Daily Check-In

[neil0502]

I have had a couple of relatively slow days at work, primarily near the PC with the humidifier under my chair. Since it's been slow, I brought my Hygrometer (measures humidity level) to the office since I definitely see a connection between my eye comfort level and the humidity level. This morning, my office humidity level was about 30% when I arrived. It was also about 30% in my car. In both places, my eyes were feeling dry and irritated when the levels were this low.

I wholeheartedly recommend that everybody buy one of these simple gadgets. I paid about seven bucks for mine at a K-Mart/Target/something like that. There's ZERO downside in us each understanding what makes us better and what makes us worse ... particularly if we can accentuate one and de-emphasize the other (fixing the problems).

At home and in the office after the humidifier was turned on, the humidity level ranged from 40%-50%. What a difference 10-20% humidity makes on my eyes! Also, I noticed that when I move the hygrometer only about 7 feet away from the humidifier source, the humidity level drops to the low 30% range. Also, if my office door is open allowing a draft to enter, then the level in my office (including right by my chair) drops about 5-8%.

My number seems to be about 48-50%. NOWHERE in Europe did I get a reading BELOW 48% and more humidity was definitely better. Since returning to SoCal, however--strangely (home with ocean view)--I've seen all kinds of below-40% readings ... down to something like 18% during the infamous Santa Ana winds. Not being a total idiot (darned close!), I don't stare, unblinkingly, at those numbers and suffer. I know when to light up the humidifier and bow before it.

Also, I was thinking ... since I do 15 minutes of warm compresses twice a day, can I multi-task and incorporate yoga into this routine . I'm not a yoga expert and would have to learn more about it, but I will say that the 30 minutes a day I spend doing compresses certainly leaves time for reflection and meditation. Just a thought.

The reflection and meditation may well be enough. It's the "something is better than nothing" concept at work here. Closed eyes, and trying to focus on your breath (or similar meditative concept) is an unqualified good thing!

I try to write shorter posts, but I don't think it's in my genetic make-up to do so

I, for one, wouldn't want to be robbed of any of your content

[Julie1]

Snowy weather

Hi everyone!

My eyes are feeling okay today in the house. I ventured out in the snowy, cold weather without any protective eyewear, and I sure paid for that. It's our first snow of the year here in Nebraska, and my first snow with dry eyes. I just did not know how my eyes were going to respond. I think I need to invest in some good protective eyewear so that my eyes are happy while I am walking from my car across a parking lot in snowy, windy weather.

I'm back home now, and my eyes have settled down. It's amazing how you can take things for granted. I never would have thought to wear something over my eyes before I had dry eyes.

Have a Happy New Year!!

-Julie

[Ben]

back at work!!

Happy New Year all.

Festive period over and i must say i did not enjoy as much comfort whilst away from work as i usually do. Something i've never really noticed as much is that TV is becoming a major contributing factor to the 'dreaded red' as i call it. 10 mins of watching and bang there it is again, eyes are comfortable enough but the lids, wow, and you thought Rudolphs nose was red!!!

Back at work now and in front of the curse of the modern working world the PC. Ahhh! Even worse than the TV.

Seems to be that any artificial light source just kills me. At the eye doc's at the end of the month.

Ya gotta keep smiling , no point in giving in...

cheers
ben

[neil0502]

Hey, Ben...

Forgive me if I state the obvious here. I don't mean to....

I've seen a couple of papers and articles (and lots of anecdotal info on this and other sites) that strongly indicate that we tend to blink dramatically less often when reading, watching TV, using the computer, or watching a movie--things called "staring activities."

I'm not aware of any inherent issue with modern PC monitors or televisions that would have THEM be the DIRECT (or primary) cause of increased dry eye problems, so ... this makes sense.

Do you make a conscious effort to blink more during these activities? Do you take a break every five minutes or so and simply close your eyes for five seconds? Do you take a break every 20 minutes or so and walk away from the PC (or TV) for a minute or so?? Do you pay particular attention to using your drops during these activities??

Do you have, or do you need, refractive correction (reading glasses) for these distances?

Have you tried a humidifier in these immediate environments?

All the best,
Neil

[Ben]

Hi Neil, cheers for advice, all is welcome.

You have just mentioned all the activities that casue me problems barring one, which is night driviing. All casue my eyes lids to go red, heavy and irritable.

I must admit i don't do all you say as much as i should, but i blink loads and do look out of the window next to my desk as much as i can to focus on other things. Drops are a bit of a cloudy area for me, as i am unsure if they help, sounds odd i know, certainly no lasting effect, haver tried both putting them in frequently and also none at all, seem to get same results. All i know for definate is that within 10 mins of starting these activities my lids get red and swollen. Last visit to opticians resulted in a minor requirement for reading glasses. But even when wearing them i get the same results, so there is another underlying problem i fear. Read somewhere that some people have a problem in dealing with light sources in that eyes cannot adjust quick enough or something, but i'm just guessing that that could be a reason. More recently eye lashes have noticed have a sort of itch sensation at times and am always pulling at them and loads come out, so have started washing with tea tree stuff in case any of the horrid sounding demodex is there, just as a maintenance measure until my appointment.

I think the eye doc is gonna get both barrells when i go end of Jan.

cheers
ben

[kitty]

Now have Triplets!

Well now, this has been a very interesting day indeed. I finally went back to see my doc and had one of my upper plugs irrigated out. That was, how should I say, hmmmmmmm, let's stick with interesting for now until I come up with a better term! The good news is my right eye no longer sloshes down my face at the most inopportune of times. The bad news is the right eye feels like the left minus the slosh (dry, itchy and burning). And I hear that cold, dry weather is coming to town. Anyone need to offload a ticket to Hawaii? One way would be fine. And can you board my cats and dog while I am away? I will arrange to have my four-legged friends flown to me after I find a place to live. Have a great weekend.

[Adar]

Very grateful

Today was my first day back at school after the winter break, and after finding this place. I had been a bit wary of it, because I've been going through a bad patch with the eyes lately.

Today was a dramatic change for me. I have a pair of what my kids call "Old Lady Sunglasses" that fit over my prescription glasses and have a particularly good fit to my face. I wear them driving and today decided to wear 'em all day because the thought of taking them off was such a drag.

The difference was DRAMATIC. I felt better and better as the day went on. When I stopped to think about it, I realized that humidity here in LA was very, very low today but I had a nice little foggy zone inside those glasses. So now I'm going to start paying closer attention to humidity readings and when it is dry, take action before I get miserable.

The discussions here have made me think more analytically and strategically about dealing with DES, rather than simply feeling like a victim of it. Thank you all so, so much.

[YGB]

It's really quiet on the BB today. Did everybody find a cure and just not tell me ?

I tried using cold water on the Panoptyx this am, but they still fogged up after a few minutes in the car. Inside the case it even says that the inside of the lenses are coated with an anti-fog film, but it doesn't seem to help .

Looking at my tear film in the mirror, it still does not look too impressive. I see a thin watery line on my lower lids. Of course this is better than the bone dry eyes I had a few months ago, but I'm hoping for more normalcy. Symptom wise, I am doing better, but I am still bothered by my dry eyes many times during the day. However, the dry eye pain/irritation is not as intense and constant as it was several months ago.

For the last 10-14 days I have been getting by using Nature's Tears about every hour or so and not using eye drops. I had started about 6 weeks ago with using TheraTears drops every 2 hours and Nature's Tears if I needed relief in between TheraTears applications. I then started to wean off of TheraTears and moved more to Nature's Tears and now I am exclusively on Nature's Tears http://www.naturestears.com/. I am also using Restasis 2x/day.

I will say that the first month of this experiment, I used about 1 can of Nature's Tears per day since I was trying not to use drops more than once every 2 hours. However, in the last 10 days, I have only used 2 cans. It's not like my eyes are super wet and moist, but they do have a thin layer of moisture. The good thing is that when I spray them now, they feel more normal for a while. Just a few weeks ago, I would spray my eyes with Nature's Tears just so that my eyes would be less painful.

I still have a ways to go since much of my daily activity is limited by DES. I don't read (unless I have to at work) or watch TV (except for Boston Legal with Nature's Tears in hand) since reading and TV seems to really dry out/irritate my eyes. It is getting better, but slowwwwwwwwly. That's all for now. Good night and good luck!

[Silverlady]

Nature's tears

Are you just spraying this stuff directly into your eyes? I thought it was just meant to be sprayed in the air around your face?

Billye

[YGB]

The directions for use on the Nature's Tears is as follows ...

"Hold dispenser 10 to 15 inches from face. While keeping eyes open, press actuator and mist across both eyes in a single sweep. This application may take one to two seconds."

It's a little tricky keeping your eyes open when something is coming towards them. I really need to concentrate on my eyes staying open when I use this (although it is getting easier with practice). Of course, your eyes get wet as does part of your face around your eyes. However, it's "just a mist" so it's not too bad. The thing that made me have interest in the product is that by being a mist, it doesn't flood the tear film like regular eye drops and thereby possibly confuse the reflex of the eye making more tears. Also, it's just water that is "tissue culture grade".

When eyes are severely dry, I doubt that Nature's Tears alone will be the answer. However, I think they are an excellent supplement to use with eye drops so that a person isn't constantly putting drops in their eyes (i.e. use drops every so often and Nature's Tears in between).

[Rebecca Petris]

It's 23 degrees, the heat's blasting and I am living in my Sirroccos (or whatever the durned things are called now). 10:30 am and the sclerals are feeling like they would at 8pm on a normal day. Bleeech. I shouldn't complain though, I know in many places the weather is like this all winter long.

[kitty]

I have to agree with Rebecca. While it is most beautiful, this cold dry air is doing a number on my eyes. All too soon it will be back to dreary rain and semi-comfort again!

[shells]

I've been battling a nasty cold this week and I'm home from work sick today, but my eyes are feeling good. The ONLY time I seem to reflex tear is when I yawn, cough, or sneeze. Well, I'm doing alot of those three things right now and my eyes have actually felt moist at times this week.

[IanJ]

The weekend begins..........eyes don't feel too bad if I get moving and one with something....the worst is to sit down....all you end up doing is thinking about it!

So, this weekend we started ripping the kitchen out....the new one is sitting waiting to go in. The next few weeks are gonna be busy!

Ian.

[calli66]

Eyes Set-Back

Optometrist gave me Oasys contact lens trial samples on Wed. Tried them Thursday--they were great. Friday came, and my eyeballs knew what "hit them." Something Different! Oh No! Must freak out and produce pain, grit, goop, redness In Response. Geez---Sorry!!!
C66