Chronic Dry Eyes

[TheMoonIsBlue]

Does anyone else have this problem- I mean chronic dry eyes they feel dry even 5 minutes after applying eye drops. I have had this problem for years. Tried every eye drop known to man, including Restasis. When I wake up my eyes literally feel glued to together they feel so dry. Also if I close my eyes even for a few minutes, I have to apply eye drops. I have to have eye drops or it is actually painful.

I've had ANA and a few other tests for inflammation run and they were negative. I am wondering if specific test for Sjogrens would be warranted. However- I don't really have dry mouth which it seems goes hand in hand with dry eyes in Sjogrens.

But who knows, I imagine any illness can present itself atypically.

My eye doctor ran that test with the stip of paper under your bottom eye lid and I made NO tears.

I've tried pharma grade fish oil and Vit E and all that stuff.

Thanks.

 

[Snow Leopard]

I had this for several months - I knew it was gone only because I started sneezing again.
Anyway, my dryness was associated with some sort of blockage.

 

[TheMoonIsBlue]

Hmmm....How strange. Maybe you sneezed out the blockage?

I wonder if my dry eyes may be related to my sinus problems.

 

[justy]

Hi, i also get dry eyes -though not as bad as yours and recently started getting dry mouth too. I also have sinus problems and nosebleeds. My M.E doctor thought maybe it is a staph infection (chronic) and has prescribed fucidin ointment to go upt he nose and on the eyelids, she didnt even consider sjorgens for me, so im going to try the antibiotic cream for a while and see if it helps. Theres another great thread on staph vaccine to treat M.E which i came across yesterday -sorry cant link it -rubbish at that kind of thing.
Anyways its just another suggestion -especially likely if you ever get styes on your eyelid
All the best, Justy.

 

[Sasha]

From the day I got the flu-like illness that gave me ME, I became unable to continue to wear contact lenses because my eyes became dry. I once went to an optician several years later who put some thin paper strips under my bottom eyelids to see to what extent I would produce tears and it was not at all! He begged me never to consider contact lenses while this persisted.

Ten years later I went into remission and my eyes went back to normal and I could once more wear contact lenses. Now I'm relapsed and I suspect my eyes are drier (I haven't tried contact lenses again). I have no idea what to make of it!

 

[leaves]

can also be low estrogen; any hot flashes?

 

[Sherlock]

I know somebody who gets a very runny nose from allergy, but she also gets dry eyes at the same time.

FWIW, there are tiny plugs that a doc can put into the exit duct at the inside corner of each eye. That might help and it is a simple procedure, done with tweezers. There is also the eye gel , not drops, that you can have someone put into your eyes for max effect, though it makes vision blurry - as if you smeared vaseline on a car's windshield. Maybe that'd be good for overnight.

(The worst to be on guard for is drying of the cornea, which probably doesn't apply to you anyway. I'm just mentioning it.)

 

[Apollonia]

Have you tried having the little drains at the inner corners of your eyes blocked? An ophthalmologist can do this; the teensy-weensy plugs come in several sizes and are more or less permanent (you can't rub your eyes hard as this may dislodge them). I have them and it's helped a lot, though I still need to use eye drops, especially when using my computer.