Young Dry Eye Sufferers in Boston

[sazy123]

By mum who works as nurse usually tells me that she sees people and children dying or struggling for life every week because of unfair illnesses. So she tells me that in comparison I've got almost nothing and I shouldn't complain.
That sucks, not to be understood even by your parents, but well, I guess she is right in a way...

Hi i am 22, dry eye interfers with everything.
I appreciate there are people with worse problems than me, but i dont know anyone one my age who has a serious problem or quite a deliberating problem like severe dry eye. So im still gonna think im in a bad situation for my age. A couple of people i know one has lupus and one 'had' cancer, they were not even suffering as much as me. And they still had a good quality of life. The guy who has lupus (autoimune disease, by the way eyes are normal) apart from one medication that he shouldnt be on and cant come off. He doesnt have any constant symptoms. I not saying dry eye is worse than these problems because your not gonna die from dry eye but these two peoples quality of life didnt seem to be that much effected compared with mine. Obviously it depends on severenity of the disease. My granddad had half his lung removed recently, i was in a restuarant with them the other day he said it doesnt bother him, he ws chatting for ages, but my eyes were burning and i couldnt concentrate on what he was saying let alone an intellegant reply, and i was blinking about a million times a second.

[cityhunter62]

Hey Sazy123,

Of course, I totally agree with you, it is really a extremelly bothering condition, but what I just meant is, it could be worse.
Maybe I'm saying this because my dry eye syndrom is not as harsh as yours, but trust me, it is annoying and painfull enough to distract me from my work all day long ! (what am I doing on this website by the way? I should be working ! If my manager knew this ! See?)
But still, I'm just trying to find something positive, something to go on, something that would help me not to be depressed to much !!!
And it's true that there are much worse disease and illness(es?).
Problem is, ours cannot be forgotten... I mean, there is nothing; no treatment, no medication, nothing we could do to forget the desease just one day. And I'm soooooooooooo fed up with this ! But I still have some treatments to try, so wait and see...
By the way, I'll come to your country in october to start a Master course in York... I hope changing my way of life will bring me some relief, as I'm a bit scared, going abroad with no support at all (friends and familly) with this f... disease... I'm afraid it's gonna be f... hard

[sazy123]

City hunter: my dry eyes are not as harsh as some. i dont know how bad yours are so i cant comment. I know i wish there was an eye drop i could use everyday that would make my eyes feel normal, im not asking for a cure, just some management might be nice, im not talking about the 30 second relief you get from drops. I hope you enjoy york. If my eyes stay like this i probaly have to cancel uni this year (again) coz i know what happened last time. All i would say is Uk sucks for dry eye coz its hard to find a decent doctor..

[robinzb]

Im 21, just graduated from Cardiff Uni in UK. Last 3 years in Uni, life was horrible due to dry eye. I barely had social life as I preferred staying in my dorm so that I could feel a bit better about my eyes. It was also hard to concentrate in ur lectures and tutorials. I couldn't read as much as required. Luckily I haven’t failed any modules so far.

I’ve been suffering from dry eye since I was abt 13.(still don't know the exact cause, MGD, eyelid closure, whatever) I used to be an ambitious n aggressive person. Ppl usually called me jack ass…but now I even feel shy to talk to strangers as the constant pain makes me hard to concentrate in a conversation esp with strangers when you don't know what they would usually say.

I know ppl always mention patients with fatal disease to convince us that our situation is not as bad as we think. But I don't give a **** abt this. If I need live my life in this way forever, I d rather kill myself right now coz I don't see any value of my life. I feel like I live like a ghost, walking alone, doing nothing. I tried my best to be positive, I used read some biography about famous ppl who conquered their disease to find strength to fight against dry eye, like Armstrong against cancer, Helen Keller against blind and deaf. But all I learnt is that those ppl either got cured in a short time (Armstrong) or mainly suffered from mental torture rather than constant physical pain(Helen keller, she is actually very healthy except her disability). I haven’t found any person suffering from constant pain who would be able to accomplish any major achievement.