Dissapointing optho appintment, dry eyes and scared...

[Klee]

Hi again,i dont know if you are on any meds but alot of them caus acqueas deficiancy. I take xanax and notice it causes dry eye. Many meds do,so do hormones age etc. Mgd also can have a hormonal caus etc,so no wonder they often go together...so many factors.

[Klee]

Just wanted to offer good wishes. If you can do the compresses regularly, it does help with blepharitis. Try timings and different compresses to see what works best for you.

I don't know if it will help you, but I was told to take Vitamin A supplements to help eyes heal. I have no idea if it is helping me at all, but I'm sticking with it in the hopes it works.

Can you what dose of vit A you take? Also,was it doctor prescribed. Id like to try taking it.

[Klee]

Hello Everyone,
I'm new here and this is my first posting. Lately I have not been doing so good and my eyes are not helping. About 4 weeks ago midday I got a feeling of cold blowning into my eyes when I touched my itchy eyelids. I panicked and went to see an optometrist, who made a thorough exam, said my TBUT is 5, and took pictures of my upper eyelids and showed me that there is some debris on eyelashes. His diagnosis clogged MGD due to probably blepharitis. Told me to do warm compresses and wash my eyelids.
Fast forward to four weeks later, I made another appointment to an ophthalmologist this time because I suspected something serious is going on. This was by far the worst appointment I had and now I am freaking out. During my appointment the assistant put dilating drops then numbing drops and did the Schirmer test. My eyes started to hurt and my heart raced like crazy. The Schirmer test was 1 in one eye and 5 in the other. I have never had any problems with dry eyes until 4 weeks ago. I don't understand what could cause it. So, I broke in tears after the test and had a major panic. Now, I'm convinced this is due to autoimmune condition for sure. I'm also still, after 4 days, feeling the side effects of those damn drops they put in.
Can someone shed some light on this? I probably need referral to rheumy.... I'm in so much frustration and anxiety right now it's unbelievable. Thank you,
Agnela

The numbing drops made my eyes sting.

[Keely]

Can you what dose of vit A you take? Also,was it doctor prescribed. Id like to try taking it.

It isn't prescribed, it is Sanatogen an OTC complete vitamin. When the GP mentioned Vitamin A I said I'd taken this one before without issue, so she checked the ingredients and said we'd start with it and see if there was any improvement.

[angelab]

I will start taking xanax because my anxiety is out of control. And will also purchase vitamin A, maybe this will help. I'm just hoping it's nothing serious with my eyes. I don't know what triggers my dry eye. Some days is ok some days they're red and itchy. They were bad yesterday at bedtime - itchy and red. I've noticed that the warm compresses are most helpful if I do them every other day and the eyelid washing with OccuSoft helps but not everyday, otherwise it stings. I take TheraTears oil but not noticing too much difference. I finished the optometrist brand EazyTears and I think the eazytears felt better, maybe because they had vitamin A.

[Klee]

It isn't prescribed, it is Sanatogen an OTC complete vitamin. When the GP mentioned Vitamin A I said I'd taken this one before without issue, so she checked the ingredients and said we'd start with it and see if there was any improvement.

Do you know the value of the vit a. Iu,mg?

[Klee]

I will start taking xanax because my anxiety is out of control. And will also purchase vitamin A, maybe this will help. I'm just hoping it's nothing serious with my eyes. I don't know what triggers my dry eye. Some days is ok some days they're red and itchy. They were bad yesterday at bedtime - itchy and red. I've noticed that the warm compresses are most helpful if I do them every other day and the eyelid washing with OccuSoft helps but not everyday, otherwise it stings. I take TheraTears oil but not noticing too much difference. I finished the optometrist brand EazyTears and I think the eazytears felt better, maybe because they had vitamin A.

I take alprazolam the generic for xanax. I know about the anxiety,mine is a bit out of control. Bad thing is it can caus dry eye symptoms...sigh ive taken it for years so Id have to wean off of it,i need the med,but hopeing to cut the dose down to maybe help my dry eye.

[Keely]

Do you know the value of the vit a. Iu,mg?

Vitamin A 725 µg RE (micrograms, not milligrams) labelled as 113% RDA/NRV. The rest of the ingredients are listed here:

[angelab]

So I started antidepressants and xanax as of yesterday, this is too much for me to bear. I will get vitamin A (my eyes felt better when I was taking vitamin A). The ones I was taking was EyePromise: EZ Tears and I think that they made me better than the Theratears. I can tolerate drops but 1-2 a day not more, otherwise eyes sting. I'm trying to pin point what caused it. It's so frustrating. I'm also using Tea Tree oil on my eyelids (seem to help somewhat).

[Klee]

I had allergies today,so many things affect the eye,the allergies didnt help.

[angelab]

So I tried Xanax for few days and Zoloft. I had to stop both. I noticed my eyes yesterday got so dry, red and itchy that I thought I'll just give it a rest for few days. I noticed my eyes got worst when two weeks ago I had dilating and numbing drops put in. And then the following week I had those fluorescent drops in and I think my eyes are still affected by all those drops. I'll wait a little longer for them to wear off to try Zoloft again, but I'm so depressed by this sudden onset of dry eyes that I'm not sure if I'll be able to function this week at all. I'm currently in a state of panic since I don't know why 6 weeks ago my eyes were totally fine and then midday went bad and felt like I have this wind blowing into them.

[epicjinx]

Heres my advice, find out exactly what you have because its not fair that you don't exactly know... also I had both schimer and red phenol test done and on schimer I produced nothing supposedly but now I found out I have all year round allergies, taking catacrom and apparently my oil glands got better. Ask your doc, to check the underneath of your oil glands since you mentioned itchy feeling, I had no itchiness whatsoever but I have allergies. Allergies can contribute to dry eyes. if you have inflammation whatever the reason try and use restasis or something anti-flammatory because your water layer will increase you just need to find out the reasons why and how to get it under control. Hope this helps

[epicjinx]

Also, many anti-depressants and anxiety medication contain things that may be drying to the eyes so, look out for this too!

[waterbee]

any other symptoms? join pain? tired? ect?

[angelab]

No other symptoms such as joint pain or tiredness (but when I read about autoimmune I think my finger hurts or my knee hurts too, but that goes away as soon as I forget about what I read), I get tired because of dry eyes (I feel them and think about them 24/7). I used think it was autoimmune, had it checked and it all came negative. My doc does not think so. It all started 6 weeks ago, I was under a lot of stress when that happened, did not clean my eyes or kept a good hygiene, and I spent on my computer and phone 24/7. Then one day at work I felt my eyelids itchy and when I scratched them I felt lots of crust and I wiped it and cleaned it under water but by then I felt like cold wind blowing in my eyes all the time. I went to see an optometrist the same day and he said my TBUT is 5 seconds but he did not see dry spots in my eyes and took photos of my eyelids and said blepharitis. Of course by then I was freaking about autoimmune and went to an ophthalmologist to do Schrimer test and after the assistant put dilating drops and numbing drops my heart pounded like crazy and my eyes felt dry and the test results were 1 and 5. After that visit my eyes felt dry and itchy but then it got better after a week and actually one day my eyes felt good for almost all day. I went back to an optometrist for follow up visit. He put the fluorescent dye to check my TBUT and it still is 5 second and my blepharitis is still there but 50% better. Week has passed and I still can feel dryness and itchiness from all those drops. I'm trying to use artificial tear drops but only 1-2 times a day. More than that and my eyes feel horrible.
I don't understand what is happening I have never had problem with my eyes. The only eye exam I had was 20 years ago and it was all fine. This is all frustrating, I know I have allergies because I used get allergy shots for dust mites, pollen and mold. What is weird is that sometimes in a day my eyes will get better for no reason and I feel such relief and then they go back to this windy feeling.