Update on last doctor visit

[ggky59]

Finally, I will pay for a visit that actually clarified my issues with my eyes......I have seen to date, about 5 eye doctors, all telling me I have the dry eye disease and I have purchased over and over and over all the drops they wanted me to take. Today I was told, I don't have dry eye disease at all, I'm like What the A???????????? He said, what I might have is a thyroid condition and he wanted me to pursue this first. I have a doc. appt tomorrow to address this...if that turns out okay, he's gonna put me on a antibiotic for a month. These red eyes are curable, he says....am I dreaming or is this real??????? I've had tons of blood work done, all okay, I'm so confused but pleased at the same time.

[Rebecca Petris]

There's so much unnecessary confusion with the use of the term "dry eye disease" - with a lot of ignorance and incompetence (on the part of some practitioners) adding to the confusion of course. Really annoying.

Some doctors use "dry eye" to mean, specifically, aqueous deficient dry eye, that is, poor lacrimal gland secretion.
Some doctors use "dry eye", intentionally or otherwise, to encompass everything we're all gathered here for... which runs the gamut of ocular surface diseases, eyelid disorders and so on.
Some doctors use "dry eye" to describe what you've got no matter what it is so long as the symptoms SOUND like things on the normal list of dry eye symptoms.

When one doctor tells you that you do, or do not, have "dry eye disease", who the !@#$ knows what they really mean? That you have poor lacrimal output? That you have a lousy tear film for unknown reasons? That you have a lousy tear film because of inflamed clogged meibomian glands and a poor blink? What about somebody with excessive tear drainage? And so on. This is why one of the points I am always trying to drive home with people is, make your doctor be specific. If you went to a cardiologist you would not be amused to walk away with a diagnosis of "heart trouble". Why should this be different? "Dry eye" is NOT a diagnosis, positive or negative.

[/rant]

ggky59, that's so great that your new doctor is giving you fresh information and fresh hope.

[DryInUpstateNY]

"dry eye" is so vague. I had two opthalmologists say to me, "Why bother w/ the tests? It's all about how you feel. You exhibit the symptoms of dry eye so you must use drops. period."

that's so lame. I felt gross but I let it slide because I was feeling better after the Restasis and drastic diet changes. Now it's back and I'm pissed off all over again, at both them, and mostly myself for not being proactive in the stage where I was feeling really good. I am usually prepared for everything but I got caught up in feeling normal.

my goal is to get a hormone panel done, get appt. w/ a Dry Eye expert. latkany is 3 hours away so I should try him.

[ggky59]

(sigh)....Thanks for responding Rebecca.....I left that office, got in my car and started to cry. I finally finally had someone say to me, lets try another option here. He was a MD that specialized in Dry eye disease. He squeezed my lower eye lids and saw this excretion run and said that it had an oily texture to it, that meant my ducks had inflammation in it, but not associated with dry eye. He also said that most people that experience this disease have symptoms that gradually get worse through out the day. My issues are morning severe redness and burning and itching by mid after noon. I do have allergies, but its seasonal and this summer has been worse with pollen and such....needless to say, he suggested and I agreed to approach the thyroid issue first. I had my thyroids removed many years ago, but was never given medication as a supplement, something that should have been issued, he says???? However, if the blood work comes back okay, he wants to put me on an antibiotic and see if that could help me. Either way, I'm so pleased with someone finally given me something that may help me. I'm just overwhelmed at this point with hope...wish me luck and again that you for your support and this site.

[ggky59]

I so agree and its so easy to dismiss other areas of concern and just throw out the label of dry eye and then push all these drops on you. I tell ya, I have used em all and like you it pains me to know end, not having a good result from all this expense. I'm hopeful that at least I can address this redness and find an end to it. That is my biggest battle at this point. I'm up for anything that can help me and hopefully tomorrow with these test I can began a journey to recovery without yet another eye drop to use. Thanks NY for responding and I wish us both good luck.