah]

just an fyi

I thought I would post very briefly in hopes that if may be helpful to someone else. Brief summary: I developed dry eye post Lasek (2-4 months post). I have always had relatively dry eyes. I tried temporary plugs and then had one (left) cauterized. I was using a variety of drops and trying several different approaches. What seems to have worked for me is as follows: 2 weeks steroid drops while starting doxycycline (50 mg?) once a day. I have also been taking a supplement THeratears, etc. at the recommended dose. About 3 weeks into the doxycycline, I started to "megadose" the supplements and had almost immediate relief overnight (literally). WHen I say "megadose" I take anywhere between 2000-3000 mg per day of about an equal dose of flax seed oil tablets and fish oil tablets. For what it is worth, this has been really helpful to me. I don't know whether it is the medication, the supplements, or both. I ran across a few studies of megadosing and my opthalmologist talked with me very briefly and stated other were taking flax seed in the 1000-2000 mg doseage a day. I have a hunch that some of us just don't process the flax seed supplement as well as others and just need a much higher dose.

[angela641]

the problem correctly. You may have blepharitis. I've enclosed a link. You really need to see an eye doctor. It may not be allergies.
http://www.stlukeseye.com/Conditions/Blepharitis.asp

Good luck.
B

Wow, that page describes all my symtoms to a T.... I am going to print that off and make an appt with an eye dr a.s.a.p. ... I hope that aint it, since it says no cure, but, i guess if it can be controlled and i would know what it was, in a way i hope thats what it is so i can get some medicine to help with it... Thanks!!!

Ill keep u guys informed as t what is said.

[Rebecca Petris]

in a way i hope thats what it is so i can get some medicine to help with it....

Just a quick tip: Managing chronic blepharitis is often less about medicine (since pretty much the only option is oral antibiotics, which don't always help and aren't always well tolerated) than other treatments including lid hygiene, heat treatment (for the clogged meibomian glands that go with blepharitis), fish or flax oil supplementation etc.

[angela641]

Just a quick tip: Managing chronic blepharitis is often less about medicine (since pretty much the only option is oral antibiotics, which don't always help and aren't always well tolerated) than other treatments including lid hygiene, heat treatment (for the clogged meibomian glands that go with blepharitis), fish or flax oil supplementation etc.

I have been taking warm wash cloths and scrubbing my eye lids gently... and i started taking theretears Supplemtns with Fish oil and Flax Seed a few days ago the label says it takes 30 days for it to help any.

[angela641]

Hi, I have a similar problem and I stay at home alot and don't go anywhere unless I can wear my sunglasses. It makes life limiting and hard for my family.
These are only suggestions and they may or may not help.
Firstly I'd stop with the baby soap, it may say it's gentle but personally I wouldn't put it near my skin. Try and find a gentle non irritating cleanser for sensitive skin. I use cetaphil which I've found to be great and I got it from the pharmacy.
I know it's going to be hard but since your at home anyway get rid of the cleanex, I'm speaking from experience. Try instead a cold, wet compress and apply gentle pressure, This should help with the excess tearing. After this try using your dry eye drops and again use the cold compress while tilting your head back letting the drops do their work.
I too have had stringy mucous in my eyes for about 10 years now and some days it's bad and some days it's good and I only get a couple of bit's a day. I'm a bit naughty in the way I get it out, while applying gentle pressure the compress I move my fingers in a circular motion. This tends to move it to a more accessable location so I don't have to stick my fingers in my eyes. I'm not saying this is the best way to go but it makes life a bit more bearable and helps reduce the inflamation and my eyes tend to get better as the day goes on as they are really bad first thing ie watery, crusty and a fair amount of discharge.
Also allergy drops tend to make my eyes more inflamed and the stringy discharge worse so I'm trying to control my allergies with oral antihistamines.
I hope this helps in some way, I know it won't get rid of the problem but you may find some parts of it help.
I hope things improve for you soon and goodluck.

The reason I dont use wash cloths on my eyes is b/c I wear glasses, if i use a washcloth my eyelashes get wet, then wet my glasses.. so i use kleenex AND b/c my eyes water so much the kleenex helps soak up the excess tears that are coming out of my eyes...

Which btw.. im confused. I had my bottom corner fo my eyes plugged... i thought that was to make my tears stay in my eyes... but my eyes OVER flow.. is this normal?

[Abbey]

I too wear galsses

Sometimes when eyes are dry they can water to compensate. Which is the problem I have sometimes when my eyes get really dry. By using kleenex to soak up the excess tearing you may not be leaving much in there for your eyes to work with therefore making your eyes water constantly.
The compress doesn't need to be too wet, I run mine under the cold tap and squeeze all the excess water out then apply it.
I too have bletharitis and find if I'm too aggressive with eyelid hygiene it makes it worse.
Also careful application of a little vasaline around the eyes might help protect the skin.

[angela641]

How often do you put thevaseline around the eyes? Mine are SOOO raw and red from wiping them all the time.