I can't believe the sharpness I am seeing now with both eyes, but with my OLD glasses! The new Acrysof lens is geared for distance, and these old glasses were made way back there when my eyes were in a very strong cycle. Yesterday and today both, the operated eye seems to be adjusting in to these glasses pretty close. I will have a small difference in new ones, but this is really amazing to me. Even my reading lens looks better too! Indoors, it is a little strong, and there may be the change, and the rt. lens a tad too weak, but they seem to be closer together than when I put the old ones on after the surgery. I go in the a.m., I "think", to be fitted with new specks.

Well, that's cool! Maybe they are reverting to the eyes you had when you were 30!!!
That'd be awesome!
Let us know how you make out at the doctor's tomorrow.

Howdy, Faith! That may be alright! If I can get the eyes back to 30, maybe I can get ... Hee! Nope, might be R-rated!:D Any-who, I'm tickled pink about this. As I've said before, I just hope the acuity stays after the steroids are gone. I'm afraid dry eye will blur it again, but maybe not. I was reading signs and license numbers sharp as ever!

Sure been quiet on here today. The other 3 have been gone all day. Just hope their eyes didn't turn to dust and they blew away! Probably not.

I'll report in to headquarters about the doc appt.;)

See ya' clearer, later, Faith-

I Love Happy News! You should be able to see the big grin :D on my face all the way over there in West Texas (from Boston) right now!
Guess the other ladies are busy today...hope it's that and they aren't having those pesky eye problems!
Good luck tomorrow and no hot-rodding over to the docs!
Faith

I can see that grin, Faith! It's coming in through the dusty Texas sky!:D I didn't know you lived in Boston. That's one great place, and I wish I could visit there one day. Guess you can send me some of those great baked beans some time!;)

Lord, gal, you've seen me drive that Honda Hybrid V-6!:D Well, I'll keep the weight off the pedal going to the doc's, promise!;)
Thanks for the good luck wish, and we'll see ya' later.
t.

Hi everyone :wave: !

Well, I think I might have some good news too. I just got back from an appt. at my lasik place, and at first I was really upset because I didn't even get to see my surgeon like I had specifically requested. And I felt like half the stuff the doc I did see said to me contradicted what the surgeon said to me, etc, etc...I suppose we have established that these lasik docs are all CRAZY, so I should not have been surprised. Anyway, I saved all my venting for over on the lasik eye surgery board, so I will spare you guys from all the messy details....besides, Missy helped me see the bright side of things, and I guess I do have some good news to report.

He said that my oil glands looked good, so I guess that the lid scrubs and the warm compresses have helped me. Also, I did not have any dry spots on my cornea. He did a tear breakup test and I was greater than 10 seconds in each eye! Apparently 10 seconds is normal, and I have never been above it, so that is also good news. Faith - maybe it is that flax seed kicking in!!!! I read your post from the other night, and it looks like I'm using the same brand as you from Whole Foods!!

Right now my problem just looks like tear production. I had schirmer's scores of 5mm in each eye. Not awful, but not good either. I think 10mm is normal. So, hopefully the Restasis (been on it about 30 days) will kick in for me soon, or maybe my eyes will just naturally start producing more tears. Afterall, they are supposed to do that as they continue to heal! Unfortunately I seem to need all this other stuff to help them along! They also put temporary plugs in my tear ducts. I've never had them before, so maybe they will help me stay more comfortable. They are supposed to dissolve within 10-14 days and then I can get the permanent ones if they seemed to help me. We will see. I have an appt. with another doc next week so hopefully she will also say good things about my blepharitis and my tear quality. I know that stuff can fluctuate, so I will keep my fingers crossed that it will continue to head in a positive direction!

Tony - glad to hear that your vision was really clear today!!! Good luck at the docs tomorrow!

Michelle :)

Proud for your good news, Michelle, & thanks. Sorry for this brief reply, but my eyes are tiring kinda fast.

Hugs,

t.

Michelle,
Well that's good news for you too! Looks like your eyes are progressing nicely with the oil glands looking good and NO dry spots. That's great news. Don't go getting discouraged by the other things. The tear quality maybe just has some more healing to do in there and will come around in time.
I do like the flavor of that flax oil, so will probably stay with that brand. But reading up on the flax oil, I've read somewhere that flax oil taken with fish oil is supposed to be better for dr eyes. I was taking the fish oil first, so didn't think about it. But whatever I read said this works for some people with dry eye, but not all. But think it's well worth takng even if it doesn't help the dry eyes, because it helps so much with bodily functions in general. My eye doc said vitamin A helps with inflammation that causes dry eye too, so I take that maybe 3 times a week, since too much vit. A can be toxic (so I've read). Can't take too many chances at my age!
Hey Tony, skip those Boston baked beans...the lobster is way better!!! Although some of us call them sea bugs...
Ave a great night all!
Faith

Hi gang! I'm back!

Well it seems like I have a lot to catch up on here! And I've a lot to catch you all up on as well! Tony, I am so happy for you that you are seeing clearly! Even if it is with your old glasses! That's great! WOOO HOOO!!!!!

Michelle, I hope the doctor is right and that it is just your tear quantity, not quality that is the problem. That is a much easier thing to fix. Have you gotten plugs or given it any thought?

I was at the eye doctor today. My eyes are feeling just awful. I have been doing hot compresses at night, and in the morning I wake up with loads of greenish yellow stuff in my eyelids. He said I don't have pink eye but since I have been doing the hot compresses, there may be some remnants of a past infection in my glands that is coming out with the heat. So I need to keep using the heat and use anti-biotic drops for a few days to make sure it doesn't cause a new infection. He said that my allergies are also raging. My eyelids are VERY red on the inside. What else is new?

Thanks for all the well wishes for my mom. It turns out that her breathing problems are really caused by a previously undetected case of Pneumonia. She is in the hospital. Over the weekend she really started to feel sick and she had chills and stuff. So yesterday morning she called her pulmonary doctor and he had her come over immediately. He listened to her lungs and took a chest x-ray in the office, and he said that she has Pneumonia. She is diabetic, and has had previous heart surgery so they didn't want to take any chances. He sent her over to the emergency room and had them admit her for IV anti-biotics. They are running tests to make sure that she does not have any other underlying lung problems. Our family doctor said that this should not affect the surgeon's decision about weather or not to do the weight loss surgery. She got sick. It happens. They just want to make sure she is good and healthy before they do the surgery.

Oh, btw... My doctor is anxious for me to try some goggles. He gave me the name of an optician who he thinks will be able to fit me with them. So I am going to do some more research and decide which ones I want to get, and see if I need to order them from a company or if I have to get them at a store. He said that if this helps me, he has plenty of other patients who would love to try them out!

Good Morning Everyone!

I had an OK day yesterday, I did check in last night but I was so tired that I went to bed early and saved my posting for today.

Elyse, I'm really sorry to hear about your mom being sick. I will be sending some prayers her way and yours this morning. I don't think that her having Pneumonia should affect the weight loss surgery. I hope not! I'm glad that your doctor thinks the goggles are a good idea. There seem to be a lot of different kinds out there so maybe you can find some that you like. Please keep us posted on how it goes.

Tony, Wow! It sounds like you almost got blown away by that dust storm the other day. I'm glad that you had a great eye day yesterday. I'm sure that you will have many more of them to come! :)

Faith, I think that it would be a great idea for you to take some fish oil with your flaxseed oil. I bought some Vitamin E yesterday that has a little bit of fish oil in it. I figure that a little is better than none - right? - and too much of it hurts my stomach.

Michelle, I'm really glad that you are feeling better!! It really sounds like you are on the track to recovery! I think that the plugs will really help you with the tear quanity thing.

Well, I'm off to start my school day. My right eye is feeling a little sore and irritated this morning. I hope it goes away!!

Bye for now!

Good morning everyone!

Faith - Funny that you mentioned fish oil. I actually just started taking the soft gels of fish oil last week. I really do think that the flax seed oil must have helped my tear quality out alot. All I know is that a few months ago, my tear breakup was 3 seconds in each eye, and now it is over 10 seconds, so it has improved alot. Although I think that tear quality can fluctuate, so maybe I was just having a good day yesterday??

The other thing that I have been taking for about a month now are HydroEye supplements. They have all kinds of vitamins and oils in them that are supposed to support a healthy tear film. I wonder if that helped me as well? I have another appt. next week with my optomologist and we will see what she says. I don't really trust these lasik docs anymore, so for all I know he just told me all that stuff to get me out of his hair! Funny that my only problem was tear producation, which is something that he couldn't sugarcoat for me!! I could see the strips myself when he took them out of my eyes, so I knew that my tear production was low!

Elyse - Sorry you are still having so many problems with your eyes. Your doctor sounds so knowledgable...about how he thinks the warm compresses were clearing out an old infection and stuff. That makes alot of sense. I'm glad that he seems to think the goggles are a good idea and that he hooked you up with another doc to help you out with them! Sorry that your mom is in the hospital. I'm glad that they found the reason for her breathing troubles though so that they can properly treat her. I'll keep you both in my prayers!

Oh...and I just got the temporary plugs for the first time yesterday. Yesterday was the first time that my lasik place even did a schirmer's test, so maybe that is why they are just bringing up plugs now. I feel like things could have been alot easier on me if they just did the plugs and the restasis when I first started having problems! Grrr.... :mad: Anyway, I guess I'll get the permanent ones put in a few weeks. They want me to pay to have it done there though!!! Like I haven't already payed them enough for this stupid surgery that I'm not even happy with!

Hi Tony - I hope that you don't have any more dust storms today! And I hope that you are still seeing crystal clear!

Missy - I hope that your right eye starts feeling better soon! My eyes feel OK today. I haven't been getting much sleep lately, and I think it is an issue. So far I haven't had any major breakthrough with the temp plugs. No tears streaming down my face or anything :) ! I plan to get the permanent ones regardless of how these temp ones work out though. I think that your doc was probably right when he said that the temp ones don't work as well since they start breaking down right away. I think I'll ask my opthomologist next week what it would cost me to do it there with my insurance, then I see my surgeon the week after that, and I will make a plea for him to just do it for free and see what he says. After all, my appt with him is on a Friday, and Friday is surgery day, so I have alot of leverage there. He certainly doesn't want me storming out of his office in tears with his long line of surgery patients watching!!! I swear I've already spent about 1/2 as much post-op as I did on this surgery in the first place!

Well, I hope that everyone has a great day! (((HUGS)))!!!

Michelle :)

Michelle, that is really suck-o that you have to pay for all of this stuff. I hope they will give you the plugs for free. They certainly owe it to you after all the trouble you have had.

Missy, how is the right eye feeling now?

My eyes were still full of goop this morning, but I guess it will take a few more days of hot compresses and anti-biotic drops. They are really itchy and burning though. But it makes sense, because he said that it looks like my allergies are absolutely raging! :rolleyes:

My mom actually came home from the hospital today. They think the Pneumonia was viral. She has no more fever and she is breathing a lot better now. They gave her IV steroids to open up her lungs, and a few doses of IV anti-biotics just in case. Since her lungs are sounding much better to all 4 doctors (house doctor, cardiologist, pulmonologist, and family doctor), they all agreed that she can go home. They gave her oral steroids for a few days and she has to see our family doctor on friday. They told her that if she develops a fever again or starts to have more trouble breathing, to go back to call our family doctor or go back to the hospital. They also said that this should not affect her weight loss surgery at all. It just might take a few extra weeks, because they want to make sure she is 100% recovered from this first. She has to see the Pulmonary doctor in 3 weeks unless there is another problem. I am very relieved that she was able to come home so quickly.

Elyse, I'm really glad that your mom got to come home today. I hope that she gets to feeling better really quickly.

My right eye felt bad for a while this morning and then it got to feeling a good bit better and now it feels a little crummy again. I guess that it is tired. Hopefully it will feel better tomorrow. I'm keeping it well lubricated b/c I think that a dry spot may be causing my discomfort.

Hi Elyse,
Glad your mom has gotten treated for the pneumonia and has been released so she can be comfortable in her own home. Hope she's feeling better with each day.
And hope your eyes start feeling better too.
You too, MIssy. I hate it when I have days like that. But usually wake up fine the next day. Hard to say what cause those days...just glad when they don't come often.
Faith

That happens to me sometimes too.

I am looking forward to trying out some goggles. I think I am going to research them some more and see which ones I would like to get and then if I have to be fitted for them, call the optician that my doctor recommended.

Elyse, Have you been able to find any goggles that work for you yet?

Just a short and final note-- I was allowed to stop the steroid eye drops and will see the Dr. again next week.

Have a Merry Christmas!

Tony

Huh? Where are you going Tony?

Missy, I have not really looked into the goggles any more. I've been really tired from the sinus infection, and not really on the computer very much. I would really like to actually be able to see a pair in person before I actually buy them. I could probably call one of the companies and purchase it over the phone, but it is a lot of money to spend on something sight unseen. Especially something that has to be so personally fitted. I wonder if I go to the optician that my doctor recommended, if he has any in stock or anything similar that he could show me. I want to be able to see and touch them and try them on. I wouldn't just buy a pair of glasses without trying them on, so I don't really feel comfortable buying goggles without trying them on.

I wonder if there is anyone else out there who has had any luck with a particular brand or store that might be able to give some advice. My doctor really doesn't know much about it. I guess the optician is probably my best bet. You know, I just remembered that my friend's father does something that has to do with supplying eyeglasses, and he might know some people too.

Hi everyone,

I think a whole bunch of one of Tony's threads got deleted? I was trying to re-read it to respond, and I couldn't find it. And yes, I am wondering too..where is Tony going???

Elyse - I think you had asked me about NYC. I was up there for a funeral actually. My bf's grandmother passed away. So, it wasn't really a pleasure visit although we did walk around and see some of the Christmas stuff. It was pretty there, especially after the snow. Next time I'm up there though (we have some friends there), it would be nice if we could get together. About the googles...I would imagine that if this optician guy fits people for them, then he might have some sample pairs around to try on. I certainly wouldn't want to spend that much money without trying them on either, and I dont' think many people would. I hope that your sinuses are feeling alot better. Sounds like everyone has come down with something lately.

My eyes aren't feeling so hot right now, but overall I guess they have been a bit better lately. The last 2 or 3 days have been a little rough, but not too awful. However, right now they are kinda burning and my vision is a little blurry. That hasn't happened in a while, so I don't know what is up. I think being in the grocery store after work for too long irritated them a bit. The air in some stores is not good on my dry eyes!

However, I did have a dr. appt. this morning, and things went pretty well there. She kinda rushed through things and was not as thorough as before, but maybe that is because things looked better to her. She said that my tear film looked alot better and that my corneas looked moist! She also said that my blepharitis looked good, so I think I will stick to my warm compress and lid scrub routine..it must be working. I'm going to go back in 2 weeks and have her put punctul plugs in. They are temporary but are supposed to last up to 3 months. By then, it will be March, and things will be warming up and hopefully my eyes will have healed alot too, and maybe I won't even need them anymore. Oh, and they called for me, and my insurance will cover them, so I will only have to pay my $20 copay. I really hope that my eyes start producing more tears on their own soon though. I will be greatful if the plugs help me, but I really don't like the idea of being dependent on them. I just want to be normal again and back to my old self . The doctors seem to think that I have made steps in the direction over the last month, so I hope that is the case. I just get worried because it is so hard to see progress when things are fluctuating all over the place!

However, I did want to mention something. At my appt. last week, they said that my tear film looked really good too, and that tear production was my only problem. And to be honest, with the exception of how they feel right now, I think I have noticed that it is better. My vision is usually clear, I dont' have as many problems in front of my computer, etc. So, if it really is better I just wanted to mention a few things that I've been doing for the past month or 6 weeks or so that might have helped. First ofcourse being that maybe my stubborn eyes have finally decided to heal a little, which isn't really any help to any of you..but what might be.....I think we are all doing this already, but I think the liquid flax seed oil that Faith recommended has helped me. Also, I'm taking those HydroEye supplements that I mentioned before. I can't say for sure if they have helped, but I think something that I've been doing has helped, so this could be it. It is $30 for a months supply and I think the recommend that you use it for atleast 2-3 months to see if it makes a difference, so it might be something you guys want to look into if you think it would help. I only ordered 2 months the first time, but I plan to order some more and take if for the duration of all this. I wonder how if my eyes finally do get better, I will ever wean myself off the endless number of drops, gels, pills, etc. that I am now using!

Well, I think I'm gonna try to get to bed early again tonight. My eyes are asking me for a break right now. I hope that you all are feeling better and that your eyes are better too! Hugs to all of you!

Michelle :)

Sorry about your boyfriend's grandmother Michelle. :(

Unfortunately we will never be able to get together because we are not allowed to exchange phone numbers or addresses or e-mail addresses here. :(

Tony, don't leave! We'd miss you too much! Nobody wants you to leave!

I wouldn't worry about being dependent on the plugs Michelle. If you are, you are. It's not terrible, if they help you. It's good that your insurance will pay for it. Mine did not have a problem with it either. My tear ducts are permanently closed. My doctor cauterized them shut. At the time, we didn't have the option of using the "Smartplugs" (the ones that go all the way into your tear duct and dissolve after a few months.) They weren't out yet. (And he says that with my luck, he'd put them in and they'd go ALL THE WAY IN like they should, and mold to my ducts and then I'd have an allergic reaction, and he wouldn't be able to get them out!) I only had the regular silicone plugs. They helped, but the problem was that my tear ducts dilated around them. My ducts would get a little larger because of the foreign object in them, and the plugs would fall out or move and irritate me. (The final straw was when one moved into such a position that it scratched my cornea. He IMMEDIATELY removed the other three!) My tear ducts just kept on dilating with each larger sized plug. That would create a gap and my tears would seep out through my tear ducts anyway. Eventually we exhausted all of the available sizes. I went through two or three different sizes. He wanted to give me the next size up, but it was too big and it wouldn't fit. Cauterization was the only available option. Or my eyes would dry out so much that I'd end up with permanent scarring and vision loss. Since the cauterization of all 4 tear ducts (most people only get the two lowers ones done, but I needed all 4) I have much more tears. They may not be the right quality, but the quantity is better. There are still a lot of times when I don't have enough tears, but the goal was to make it so that I wouldn't have any more bad corneal abrasions. If you can believe it, I was a hundred thousand times worse before I had the punctal occlusion done. I have never regretted it for a second. The only thing is that they don't recommend using Restasis if you have plugs or have been cauterized.

Don't be afraid to get plugs. They will help.

Tony..we know you are out there! What is all this crazy talk about final posts and stuff? Where are we supposed to get our Eye Witless News from if you don't talk to us anymore!!!???

Elyse - Thanks for the condolenses for my bf's grandma. I appreciate it. Also, thanks for sharing your experience with the plugs/cauterization. I think my worry over them is just mostly my mental state. I'm still having a hard time dealing with the fact that I did this to myself!!! When my eyes weren't plugged, and I had good days, I knew that they were capable of being normal, or atleast close to normal, and it gave me some peace in all of this. Now that they are plugged though, I wonder if they are only good because they are plugged, if they actually are normal, etc. Obviously, I want to be comfortable, so I do WANT the plugs, I'm just kinda disappointed it had come to this. I remember months ago thinking that plugs and Restasis were only for those who were REALLY bad off...but now I'm trying them both, and the more options I exhaust, the more worried I get when I still have bad days. Sorry to be such a baby, Elyse...you've been down roads alot worse than me, and you handle it all with alot of grace. Me on the other hand....I'm going crazy :dizzy: . I just want to be normal again like I was before I made the huge mistake of letting someone cut and laser my eye. Maybe by March...when these new plugs wear off :rolleyes: .

Anyway, I'm know that is what we all want..just to have normal eyes again and not have to deal with all this crap! Afterall, we certainly deserve it!!! Anyway, my eyes are pretty crappy today, which is probably why I'm feeling low.

Hi Faith and Missy - I hope that you guys are both doing well today!

Michelle :)

Tony - We love you! Don't leave us!

Elyse, sometimes a motorcycle shop will have googles that you can try on. Then you could order them online or somewhere with prescription lenses. I think that they would be really helpful for you, but maybe kinda expensive.

Please read and follow the posting rules - no emails.

Please read the posting rules which explain that offering or asking off board contact is not permitted. The boards are to be used for on board sharing, only. The email and private message features are turned off so that use of the message boards remain anonymous. The only contact you may make with members is to post on the board.

I'm here, but only reading posts, mainly. I'm around.

Truthfully, I've not felt well with the *BLEEP!* I've been suffering with, but am feeling better now.

I'll be back. Hang tough, kids.

t.

Are my sinuses going to drain into my eyes? Is that why I get pink eye after a sinus infection sometimes? Or is it just that my immune system is so crappy? My sinuses are so congested, and I worry that the longer the sinus infection sticks around, the larger my chances of it having some affect on the eyes. :( So far my eyes are just chapped from the cold weather. (I am not looking forward to the snow tomorrow! I think I am going to hibernate!)
My sinuses are still very congested. (The decongestant I was prescribed was keeping me up until 3:00 in the morning!)

Missy, I think putting a time table on when you want your eyes to be back to "normal" by is just setting yourself up for a big let down. Don't tell yourself that maybe after the dissolvable plugs are gone in March you will feel better. But hey, if the plugs help then you should just get more put in in March. But just try to get used to the fact that they might never truly be normal again. You do know that when they do Lasik surgery, they cut some of the nerves that cause tear production, right? That's why people with dry eyes should never be allowed to have Lasik. I had asked my doctor about it once for myself, being that he is also a Lasik surgeon and he laughed at me! LOL!It would be a surefire way to make sure that my eyes never get cured! (not saying that yours won't get better, but I have pre-existing dry eyes that would get a hundred times worse with Lasik. I can't even imagine!)

Today it just didn't matter how many times I put drops in. They stayed very dry. But then again,*everything* is dry! Every time I sneeze my nose bleeds! :rolleyes: I wish my cars heating system came with some sort of humdifier! Hello, auto makers of the world? Are you out there?

Tony, don't disappear on us. How is the vision doing?

Okay, considering I have this infection and bug. "Okay" meaning blurred until I get over this, the antibiotics out of my system, the folds lasered, glasses, then "okay" takes on a true meaning.

Hi everyone,

Tony - Sorry that you are having a rough time lately. Try to hang in there though, ok? We are here for you.

Elyse - Sorry that your sinuses are acting up too. It certainly is that time of the year for things to go wrong with sinuses! I'm surprised that i am not having more problems yet. I do understand that the corneal nerves were severed during lasik. The thing is, in most people, all those nerves heal right back up after surgery. I've read that the nerves can heal for up to 2 years. So, I just pray that my nerves are still in the process of healing, and I will eventually feel normal again. I know that if I accept this is permanent now, it may be easier on me emotionally in the long run, but I am currently NOT in the correct emotional state to accept the fact that I opted to have an elective surgey which ruined my healthy eyes and will cause me to suffer for the rest of my life. I really do think that I NEED to stay positive about this. You are right though...I should not put a time frame on it because it will lead to lots of disappointments, but I really do need to believe that someday I will be normal again. And if time goes by, and I am still not there, I think one day the thought of this being forever will be easier for me to deal with...just not right now :( .

Anyway, I hope that everyones eyes and sinuses start feeling better this evening. We are supposed to get snow here too, and luckily I'm off work tomorrow, so I don't need to deal with driving in it.

Michelle

Hello, all- I can't express how sorry I am for my recent rotten moods. This *censored* infection is really stubborn. Maybe one day, I will be "me" again.

That's all I better say.

t.

Hi Tony, Sorry that you aren't feeling well, please take it easy and give yourself time to recover. I hope that the vision is still doing OK. When do you get the wrinkles lasered out?

Michelle, I hope you don't get snowed in! Are you stocked up on milk, bread, eyedrops... the necessities! :D Just kidding! I have enough eye drops to last me for at least a month. I'd starve before I ran out of eyedrops!

Hi everyone!

Sorry to hear you aren't feeling well Tony. I hope that you are back to normal very soon!

Missy - We didn't get as much snow as they thought, so I wan't snowed in! I actually went out and did some shopping today, and being in the mall and all was not good on my already sore eyes. Hopefully they will shape up for the weekend though! I drove all over trying to find a new sleep mask like the one I used to have (it broke a few weeks ago). Since then I was using this other one, but the straps weren't adjustable, so I kinda had to wrap it around my ponytail a few times to get it to stay tight...it was a pain! Anyway, I finally found the old one I had at a drug store, so I'm happy about that. I wonder if maybe the heat was getting into the other one, since it wasn't that tight, and that is why my eyes feel worse this week.

Believe me, I am stocked up on eye drops for sure! I think I earned some brownie points this week with my boss because of it. I walked up to his desk to ask him something, and he is in the middle of putting eye drops in, so I waited for a second, and then he says something to the effect "Oh..sorry, just putting drops in..I have no idea what is wrong with my eyes these last few months, I guess I'm just getting old, but I'm so sick of them hurting all the time". I immediately realized that the bottle of drops he was using was stragely shaped like a bottle of visine...yes VISINE...a dry eye's nightmare! So, I just had to step in....

I don't know, but something inside me just took over, and I switched into some kind of "dry eye super hero" and started throwing out all this information at him. I asked him what kind of drops he was using and he said he was using Visine to "get the red out" and then another generic brand of lubricating tears (in the bottle). I asked him how many times a day he used them and explained about the preservatives in the bottled tears and about how Visine is a no-no for dry eye. I went back to my desk and sent him a website explaining all this stuff, and then the next day I brought him in a bag full of preservative free artificial tears! I had about 5 almost full boxes sitting around at home of brands that I had tried before I decided to stick with Systane. I thought about throwing them away a few times, but couldn't bring myself to do it since they were all so darn expensive!!! So, I'm glad that I found someone who could use them. He really did appreciate the drops, but he probably thinks I'm a lunatic. He explained that he gets an intense burning feeling in his eyes when he is at his computer all day long and that he didn't think that it was dryness because they watered all the time. So I went into how dryness actually causes watering, but those are just relex tears, etc, etc, etc. And about how his tear film may be unstable, etc, etc, etc. I told him to go see a doctor, but it sounded like dry eye to me! Too bad that even after learning so much about the human eye and how it works, I can't figure out what causes my good days and bad ones!

Well, that is my dorky story for the day. I thought it was kinda funny. I hope that everyone had a wonderful day!

Michelle :)

I am watching my eyes really carefully because I don't want to wind up with any infection in them from the sinus problems. That's just not acceptable to me! Not gonna happen! I am determined not to have it happen! But the longer my sinuses stay infected, the bigger the chance of my eyes being affected. I still have a slight fever and a very bad headache. It's also affecting my vision. I get so dizzy that I black out for a second or two.

Tony, I was wondering the same thing. When are you getting the wrinkles "ironed" out? Are you going to wait until you are feeling better?

They reslated me to get the laser this coming Monday. I think I will be up to that. I've been having some nausea at a certain time morning from these Doryx antibiotics I'm taking for the sinus infection. I get over it, and I'm good to go again.

We'll "eye'll" be seeing ya'll later.

t.

Hey guys,
Sorry you are both having sinus issues. Please try to get some extra rest this weekend, and Elyse - stay inside where it is warm!! Did you guys get any snow last night? We only got a little.

Tony - glad that they are going to take care of those wrinkles on Monday. Before when you were takling about it, it sounded like a pretty simple procedure, so I'm sure all will go well! :)

Howdy, SDV- I think it will be a walk in the cake.:D After walking through the cake, I can lick all the icing off my feet.;)

Ah, yes...there is the old Tony I know! You crack me up!! :D

Thingkyewww, thingkewww! (stand up comic takes bow, exits stage left) ;) Naw, make that sit down comic--sitting at computer.

Hey Tony, that's good news about getting the wrinkles taken care of Monday. Will they be able to prescribe new lenses then or do you still have to wait? Either way, looks like you'll be pretty close to getting over all the cataract surgery follow-ups pretty darn soon. Won't that be a good Christmas gift?!!
I'm glad to see you're feeling a little like your "old" self, too.
Faith ;).

Monin', Faith! I'm seeing pretty sharp this a.m. with just my old glasses! Cool to da' max! I don't know if there will be a wait after the ironing or not. I'm ready for all this to be done. If I hadn't of got down with ______, I could've been done with that by now.

Michelle.... DRY EYE SUPERHERO! Hehe! I thought that your story was pretty funny. :)

I'm sorry that your eyes are still feeling sore. I think that the sleep mask at night really helps mine. I'm not sure why but if it helps then I'm going to stick with it. The sleep mask that I use are like $3 at Wal-Mart so I have bought a few. I try to wash mine pretty often b/c they get smeared with ointment and I don't want any germs around my eyes.

I've got to get more Christmas shopping done. I've only bought a few things so far and it's creeping closer and closer. I haven't been looking forward to a trip to the mall but I'm going to have to make one pretty soon.

Tony, I'm glad that you're getting the wrinkles taken care of on Monday. I'll be sending some prayers your way. :)

Elyse, I'm sorry that you're still not feeling well. Take care of those eyes and hopefully they'll be able to fight off the nasty germs. I really hope that you get well soon. HUGS!

Faith, I'm glad that you are doing well. Did you get any snow this week? How are your eyes holding up in the cold weather? Talk to you all later....

Missy

Mornin', Missy & gang-

I'm coming back as a human again, finally. I've been on antibiotics all week, something my eye dr. wanted me to try way back there, only this was for the nasal bug, and feel so much better.

Thanks for those prayers, Missy-

We're coming out of the Artic air influence we've had all week, and looking to a great warmer day.

Yakkin' later, gators-


Tony

Tony, I saw on the news that it had been COLD in Texas so I'm glad it's warming up for you a bit. I read that your vision had been doing a bit better in the last few days. Will they fit you with glasses after you get the wrinkles out on that eye or will they wait awhile? You may have already mentioned this somewhere and I just missed it.

:) Missy

It's been very cold here too, which is not helping my eyes one bit. I really cannot get used to the idea of walking around with goggles on all the time! :rolleyes: But it looks like I will have to. I am going to look into them as soon as I get off of healthboards. We had some snow here but it wasn't too bad. It's just the frigidly cold weather that is making them water like crazy and get chapped. I am using Vaseline Intensive Care Lip Therapy on my lipds. It works well. I wish I could use it on my eyelids!

Michelle, I am sure your boss was very glad that you know so much about dry eyes. I wish I had found somebody who knew so much when I was first starting with this. They could have told ME not to use Visine! I didn't really know any better, so when my eyes started getting dry I bought some regular Visine (not the one that gets the red out) and I was using it a few times a day. But my eyes were getting worse and worse, and when I went to the doctor a few weeks later (my first encounter with my current eye doctor), he told me to throw out my Visine and start using something like Tears Naturale Free. I used that for a while and didn't like it so much, so I tried a few other ones until I finally landed on Bion Tears. If I was your boss I would go straight to the Bion. My doctor said that out of all of his patients with severe dry eyes, 99% of them prefer Bion Tears over Thera Tears, the other leading brand.

My eyes are kinda red and chapped, so I better get off the computer as quick as possible. Have a good weekend everyone!

Michelle, up, UP AND AWAAAAYYYYY!!!!!

Yes, Missy, it has been horrid this past week! A day or so, we were looking at "highs" in the 20's!

I'm uncertain as to whether or not, they will fit me with glasses or not after the iron-out. Today is something else! I'm seeing about as sharp as I could hope with the OLD glasses! So, there may not be much of a change in store. I finally had a day the Doryx didn't make me shaky or nauseous, so I think I'm over the hump, and can just coast the rest of the dosage.

Tony

Hi everyone!

Hmmm....I didn't know Bion Tears were so popular. I did not give him any of those! I want to keep my Bion Tears because I use them sometimes! I did give him a box full of TheraTears though...I never really liked those! He told me that him problems are only when he is using his computer in the office, so hopefully his eyes aren't too bad. I think that our office is not very dry eye friendly. I told him about my humidifier and that I think it is helping.

Sorry that your eyelids are still chapped, Elyse. I really do think that the goggles will help with that. I think I already mentioned this, but one kind that alot of people on another site talk about is "panoptx eyewear" so you might want to check that out if you are having trouble finding something. I just bought some wrap-around sunglasses that I hope will help me. They fit pretty close to my face, so I'm gonna try them out for a while and see if it helps at all. My eyes are not always bad outside, but I think it might be a delayed reacion sometimes, so I'm gonna try to protect them better.

Tony - Glad that you are starting to feel a little better. I hope that everyone else gets over their sinus bugs as well!

It is freezing here in Maryland, so I feel bad for you guys even further north than me!

Missy - I hope that you get your Christmas shopping done! I think the malls only bother mine when I'm having a bad day. I've been in malls and stores on other days, and been OK. Do you think that your fluctuations are calming down at all? Are you generally having good days lately? I have 3 classifications that I use when I'm writing on my calendar. Good, OK, and bad. Good meaning that they are very close to normal, or normal for the majority of the day, ok meaning annoying or uncomfortable, but not painful..bad meaning painful (gritty, etc). So far today is OK, so we'll see how it goes!

Well, I'm off to save the day!!! haha :D . Hope you all have a great one!

Michelle

Yo, Michelle! Yep, I think I'm gonna live in spite of all.:D

My eyes are doing pretty good, and I'm wondering if the Doryx antibiotic is part of that. I may see two things being helped here!

Maryland is up in cold country, but we were right with ya'll on cold, last week. It's looking better for the next few days, and I'm ready to thaw a while.

Later, gator-

Tony

Hi Michelle,
I've been having a lot of "OK" days. For me these are days where as long as I use my drops my eyes feel comfortable (not normal, but not horrible.) Today I slept late and got up and went to the store - where the heat was blasting and it made my eyes feel really yucky while I was there. Now that I'm home they feel OK again, but I'm going to make sure and use my drops on schedule. I'm normally OK in stores but sometimes when there's a lot of heat or air movement it really can irritate my eyes.

Are yours feeling any better today?

Missy

Hey Missy,

Mine having been between ok and bad today. Not sure what is up with them this week! They were so good last week and even last weekend when I was away, and I was in all kinds of bad situations then....Heat in the car, several restarants, cold wind walking outside, etc. Maybe it is all a delayed reaction, or maybe the plugs (which are probably gone by now) were helping me. I wish I was getting the other ones put in sooner :( .

We decided to go to out to dinner tonight just to get me out of the house, but it was a mistake. They were worse there, then in here. They kinda have that "chapped" feeling that Elyse talks about. Do yours ever feel this way? I thought maybe keeping it so cold in here was actually making them worse, but then in the restaurant where it was warm, they didn't feel better either. My eyelids are just really sore and red for some reason. I can also tell that there are not many tears in my eyes. I'm glad to hear that you are having alot of "Ok" days...I hope you start having more good ones though!

Tony - glad to hear it may be warming up a bit down there! Hopefully this winter will fly by for all of us!

Michelle

Morning!
Well the snow & cold sure isn't helping me either. Had to clear all the snow off my car twice in the past 2 days and my left eye felt all irritated and sore, and made the whole left side of my face painful, too. Unusual for the left eye to get irritated. It's usually the right, which had all the eye surgeries. But feels way better this morning.
Maybe it was just frozen ;) !
I don't even go near the malls this time of year! The heat & dust makes my eyes all gritty within half an hour.
Don't feel bad about lecturing people on their eyes, Missy (or was it Michelle? I keep getting you two mixed up for some reason...sorry) I do that all the time! I get fanatical about eye stuff. When you have problems you know the importance of the eyes, and when you see people doing things with their eyes that isn't quite healthy...well...it's easy to start lecturing them! But they all come running to me when they DO have an eye problem, cause they know I've been there.
Well, just want to wish you luck tomorrow Tony. And glad you're seeing pretty darn good with the old glasses. And it'll be even better tomorrow!
Have a great Sunday.
Faith

Howdy, Faith! No one else has said a word here today, kinda unusual. Just watched a close one twixt the Dallas Cowthings and the K.C. Chiefs. Da' boyz squeaked one out scoring 31-28 in the last few minutes. "Tuna Fish" is gonna have to get 'em geared to strike early and sack 'em away so there will be no sweat.

Well, I'm roarin' t' snort to get my ironing done Monday, get the folds out of that lens. I don't know if they'll try to fit me in specks then or not. It's going to be pretty close to these glasses I have a feeling. I've been seeing almost perfect with the old ones! I think the Doryx has been helping my eyes, that I'm taking for the other. The eye doc wanted me to take Doxycycline for unknown reasons, so here I am finally with a cousin to it.

Well, I'll fade for now, and we'll yak at ya' later, Faith.

Hugs,

Tony

Tony, good luck with the procedure tomorrow. I hope this is the last step in getting your vision back to normal. You mentioned that the doctor had wanted you to take Doxycycline a while back. That's because it's supposed to get rid of Blepharitis and Meibomitis. I was on it for about 6 months and it did nothing for me. But the thing is, you are supposed to be on a very strong dose and I was not on the strong dose that I needed. I get very bad stomach problems from anti-biotics, and even my eye doctor agreed that it was not worth it to risk that, so he put me on a lower dose than usual. Then I had to come off of it all together when I started having gallbladder problems. After I had my gallbladder surgery I never bothered to go back on it because again, I couldn't be on such a high dose for such a long time. My friend had Blepharitis Rosacea, and he was on Doxycycline orally and Tobradex ointment. He was on it for about 3 months and it went away.

I was in the mall today too, for about two hours. The heat and dust did not help my eyes one bit. But I had to get my holiday shopping done, and I needed some new clothes. I just couldn't pass up all of the sales! I must have stopped three times to put drops in while I was there. I wish I had those goggles already. I printed out all of the information that I found about the different brands, and I am going to go see the optician that my eye doctor recommended on my next day off. I also found out through my researching that there is a guy about an hour from me that specializes in making moisture chamber glasses (you know, regular glasses with the plastic shields on the sides and on top.) But all of the information I have found says that for people with really severe dry eyes, prescription swimming goggles provide the best protection. The only thing is that they tell you not to wear swimming goggles for more than two to three hours at a time without cleaning them, and they are really not very attractive! Not vert helpful when I want to find a husband, if ya know what I mean! ;):D I don't know if the optician will have the brands that I have read about, but I don't think it really matters as long as they are fitted to my face properly. (and as long as they're not too expensive!) Do you think my health insurance will cover this? I do have partial glasses coverage, but they never pay for the whole thing. Last time I got glasses I didn't even submit it to them for payment, so it's been a while since they've shelled out money for glasses for me. (I'm usually only allowed one pair of glasses every two years, but the last time they paid for one was at least 3 or 4 years ago.) I am just going to have to wander in there and look at the goggles and see which ones are best suited for me. But I also worry about how to clean them properly so that there are no germs left on them, but the chemicals don't cause me any problems. I've been using Flents glasses wipes for my glasses, with the approval of my eye doctor and they seem to be OK. I wonder if I could use them for goggles too.

I just don't want to look like a freak in these things!:(

I also worry that the goggles are not made with hypo-allergenic materials. Sigh, it never ends.

Hiya guys!

Tony, My hubby and I caught the end of that football game last night. It came down to the last second - pretty exciting.

Good luck today with the ironing. I'm sending a prayer your way this morning along with lots of hugs!

Elyse, I understand your situation on the goggles. I think that if you can get some that fit well then it will be worth your money. You could just wear them when your eyes were feeling really bad or when you were at home. At least then your eyes could have a break sometimes and they might feel better at other times. Keep us updated on how the search/fitting goes.

Hope that everyone else had a great weekend! Hi Faith & Michelle!

Hello, folks-

Yep, I reckon this is ironing day! Thanks for all the prayers, hugs and best wishes. It will be good to get the smudge out of my vision after that.

We're just alike again, Sis Purple. Antibiotics tear my gut all to smash too! I've done well to stay with the Doryx. A couple of mornings, I got pretty shaky, and almost passed the nausea stage and went into you know what! But after those mornings, I'm doing fine with it. I guess there is a point you go through in getting on those, that it's a little bumpy. I sure feel better from the sinus infection.

That was a hairy ending to a football game, wasn' it! The 'boys wait too long to kick in, trying to give fans a last minute thrill, and doing that has lost them several over the years. They can't learn to put it away early, then hold the lead, "coast" til it's over. Holding back to thrill fans has lost many a game, and will for any team.

Well, I'll scat for now, and see ya'll later.

Tony

Well. just hoping to hear some good news here. Tony? Is that appointment over with and how'd the laser go? Should be about 6 or 7 pm right about now in your area, so was hoping to get an update on your appointment. Well, I'll check back later.
Hope everything went well, and they got the wrinkle in the lens all smoothed out for you.
Faith

Tony, how did the ironing go?

I have an appointment with the eye doctor tomorrow. It's just my regular checkup, but they have been feeling mighty crappy lately, so I am hoping he doesn't see anything wrong. It kills me that my sinuses are still infected and that increases my risk of pink eye. I actually called my PCP today and spoke with him. I told him that after almost 10 days of Levaquin I feel very little improvement. I still have a low grade fever. So he told me to go see an ENT specialist. He recommended Dr. Kim. So I called the answering service for my ENT doctor and asked who *he* left in charge of his patients, and they said Dr. Kim too! So I made an appointment with him for saturday. He's actually right down the block from my eye doctor, on "Doctor's Row"!

My eyes feel sooooooo dry and cruddy. I wish the goggles would just materialize in my hands! Michelle, I know you have dry eye super hero powers, so do you think you could scare me up a perfectly fitting pair of goggles that cure all of my problems? Thanks, it it's not too much trouble. :)

Hi everyone!

Sorry, I've been quiet lately..just kinda bummed out. I've had a pretty rough week eye wise. I called yesterday and moved my appt. to get the lower plugs put in sooner. I'm gonna get them Friday morning now instead of next Wednesday. I sure hope they help out. I was gonna try to see my surgeon first to discuss things with him (I have an appt with him this Friday), but forget that, he probably would have nothing important to say anway. So, I'm gonna get the plugs in the morning, and then see the surgon in the afternoon. He'll probably really ignore me then, since he'll think that there is nothing else he could possibly do. I would like him to do some tests, but I doubt he will. I'm trying to document my tear quality and tear production to see how it fluctuates. I'm very curious to see what my tear production scores would be on a "good" day. I've only had that test done twice and it was on either an "ok" or "bad" day, and both times it was low.

I'm assuming that tear production can fluctuate around just like tear quality? Elyse - I think you have mentioned this before. Don't you usually have enough tears, just not quality ones, but sometimes then not have many tears being produced either? I'm curious...when you say that your eyes are really dry, what exactly do they feel like? Do you get that gritty feeling, or is it just a really dry or stiff feeling or something? Or do they burn? It seems like there are SO many different symptoms possible.

Hi Faith! Sorry to hear that the cold weather up there is messing with your eyes! I just bought some wrap-around sunglasses to wear around outside...I'm hoping that it keeps some of the wind out.

Tony - I hope that everything went well with the "ironing" yesterday! Glad that you seemed to be having some days with clear vision. Hopefully you will be through your recovery period real soon!

Elyse - Sorry you are having so many problems with your sinuses and your eyes. I'm glad that you have an eye appt. today. It will be good just to get a check-up to make sure that nothing serious has been bugging them. I hope it goes well! Do you have an appt. with that optician yet? Sorry if you already mentioned it, and I missed it. I really do wish that my dry eye super hero powers would allow me to send some goggles your way...or better yet, heal your eyes all together!

Hi Missy - Hope that you are having a good day. I feel OK so far today. I've been waking up with them feeling kinda yucky lately, which does not happen all the time. I guess it is just one of those weeks. Hopefully once I get the plugs in, I'll be back to feeling pretty good.

Well, that is all for now! I hope everyone has a wonderful day! I'm sending hugs everyones way!

Michelle :)

I could say !@#$! here, but won't.

He didn't laser me. He just said all but one wrinkle is gone, then said if it's still bothering me, he would do it, but I "thought" things were better because I hadn't been noticing the streaking. But last night, I looked at the street light outside, and some other stuff, and I not only am still no better, but I have a THIRD streak coming off at about a 45degree angle in that eye! I called the office last night and left a message on their machine about this, but so far, no returned call. :mad:

Finally heard from them, and he will laser the eye Dec. 22nd. Heh...should have Dec. 12th!:rolleyes:...

Hi Guys :wave:
Gee, Tony, I thought you'd be all set by now. Sorry you got disappointed again. That stinks when you get all psyched up for something and it doesn't happen. At least it's only a week away. So that isn't too bad, but still can empathize with the disappointment.
Hey MIchelle, sorry you aren't doing better. Hope the plugs help you out a lot. Good idea on the wraparound glasses. I was searching high & low for my carpentry sunglasses I use outside in the summer, but cannot find them. They're good because they're dark and would help with the glare off the snow.
Boy! Is that bright when you've had you natural lense removed! Makes driving really hard when there's snow everywhere and the suns out. Maybe I'll hunt for them again later. They eve have a bifocal in them so I can see up close, too.
Well, Elyse & Missy, hope you are both doing ok. Elyse, hope you get the eye and sinus problems under control pronto. I hope at your next appointment they can give you something to really help. And hope it isn't as cold there as it is here, but probably is since we aren't very far apart. That cold is really miserable for eyes.
Hope everyone has a great night.
Faith

Tony, that is so not fair to you! NOT FAIR! :mad: But at least it's only a week away. Hopefully your vision will be cleared up just in time for the holidays.


I'm assuming that tear production can fluctuate around just like tear quality? Elyse - I think you have mentioned this before. Don't you usually have enough tears, just not quality ones, but sometimes then not have many tears being produced either? I'm curious...when you say that your eyes are really dry, what exactly do they feel like? Do you get that gritty feeling, or is it just a really dry or stiff feeling or something? Or do they burn? It seems like there are SO many different symptoms possible.


Michelle, you are right. Tear production can fluctuate just as the tear quality can. One day you could have a good amount of tears, and the next day none at all. My symptoms are all of the above. But the biggest problem I have is the gritty feeling. I feel like my eyelids are stuck to my corneas sometimes. And they burn and feel very scratchy. The scratchy feeling is what bothers me the most. I can have tears running down my cheeks but at the same time my eyes are still dry and scratchy cause they are not the right quality. But then sometimes I can have almost no tears, but if the ones I do have are better quality, they feel better than they would if I had a lot of poor tears. (Am I making sense or am I just babbling?) Most of the time I don't have *a lot* of tears, but I have just enough. Mostly my eyes are just very scratchy and gritty and they burn and itch. Yeah, that about covers it.

Missy, I hope the plugs give you all the relief you need. Are you going to have to miss work to go to the eye doctor in the morning?

I saw the optician today. First I went to the eye doctor, who pulled out an ingrown eyelash but said that nothing else was really wrong. But he told me something that kind of alarmed me. He said that a few weeks ago my corneas looked so dry that they were actually peeling like dry skin. He said he didn't tell me the full story about how bad they were because there was no sense in upsetting me if there was nothing I could do about it. He said that all I could do would be to lubricate like I have been. He told me about it now because he wants me to know how much better they look than when I was having that problem a month ago. They are still very dry, but they look a lot better than they did a month ago, or even two weeks ago. If he would have told me that they were peeling, I would have absolutely flipped out. I would have cried hysterically and had a total panic attack. He told me they were severely dry and I was in danger of getting an abrasion and I had to be on anti-biotics and be extra vigilant with putting in my tear drops. But he did not tell me they were peeling! I thanked him for that! For some reason the word "peeling" scares me very much when it is in reference to my corneas! Gee, I wonder why?

So I had my appointment, and then since the optical store (Staten EyeLand -cute, huh?) is only a few blocks from the office. I went in there. The optician that he recommended, Joe, was there. What a NICE, NICE, NICE man! I told him that my friend Dr. Mostafavi recommended me because I need some protection for my dry eyes, and he was more than willing to help me. He said that he really doesn't do this for too many patients, but since I was recommended by his friend Ray, he was happy to help. He showed me a number of options. He said that he could give me swimming goggles, but they are really ugly, and they would be uncomfortable to wear all the time. Plus, he said that with all of my allergies and the sensitive skin around my eyes (I gave him the whole run down) you never know what materials will be OK for me and what will give me a problem. It might be comfortable now, but in a few weeks I could be singing a different tune. He didn't think that any goggles that suction to my face and keep out 100% of the air would be a good option for me because my sensitive skin would get very irritated from the eyecups, no matter what the material. He let me try on a few sets of wrap-around glasses, but they really didn't offer much protection from the wind. I would put on a pair and go stand outside to see if the wind could still get in. He had a catalog with hundreds of glasses frames and different types of goggles.

One of the women that works there said that she had used a certain type of goggle to make a pair of moisture chamber glasses for someone a few years ago and they were really comfortable and looked really nice, with leather on them and everything. But they haven't been made since 1997. :( So the two of them looked through this catalog and there was one pair of protective glasses that looks promising. It would sit flush with my face, but not form a suction that would irritate me. But they would be A LOT of money! ($250?) He didn't have the exact price. He said that we could order them and I could try them on, and if I like them he could put my prescription in them, and if not he could send them back. But we're trying to put that off right now.

He had another option. It's something called "Fit-Overs" It's a shield that fits over my glasses and wraps around them, with hard plastic on top and on the sides(but not on the bottom). It's basically like a bigger pair of glasses that fit over and around my existing glasses. They have clear lenses in them so I would not have to get my prescription put in. The only thing is that they don't touch my face exactly, so there's a small gap where wind and air can get in on top. And there's nothing blocking the air on the bottom. But it's a starting point. And this amazing optician is letting me borrow them for a few days to see if I like them! It's cool because I can put them on when I am outside and take them off when I'm inside without ever having to take my glasses off. IF this works, then I might order the more expensive ones. He wasn't too confident that it would help me any, but it's worth a shot. He said it could give me a 10% improvement. 10% is BIG!!!!! He doesn't want me to rush into buying anything, because what if I buy something and I find that it doesn't help? He said he wants to be slow and take a conservative approach to finding me the right kind of eye protection. Right now the ones that he gave me to borrow have sunglasses lenses in them, so I can only try them out during the day. But if I like them, he'll put regular lenses in them. Hey, maybe they could help me with my sun sensitivity problem too! I'll get one pair for regular light with plain lenses, and one pair for bright sunlight with dark lenses! They are only $25 a pair! (Or he might have said $45. I am not sure. Even if they were $100 a pair, it might still be worth it if they help me!)

I have to go back to him on saturday and let him know how these are helping (IF they help) and if I like them. Then we'll decide from there whether to order the more expensive ones for me to try on.

I am so glad that my doctor recommended him. He's really great! He wanted to see the drops that I am on and he wanted to know if I have had plugs put in. But then he was like "Oh yeah, you go to Ray. You don't need advice from me!" While I was there, TWO people came in to give him Christmas presents! What Optician takes such good care of his customers that they come in and give him presents? None that I have ever met, that's for sure! I told him that I wanted to buy a glasses case from him because I lost the one that came with my glasses, and he gave me one and would not charge me! I think I'll bring him a christmas present too. :)

Good morning!

Tony, I'm really sorry to hear that things didn't go your way yesterday, and that you have to wait to get that eye fixed up. Did the doctor think that it might just go away on its own? Is that why he wanted to put off lasering it?

Elyse - Thanks for sharing your symptoms. I just get so confused with all this sometimes :confused: . There seriously are days where my eyes feel really good, like they used to before my surgery, so I don't understand why some days they feel awful :( . I usually don't get the burning, but I do get the gritty and scrachy feeling. Lately my eyelids have just felt swollen. When I blink, its not really gritty, but just feels like my eyelid is too big to rub across my eye comfortable. And when I look under my bottom lid, it is BRIGHT red and looks kinda swollen. I guess that is just a symptom of the dryness? Maybe the blepharitis? :confused:

Wow, did you totally luck out with the doctors!!! That optician guy sounds incredible. I'm so happy to hear that he is willing to help you out with the glasses and even let you try stuff out for free!!!

I am getting my plugs put in Friday morning. I bumped up the appt. from next Wednesday. However, I was supposed to have an appt. with my surgeon Friday morning, so I had to bump that back to Friday afternoon. So, I know have an appt Friday AM and Friday PM, both in the completely opposite direction from where I work, so I'm just gonna take the whole day off. I've explained this mess to my boss and he understands. I never used much sick leave ever until this whole lasik fiasco hit, so they better be understanding about it!

Hi Faith and Missy. I hope you guys are both staying warm and that your eyes are staying comfortable!

Michelle

Wow Elyse! You really have a great team of doctors helping you! You are one lucky girl to find such great people. :)

I hope that everyone is having a good day. My eyes were kind of irritated last night. The right one felt like it had a HUGE eyelash poking into it. I rinsed it several times and never saw anything so I'm guessing that it was the dryness. This moring they feel OK, I'm drinking a lot of water today to combat that lashy feeling. It's gone away now for the most part.

Missy

I'm sorry Michelle, I thought it was Missy that said she was getting plugs put in on friday. I get so confused. :dizzy: If your eyelids are red and swollen inside, that could be from a number of things. Infection, allergies, dryness, etc... You should ask the doctor about it.

I can't wait to go outside tomorrow and try out the glasses shield that he lent me. I was supposed to go out today, but I got a splinter in my foot and wound up spending the whole day trying to get it out! (it eventually came out, or so we think.)

I think maybe later I will turn on the ceiling fan in my bedroom and put the shield on my glasses and see if that works! It'll be cold in here, but I'll just do it for a few minutes. I want to be able to tell him that I tried it under all conditions, and not waste today by not using them at all. I could go outside, but it's dark now and they have dark lenses in them and I wouldn't be able to see anything.

I do feel very lucky that my doctors are all so wonderful, and my eye doctor found me this great optician. Turns out that Joe goes to my eye doctor too!

Hello, all-

I would like to apologize to each of you for not being on much lately.

I am battling other health issues, namely, depression and facial jumps, both of which have been on me today! I never want anyone to think I'm upset at any of you. Never will happen!

Hugs,
t.

As the Aussies say Tony, No worries! We love you. Sorry you're dealing with those old issues again. Are you still taking the Cerefolin?
Here's a great big ((((HUG)))) for you! Hope you're feeling better.
And all you ladies dealing with the cold winds drying out our eyes, hope you find some relief. Wow, is it cold outside this week. And dry too. Sucks all the moisture out of your eyes and everything else! Thought my eyes were gonna freeze this morning!
hope you all are doing better.
Faith

Hello, Faith-
I'm still taking the stuff, but I get to being afraid it is causing some of the drowsiness and spacey feelings, as it says on the box it can cause somnelence or drowsiness, but it hasn't the first several days of taking it so... could just be me. I think all it did was move the jumps from the rt. forehead over to the left lower jaw area!
I see a Dr. Monday about Botox, by the way!

Well it'd be great if the botox could get that under control or better yet, stop it dead in it's tracks. I've often though of it for the between the eye forehead area. I squint alot since all my eye surgeries, since I don't get great crystal clear vision with all that & the astigmatism. So will be interested in hearing how that consultation goes. Of course I'd have to pay out of pocket for it, since it isn't medically necessary, but wouldn't mind getting it check out. So guess, you get to be our "guinea pig". I do know that squinting all the time causes a lot of stress in the facial muscles, and hard to smile when you're squinting. Everyone always thinks I'm angry, but just trying to see better!
Have a good night, Tony.
Faith

Tony, I am sorry you are feeling so crappy. You know, I am wondering something. Do your facial problems at all coincide with your eyes feeling worse? Maybe it is somehow linked. I'm always trying to play medical detective. :)

Well, I turned on the ceiling fan in my bedroom before and I put on the glasses shield. I could immediately feel that there was very little wind coming in from the top, but it was still coming in from the sides and the bottom. I also want something to protect my eyes from the cold, so we will see about that tomorrow. I just got the call to go to work tomorrow, so we'll see how they help me with the cold when I am driving in and waiting for the car to warm up, and when I am walking to and from the building. It'd be nice to be able to see if they help shield my eyes from the forced hot air heat when I'm indoors, but since they have dark lenses in them it is very hard to see when I am wearing them inside. I get to have Kindergarten tomorrow, so that should be fun. Maybe I'll stand in front of the heater with my shields on when the class is at their prep, and see how it works then! I will also be walking outside a little bit tomorrow, but it will be after dark so that won't be a good opportunity to test it. I wish he had put the regular lenses in them. I am going to try to be outside as much as possible for the next two days so I can really test these things out.

Mornin', troops! I don't know if there's a "connect" betwixt the eyes and all this other or not, Purp. I'm awfully afraid the Cerefolin caused my depression, as it says on the box it can cause somnelence (drowiness). I hope not, because if that doesn't help, then it's going to have to be expensive botox shots, if the Dr. agrees. I'm not having them today so far, and feel so much better--more in my guord again!

I know this too, the left eye is trying to produce goop again since going off the steroid! I knew it would, darn it! It's not bad, but still tries to do it now. The tint difference of blue in the left eye, and more natural in the right is still there, and I guess will be until one day, the rt. eye is fixed. It's a slow growing cataract, so that may be a long time off. It's not a bad difference, only noticed when I cover one eye then the other.

I sure hope those goggles work out for ya', Sis Purp. This dry eye is a bummer. The Dr. recommended omega 3 oil for me, but I would like to find it in liquid like Faith uses. Those pills have too many additives, and the flax one caused me some tinnitus problems.

Well, I'll fade for now and be checking back in on you cats later.

t.

...hello?... was it my breath?

Hi Tony,
Been a busy day. Been on the go since 4:40 this am. and am just now getting to sit & unwind a bit. You should be able to find that flaxseed oil in your area. The one I have by spectrum esstentials has just one ingredient:cold-pressed unrefined organic flaxseed oil. It has 615% Omega-3, 2 grams omega 6, & 3 grams omega-9...all from the flax oil. Now the omega-3 Fish oil capsules I take have the fish-oil and only other ingredients are gelatin, glycerin & water, and tocopheral (which is vitamin E I believe).
So there isn't a whole lot in it that would bother you, although anyone can have a reaction to just about anything I guess. From every thing I've read about using the flax oil for dry eyes & inflammation, recommends the combo of fish & flax oils together.
But they also said that although it helps a lot of people, it doesn't help all...so just thought I'd throw that in as a caution.
But I'll tell you Tony, I started on the fish oil this past summer and my mood has improved dramatically! :bouncing: No kidding! I wouldn't go without it.
But adding the flax oil has certainly helped my eyes feel better too. They don't get gritty as much, and my contacts are much more comfortable. Now, if I could only get rid of the winter and all the dry heat...I'd be "golden"!
So find yourself a good vitamin shop or health food store and you should be able to find a good quality organic flax oil in the liquid form. They should have it in the refrigerated section, as it goes bad (rancid) pretty fast.
I really think it's worth a try. May take a few weeks to kick in, but little by little you may notice some improvement in the dry eye, and if you add the fish oil, it may help with feeling "blue".
Gotta run...way behind on sooooo much.
Faith

Howdy, Faith!

Man, that would be great to not feel as low as I was yesterday! I could see and feel better both! I need to start hunting that stuff down!

I've been forgetting to mention, but I guess there will be some difference in the tint of the eyes until the rt. becomes bad enough to fix maybe one day. It's not noticeable until I cover one eye then the other, but it's there.

I don't know a lot, just hanging around for a few, until I shut it down. So, guess I'll scat for now, and again, thanks for the oil info. I've always wondered, does the stuff cause any diahrrea? :eek: Had to ask!:D Well, being oil, it did enter my brain.:D

Take care, Faith and we'll see you later.

t.

How do you like my fancying up your name?:D

I've always wondered, does the stuff cause any diahrrea? :eek: Had to ask!:D Well, being oil, it did enter my brain.:D


t.[/QUOTE]

Well, even I can see that without my contacts in, and then I see at about
20/400 - 20/800 :D !!!
I haven't had a problem with diarhea taking the oils everyday. Maybe because I refrigerate both of them and take them right after dinner.
Oh and one word of warning on the fish oil...if you're taking aspirin or blood thinners, you should check with your dr before taking it, cause it also tends to thin the blood....guess that's one reason it's good for the heart.
My eye dr recommened the flax oil too. And am glad he did, because I didn't know about it before that ;) .
HAve a great night Tony. Gonna go catch some Zzzzzzzzz's
Faith

Having to wear ear plugs due to the hyperacusis, my concern would be my skin becoming oily, and the plugs sliding out. I have a big enough problem now without adding oil to my body unless it didn't have that effect, in which case, I would be set to snort. I can feel my eyes becoming gunky again, and the focus isn't as good in the left eye. That ain't gonna cut it! I need to try that oil.

How long did it take for you to notice a difference, using the oils, both with acuity and feeling "antidepressed"?

t.

Don't worry Tony, I can't smell anything anyway so it doesn't matter if your breath is bad. :p

Michelle, how did the eye doctor appointments go? Did you get plugs?


Well, I don't know how well the glasses shield is helping with the dryness and the cold weather, but I'll tell you something. I have a big problem with sun glare and bright light, especially when I am driving and they have cut down on that A LOT, being that they have dark lenses. Even my transitions lenses don't help this much. So I think I am going to give him the money for them when I go there tomorrow and that way I can try it for a few more weeks and see how they help the irritation from the weather. At the very least it is helping with the sunglare. I never realized how light sensitive my eyes have become until I put this on while I was in the bright sunlight, and I noticed how much more relaxed my eyes felt. I feel like I am straining them by struggling to see in the bright light. The thing is, that even mild sunlight sometimes bothers me, and I realize that now that I have tried out the shield with these dark lenses. I put them on yesterday and today when I was driving, and I didn't have to squint to see in the sunlight, and my eyes just didn't get as tired or hurt as much from me straining to see in the bright light. Hazy days are good because the sun is not really out. But when there is not a cloud in the sky and it is a beautiful day, I think it is too sunny for me. And now that the sun is rising later and setting earlier, I am driving to work during sunrise and coming home during sunset, and that makes for some MAJOR glare! Hopefully I will get a double benefit from this and the shield will not only help with the sunlight but with the irritations from wind and cold as well. I think I will buy the pair that I have now with the dark lenses, and also a pair with regular lenses for cloudy days and indoor use.

I also got a big, huge splinter in the bottom of my foot on wednesday which had to be injected with Lidocaine (OUCH!!!!) and cleaned out by the podiatrist. So now I am on Zithromax orally so that doesn't get infected. I am hoping that the Zithromax will also get rid of my sinus infection and that will ensure that I don't get pink eye! I see the ENT doctor tomorrow so I hope he agrees with that!

Going off for the night.

Have a good night.

G'night :yawn:

Good Morning All,
Tony, to answer your question about the oils. I haven't noticed any change in my skins oil production, so although the omega-3 can help you skin, it doesn't make it greasy like when we were kids. I noticed feeling better with the omega-3 fish oil after 3 weeks. The flaxseed oil for dry eyes seemed to kick in after a few weeks too, but had already been taking the fish oil. So it may depend on the person, the dose, and how badly your body "needs" it. We can only get it thru diet, but the body needs it for all kinds of functions (from what I've read) abd the body doesnt make its' own.
Good Stuff.
Elyse, glad the glasses are helping with the glare. I wear my sunglasses even on cloudy days, unless it is really dark & stormy. I even keep them on in stores cause those flourescent lights are bright too. The ones I have aren't super dark lenses, so can still see fine in the stores with them on.
Have a great Saturday!
Faith

Thanks for that information, Faith. I'm still yet to get to the health food store due to Christmas barrelling down on us, but I've got my nose pointed in that direction!

t.

Well I went back to the optician and gave him the $45 for the Fitovers and he is ordering me another pair. They actually only come with dark lenses, but he's going to take out the dark lenses and put in clear ones for me. He said that in order to really, really know how well they will help I need to use them for more than just a few days, and I need to be able to wear them in all types of light. I do notice that the skin around my eyes has not been as irritated these past few days, so I am hoping that is a good sign.

Tony, when do you have to go for the laser procedure?

I saw the ENT doctor today. She said I have chronic sinusitis and 10 days of Levaquin is not enough. I need to be on it for another 3 weeks!!! UGH!!! She also wants me to wrinse my sinuses with normal saline by using a bulbar syringe, and she wants me to take Advil Cold & Sinus.

My eyes are very sore today. They feel very inflamed and puffy.

One of my coworkers had a red eye yesterday and it was all watery and stuff. I jumped into action. She said she had worn a chenille sweater and a piece of it got into her eye. I panicked even though it wasn't me! I offered her tear drops and told her to go home and wrinse her eye out and put a cold compress on it! I don't like to see that happen to my friends.

Michelle, if you are a dry eye superhero, then I am the eye injury superhero! I can leap tall buildings in a single bound!

Evenin', Purp! Well, I take my wrinkled eye in on Thurs., Dec. 22 for the ironing.

Sure am sorry you're having so much sinus trouble. I had endoscopic surgery for it in '99, and sometimes I think the left side is caving in again, but the doc says it's okay.

Always knew you were Superwoman, by cracky!:D

WHOA! I just got soap in my eye! OH MY GOD!!!! I never knew it could burn so badly! Sometimes I accidentally get a little bit in there in the shower, but it just stings for a second and it goes away. I guess that soap is diluted fromthe shower water, because this time it certainly was NOT diluted! I had to wash my foot from the Betadine soak (or I'd have a purple foot) and I used a washcloth with a tiny bit of my Jergens body wash that I use in the shower. I didn't realize that I had gotten any soap on my hands and I rubbed my left eye! WHOA!!!! I was in for a shock there! My eye immediately started burning terribly and turned beet red and watered like crazy! Ohmigod! Luckily I was standing right by the bathroom sink, because I just turned on the cold water and held my eye open and splashed and splashed! Then I used two tubes of Bion Tears to get the water out! Jeezus, what an experience! That was 15 minutes ago and the eye is still watering and burning! What did I do, what did I do, what did I do?!!!! :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek: :eek:

OK girl, calm down. Don't make yourself hyperventilate. BREATHE! Deep breath!

OK, I am calm now.

Tony, youy make me LOL. :) I do think of myself as Superwoman sometimes. Actually though, I think my official title is GOOPERWOMAN!

Dangies, Sis, you're like Barb- just one accident after another! :eek: What's amazing is how you had the computer right there in the shower to give us a "blow by blow" on it all.:D But, I'm glad you got the eye cleaned out, and no damage was done except for the stinging.

I still have my daily crust. "Give us this day, our daily crust"... Bread would feel and look better, obviously! And I actually got a bit of goop out of my left eye yesterday, for the 1st time in a long time. I guess there's just no being cured of it. I need to get the oil Faith's been telling me about, and start guzzling it. Might even toss in a little Pennzoil for my sticky valves! :D

Well, with that, I'll slide on outta here from all this oil.

s-l-l-liiide.

LOL, I wasn't even in the shower! I had just finished soaking my foot in the betadine like the Podiatrist said to, and I was just washing it with a washcloth and a little soap right there in the kitchen to get the Betadine off (so my foot wouldn't turn purple!) and I must have gotten a little of the soap on my hand. Then I went to put the washcloth and the soap in the bathroom and I rubbed my eye and WHOA! Look out! I must have gotten a little soap on my hand without realizing it. Boy, it stung for the rest of the night! But I put a lot of drops, and now it is fine.

I just have no faith in anything anymore. I tried Flaxseed oil capsules and all that stuff for a long time and it did nothing. Maybe I need to try the liquid though.


But you are right Tony, I am an accident waiting to happen! LOL

Hi guys
Geez Elyse. That hurts just thinking about it! I put my contact disinfecting solution in my lens case once and then put the contact in my eye :eek: :eek: !!! Thought I burnt my cornea out on that one, but was ok after a day. One way to get your tears flowing though!
Elyse, I read that it takes 14 capsules of the flaxseed oil to equal 1 tablespoon of the oil, so....that made my decision on which to take. I had been taking the capsules for some reason or other, before my eye doctor told me to try it. Then I did some looking around for info on it and found the oil contains a lot more of omegas in it.
But don't forget to ask your doc about taking it. If you're taking other meds etc, you want to make sure it won't interfere or mix badly with any of them.
Well, Tony, a couple more days till you get the wrinkle ironed out. Let us know how that goes. And don't you have a appointment to see about the botox? Or did I miss that one? :confused:
Well, that's all I've got for now.
Have a good night.
Faith

Hey everyone!!!

Wow, I've really missed alot! I've been kinda bummed out this weekend, which is why I haven't been around. I've had two bad weeks in a row, and usually I'm due for a few good days by now, but it just hasn't happened yet :( . I did get the plugs put in (3 month temporary ones) my bottom tear ducts on Friday morning. I really haven't noticed any difference yet though, which is disappointing. I feel like there are not many tears in my eyes AT ALL. Even when I yawn, I'm not getting many. It is such a scary feeling. I feel like they are completely drying out or something! I know I just need to be patient though...hopefully good days will come again soon. I just hate to think that I am getting worse instead of better. I don't think I could handle that. I've talked with alot of people on other sites though, and they all say that alot of lasik patients see improvements with dry eye even between 6-12 months, so I'm trying to stay positive that will be me. I think this winter has just really thrown me back a step or two in the healing process, and have made my symptoms alot worse.

Elyse - Glad to hear that those shields are giving you some sort of relief from the glare!! I really hope that you notice a difference with the wind too, once you wear them for a while! That would be really great if they helped you with both of those problems!! I hope that your sinus and foot problems all clear up real soon too!!!

You know, I was so depressed this morning, and I didn't even want to get out of bed, but you were my inspiration! I thought that with all you've had to go through, and the many things you've probably tried that have failed, you are still out there looking for options (like those new glasses) and are still positive that you will find something to help you. So, I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and drug my butt out of bed and went and did the errands that I needed to do! I really just want to be happy again like I used to be before all this eye crap hit, but it is just such a struggle for me. It's like I'm a totally different person, and I liked the old me alot better :( .

Tony - glad to hear that you have a date set to have that wrinkle ironed out. Sorry that you have been feeling kinda down lately too. I know how you feel. Hopefully we can both pull ourselves out of this slump!

Hi Faith! Glad to hear that the fish oil is working for your eyes and making you feel better too! How much do you take a day? I just started it a few weeks ago, and I think I'm taking about 5000 mg a day. I hope it starts to work for my mood soon too! I could sure use it!

Hi Missy! Hope that your eyes are still feeling pretty good. Have you thought anymore about maybe getting the upper plugs, or are you doing pretty good without them? My surgeon gave me the "well, there isn't really anything else we can do for you now" line, and I totally forgot to ask him about upper plugs. I think I would like to try them if the lowers dont' seem to do much, and so far they haven't. Hopefully in a few more days though......

Hope you all had a wonderul day! (((HUGS)))!!!!

Michelle

Hi Michelle,
I was wondering where you've been. Missy has been quiet too. To answer your question, I take 2 capsules of 1200 mg fish oil (omega-s) a day. My anxiety attacks disappeared after 3 weeks, and the better mood has been steadily improving ever since...about 4-5 months now. Best I've felt in years(mood-wise)!
Sorry the Winter has been hard on your eyes. I think it is for anyone with any degree of dryness. Stores seem to be my worst enemy. My eyes dry out, my throat! Saves me money though! I even had to use the Systane drops a couple of times this week (at night) after Christmas shopping, and I rarely use them at all. So hang in there....winter doesn't last forever, it just feels that way.
Faith

I get the wrinkle ironed out Thursday, which is about 4 days, actually.

Elyse - Glad to hear that those shields are giving you some sort of relief from the glare!! I really hope that you notice a difference with the wind too, once you wear them for a while! That would be really great if they helped you with both of those problems!! I hope that your sinus and foot problems all clear up real soon too!!!

You know, I was so depressed this morning, and I didn't even want to get out of bed, but you were my inspiration! I thought that with all you've had to go through, and the many things you've probably tried that have failed, you are still out there looking for options (like those new glasses) and are still positive that you will find something to help you. So, I stopped feeling sorry for myself, and drug my butt out of bed and went and did the errands that I needed to do! I really just want to be happy again like I used to be before all this eye crap hit, but it is just such a struggle for me. It's like I'm a totally different person, and I liked the old me alot better :( .



awwwwwwwwwwwww! You are making me blush Michelle! :o

I am glad I can be of some help to you. :) I think I can be so upbeat now because I have just sorts learned to go with the flow. I no longer expect anything to get better.Ok, I expect my sinuses to get better and I expect my foot to get better, but I know my MS is here to stay and I know my dry eyes are here to stay. I try not to let my life revolve around the illness. Rather, the illness is just a part of my life now. I just take my eyedrops with me wherever I go in a cute little makeup case and nobody bats an eye anymore when I put in drops at the dinner table or excuse myself to the bathroom to take out an eyelash that got in my eye! My friends expect that from time to time I am going to have to stay home on a friday night because my MS is making me tired or I have pink eye. It is pretty sad that I have to think like that, but I know it's never going to be gone. See, I am much further along in my struggle then where you are. You are just starting. Your taking all of the roads that I took to get myself to the point I am at now. You know, the optician that gave me the glasses shield made a lot of sense. He said that sometimes you have got to take things one step at a time. He said that as far as finding glasses that work for me, I am at about step C and I want to get to Z. He said you can't just start out at Z. You've got to go through all the other letters first. In my dry eye struggle, I think I am about at H and I don't really see myself getting much further. You are only at about C or D right now. You've gone to the doctor, you've gotten some drops, you've found support and you've gotten plugs. You have to take it slowly, one step at a time. I'd love to make it all the way through, but they'd have to shorten the alphabet!

I think that I am so relaxed about it all, also because I know that if something does get worse I've got a doctor I can count on. That's so important. You need to find a doctor who you can count on.

I didn't find healthboards until I had already been suffering with dry eyes for about a year (maybe more, I don't really remember when I became a member.) I had to find out all of the information that I now know on my own. (well, my doctor helped too!) So you are one step ahead of where I was at the point where you are with your dryness. When I was getting plugs I had nobody to ask about it but my doctor. And I read a lot of reports online.

My dry eye problems started in about September/October 2001, and I cannot believe that I have just passed the 4 year mark. I used to read testimonials from people who said that they have had dry eyes for 3 or 4 years and think that this was never going to be me because I would find something that works. No, that was not going to be me. I was going to make a full recovery, like magic. I thought it was just a temporary thing, like a head cold. It would be gone in a few weeks. :rolleyes:

I have since realized that although it has gotten much, much better (if you can believe that!) I am never going to be 100% normal. I think I'm about 25% better than I was 4 years ago when this all started. But in the past two years or so I really have not made any more big strides. I'll settle for 5% more improvement. I'd like to be 100% better but I never will be, so I'll settle for 30% better. Is that too much? I think that in the long run, the glasses will help me and I just might achieve that 30% mark.

Did I make any sense?

Hi everyone!

Michelle,
I wish that those plugs were giving you some relief. I don't really understand why they aren't helping if the doctors say that tear production is your main problem. I would ask your doctor about upper plugs if you feel like you need them. They couldn't hurt anything really and the doctor can put in the temporary ones first to see if they help. I think that you could try the one week temp. ones first. My doctor said that if my eyes felt a lot worse this winter then we could put plugs in my uppers and then pull them out in the spring. What kind of symptoms are you having right now... are they the same as a few months ago?

Elyse,
Ouch! I cringed when I read about getting the soap in your eye. I've done that before and it HURTS so much! It was good that you rinsed it well right away. :) I hope that your eyes are behaving for Christmas!! You deserve it.

Faith,
I'm really glad that the oil supplements are helping with your moods and overall well-being. When I started taking the flax seed oil I didn't realize that it could be an anti-depressant also. I can't tell a huge difference in my moods and such but I think that it is a good supplement to take - maybe I'll see the other benefits soon.

Tony, Just a couple of days to go! Good luck with the ironing. How has the vison been lately?

Bye for now! I've gotta go get the oil changed in my car. Fun, Fun.

Missy

Hello, Missy & gang-
The vision hasn't been that great in the left eye, mainly. I "hope" it is because of the needed ironing. I'm going to be pretty upset if that doesn't help after having the surgery! The only other influence I can think of would be the poor tear quality.

Hope things get better for us all soon.

Hi Tony, I would think that your vison would improve after the wrinkles are gone, if they are the problem. Have you asked your doctor about this?

Hope that you and Barb are having a good holiday season so far!

Missy

I hope that your eyes are behaving for Christmas!! You deserve it.


Hanukkah. :D

Thanks, I hope that all of us can have Christmas day off this year! (especially since Hanukkah and Christmas are the same day this year!)

Michelle, you should know that sometimes it can take time for your eyes to adjust to having the plugs in. They might not help right away. At the very leastm they should be helping you retain the artificial tears for a little longer. When I first had plugs put in, I didn't notice a huge difference right away. But then a few weeks later I did notice that I had slightly more tears. Then we plugged the uppers and I started to have tears running down my cheeks!
SWEET SUCCESS! :bouncing:

Oops Elyse! I meant Hanukkah! :D
Sorry!

I know, I was only kidding. :)

Sooo, are the eyes treating you any better today? Mine sure aren't, with the dry heat and all. :mad:

My eyes have been pesky today and yesterday. They feel sore and irritated.

My appt. at Emory was today. I saw Dr. Stulting, who is a very good eye doctor. He put me on some doxycyline (100 mg.) one tablet per day and told me to start taking Thera Tears Nutrition or something like it. He actually prefers another supplement but I can't find where I wrote the name down right now. I'm also supposed to continue the warm compresses, lid scrubs, etc... One interesting thing about my visit today was that they took pictures of my eye under the silt lamp and showed them to me on the computer screen. I could see the dry spots and he also showed me what my tears looked like as they were breaking up. My main goal is to improve the health of my tear film.

Missy - Sorry to hear that your eyes are bugging you again. What the heck, just when I think I'm starting to have some ok days, yours are bad again! Mine actually felt a little better today. It was our office Christmas party, so I wasn't at my computer at all, which probably helped, but even so, they were crappy all weekend with no computer, so maybe they actually were better today. So, how long does the doc want you to try using those TheraTears drops for? I just gave a whole box of them away. It was in the bag of eye drop rejects that I gave to my boss! You know, he told me the other day, that since we talked, his eyes haven't bugged him at all. AND he hasn't even tried the drops yet. He just said that he started blinking more like I told him too! Can you believe it??!! I wish that would be the solution for all of us :rolleyes: ! I'm happy it works for him though. I'll have to find my next dry eye sufferer to use my super hero powers on now. :)

Elyse - Sorry that the heat is drying you out extra bad. You live at home with your parents right? I assume that means that you can't completely freeze them out! I keep the heat pretty low here since it is just me and my boyfriend. I figure he can suffer a little since the heat would make me suffer ALOT. I dont' run it AT ALL in the car anymore though unless I absolutely need the defroster on or something. I laughed at your post about SWEET SUCCESS with the plugs. It is crazy that tears running down your face is considered success. Why can't they come up with something to be the perfect happy medium? Only two plugs you are still dry, but with 4, your overflowing! Craziness, I tell you! I would rather have the overflow than not enough though, and I bet it is better for your eyes as well. Any more luck with those new shields for you glasses?? You've probably had some more time to try them out by now.

Tony - Sorry that the glasses you got aren't working out. I think that you should just stick with whatever helps you see best, and if that is the old ones, stick with them. I also think that we all need to take a trip up to NYC to see Elyse's doctors since ours all seem to be quacks! Then I think that Elyse needs to come down here and tell all of our docs off for us :D ! That is great that you walked out on that one guy, Elyse. I just always end up leaving in tears...maybe once I'm toughened up a bit, I can give them a piece of my mind too!!

Hi Faith! How is the weather up there treating you and your eyes? Getting any more snow recently? It is so cold here now. I can't imagine being any further north. I am really liking my new wrap-around sunglasses though. They fit so close, that they keep the wind out pretty good!

Well, I hope everyone is having a great night and that everyone gets some good rest tonight, and starts off with moist eyes and clear vision tomorrow!

Michelle :)

Howdy, Michelle, Missy, Elyse, and whoever else stumbles in.

I was just "yakking" with Elyse on the "New Glasses Channel", and she's got me wanting to come up to the Big Apple and see her doc and an optometrist there. I'd give my rt. arm, two front teeth, and my Hostess Twinkies do be able to do that! I'd even give part of my chocolate chip cookies that Barb baked (NOT ALL OF THEM NOW!), to do that!:D

A lot of my problems is my eyes are getting messed again. Poor tear quality, goop, it seems to be all returning. That is playing heck with acuity. I blink, see one way, blink, see another, blink, yet another. That's how it goes. I need to get my butt to the health food store and get that oil! I would like ONE kind that would cover my moods and eyes both, but according to Hellasrules, it takes two kinds, so it may come to that. I don't see why fish oil, the mood booster wouldn't help the eyes too. The Dr. wrote on this paper, "Omega 3 Fatty Acids", so whatever oil has that, is what I need.

Miche