New dry eye sufferer, extremely frustrated, need answers and help desperately!!!!!

[Skizzy91]

Skizzy - what specific antibiotic were you given?

fucithalmic

[runnergirl]

skizzy,

I think aside from all your eye drops, you should take a "time out" and get on your knees and pray to God to help keep you get strong. My eyes are probably worse than yours and when I felt low like you do, I got on my knees and took the time to seriously pray and ask for strength. Strength to deal with my eyes each day and stregnth for everything else. and guess what? God gave it to me and he continues to give it to me. You might also want to throw in there to give you strength to leave your computer and do other things and only limit your use. He will give you the stregnth for that too. Choices in life .....that is all it is...choices. With out God, your choices are geared in a negative direction. It just takes minutes to pray.....please give it a try. Iwill pray for you too.

God bless,

Sue

[CarlM]

I would disregard the praying thing, things get better if you continue to treat them using actual things that work or that might work. The first time I had a crisis, it took two months. This last time, I took better care of myself and I got better (not perfect) within 2 weeks. I'm glad that antibiotics are working for you - but I guess it means I have no clue what you had. Yay for medicine.

[Skizzy91]

I have infection, a little bit dry eye (did tear test today, I am on the dry side but not too bad), and blepharitis. I am expected to make a full recovery within a few weeks.

[Skizzy91]

skizzy,

I think aside from all your eye drops, you should take a "time out" and get on your knees and pray to God to help keep you get strong. My eyes are probably worse than yours and when I felt low like you do, I got on my knees and took the time to seriously pray and ask for strength. Strength to deal with my eyes each day and stregnth for everything else. and guess what? God gave it to me and he continues to give it to me. You might also want to throw in there to give you strength to leave your computer and do other things and only limit your use. He will give you the stregnth for that too. Choices in life .....that is all it is...choices. With out God, your choices are geared in a negative direction. It just takes minutes to pray.....please give it a try. Iwill pray for you too.

God bless,

Sue

I am an atheist so thats a bit difficult for me

[Skizzy91]

Also do you think nasal rinse with saline water is a good idea? I have had a bit of chronic nasal congestion and I put salt water in my nose sometimes to clean it up...

[Skizzy91]

I just feel fatigue a lot now... my eyes are getting better but still far from a full recovery. The doctors are very optimistic tho and said I will make a full recovery within 2-3 months at the very most.

[Skizzy91]

Also how do I know if my eye drops are contaminated? They have not changed color but there are some stains on the bottle...

Would I have developed pink eye if my drops were contaminated?

[littlemermaid]

Not necessarily pink eye. Eye bugs are very 'interesting' and include more than bacteria. Have you bought new eyedrops? Docs say keep contaminated ones for testing. This has happened with some contact lens solutions and they needed to test the problem solutions because they can't ID the bug from swab or visual if it moves into corneal layers.

But you are getting better on your antibacterial, so all good.

[dominorose]

Littlemermaid thanks so much for your help again <3

[Skizzy91]

Not necessarily pink eye. Eye bugs are very 'interesting' and include more than bacteria. Have you bought new eyedrops? Docs say keep contaminated ones for testing. This has happened with some contact lens solutions and they needed to test the problem solutions because they can't ID the bug from swab or visual if it moves into corneal layers.

But you are getting better on your antibacterial, so all good.

I will buy new ones just in case and be more careful with them. I just hope there is no permanent damage... I am just concerned all the time why I have not made a full recovery yet, perhaps something in the eye drops irritates me or something? Well first if I get the infection out we will see from there... but im really not feeling good and the stiff face feeling is pretty bad too.

[L8rgator]

I just have a couple of random thoughts to add...

- If you want to use eye drops but are for some reason freaked out by chemicals or preservatives, then just get plain old sterile saline. Unisol comes in a bottle, or addibak has little vials. Or if it's just the preservative you are trying to avoid, theratears preservative free works best for me. You have to use them more frequently, but they are available and completely safe.
- At some point you said you are using drops "every day" and don't understand why things weren't getting better. If you have a dry eye problem besides the obvious infection, it may have just been due to your frequency of use. I have to use drops every 20-40 minutes, and that's ON TOP OF a scleral lens. Before the scleral lens, every 5 minutes wasn't enough for me. So if you were only using drops, say 2-x/day, that type of schedule not have been enough depending on the root of your problem.
- If you are having problems with anxiety, make sure your only doing decaf green tea.
- I also am a computer addict. I know it's an impossible thing to break (although I have made big strides finally, like 15 years after it started to destroy my physically). You need to do what it takes now to avoid problems later. That means an ergonomically arranged environment, moisture chamber goggles and a humidifier if you have chronic dry eye (if still there AFTER you treat the infection), and proper lighting (monitor is not too bright, backlighting appropriate, etc).
- Antidepressants do work. They are not cures, but they do make a difference. However you often have to go through many to find what helps, and there are side effects. Anxiety and depression actually physically change your brain. so if you've had this particularly stressful time, that has been burned into your brain. Considering the hopelessness you've discussed here, clearly your brain has gone through alot. Don't discount antidepressants because they sound unnatural or you haven't found the right now, or you are convinced you just need to find the right "healthy habits" to fix yourself. Keep in mind that sometimes people need them just to get their brain back on the healing path, so they can get out of anxiety and depression over time. Not saying you need them - just saying don't close the door on that option if you start feeling "stuck".
- Some of your symptoms sound strange to me. My dry eye is not organic - it's due to an injury. So I'm not familiar with the symptoms of various dry eye diseases. However your problems sound like they involve nerve pain, or maybe sinus issues. If the infection goes away and afterwards you have pins and needles or prickes, or other things going on around your eyes instead of just in, you might want to see if you are having ocular migraines, or some nerve issue (like maybe shingles-like illness???), or allergy problems. So a medical doctor instead of an eye specialist?

Good Luck!

[Skizzy91]

It is more like infection/inflammation/irritation caused by the dry eye after the day when I was playing computer games all day long. I did a tear test and doctor said my eye is a bit on the dry-side but that it was nothing serious.
I have been on antibiotics now since Monday and feel significantly better. Doctors are confident that it will gradually get better over the next few months and that I will make a full recovery.

[dominorose]

Skizzy how did you do to get better?

[Skizzy91]

Skizzy how did you do to get better?

Antibiotics against the infection.