Hi,
Was just wondering if any of you have had your thyroid checked? I was diagnosed with Grave's disease and had extreme dry eyes, tried the plugs but they fell out.
I was going thru a bottle of natural tears a week, luckily I did'nt end up with the "bulging" eyes. Finally my meds are working and my eyes are much better-only use drops once or twice a week. Went to eye doc yesterday and he says my eyes look suspicious for glaucoma:frown: So am going to have 2 special tests done on the 14th, field vision and HRT(like an MRI of the eyes).
Wet eyes to all and not because of tears!
B-Jean

B-Jean,

Yes I did have my thyroid checked. Was also checked for Lupus. Both test was negative, Which this was also 7 years ago. my grandmother had thyroid problems so guess I should look into having that checked again.
Right now my dry eye problems seem to be caused by rosacea.

Kay

Thanks for the suggestion. I too have had my thyroid checked several times, and all of the bloodwork came back normal. I have been tested for Sjogren's Syndrome, and they believe that this, combined with extremely bad allergies is what is causing my dryness, itching, inflammation, irritation, etc... I too go through tears like they are water! I use the individually packaged preservative free bion tears that come in the single dose units. They come in boxes of 28. At my worst, I go through a box of them every 2 days. But now my doctor is encouraging me to try and cut back because he thinks that by using too much artificial tears, I can wash out what I do have of my own natural tears. So now I go through a box of them every 4 days or so. Luckily I get them at wholesale prices! But it is still cleaning out my wallet!

Hope you are all feeling well,
Elyse

[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 01-29-2003).]

Hi B-Jean
I am also on the thyroid posts. I have Hashimoto's and have had it for over 5 to 6 years. My eyes started having problems last summer. They got so irritated that I would rub them raw! I went to an optomologist in November and had many tests. He said he would treat me as if I had dry eyes. The drops didn't help so I quit them. They have been a little better recently. I was also asked if I had been tested for Sjogren's too. I haven't, but wonder if that would be a good idea. I have also been having problems with my inside of my lip. They have been drying out and I have to keep licking them. I think a lot of these things are autoimmune related.

Sjogren's can dry out your mouth as well as your eyes. It can dry out any part of the body that produces moisture. I hope that you still use the tear drops when your eyes feel dry. You don't want to let them get so dry that you develop a corneal abbrasion.

Hi,
I do use drops still, but it doesn't help the irritation. It feels as if I have something in them. Sometimes I rub them so hard that it makes my eyelids red. I am sure that is not a good thing to do, but it does feel good while I am doing it.

I understand how bad your eyes feel, believe me! I myself am having a terrible time at the moment. But you have to try not to rub your eyes! If you are rubbing them so hard that your eyelids are getting red, you are at risk for a corneal abbrasion, or even worse, a corneal ulcer. That is more like scratching than rubbing. Plus, the more you rub your eyes, the more irritated they are going to get. That can make them become inflamed, and by rubbing them you are spreading germs. I'm not one to talk, because I do rub my eyes. (shhhhhh, don't tell my dr that!) But I certainly do not rub them so hard that I make my eyelids red! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gifThat is very dangerous. I have had a corneal ulcer (but mine was not from rubbing....my eyes were so severely dry that the surface of my cornea eroded), and I can tell you that the pain was so severe that I will never forget it as long as I live. You don't ever want to experience pain like that. You have to be so careful when you rub your eyes! Plus, in order to not spread germs you should just blot them with a tissue when you need to rub. You really need to be gentle with your eyes. You don't want to accidentally injure them. They are very fragile and delicate!

Have you seen an ophthalmologist about getting something to help stop the itching and discomfort? That is so important.

[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 02-01-2003).]

Hi Purple,
Thanks for your response. I did see an opthomologist and he gave me two different kind of drops. They both didn't help. Even the Patanol that my regular doctor prescribed didn't help. I am really going to make an effort not to rub them anymore. I know how important our eyes are, and I don't want to make my problem worse. I will keep trying to find out the cause of this and hopefully will get better.
Thanks again for your concern.

You are very welcome. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif

If the drops that your doctor gave you did not help, go back and get something else! My doctor has tried at least 10 different drops with me, all in different combinations until he found something that helped at all. At one point I was using 4 different allergy drops. Just because the first ones that you tried didn't help doesn't mean that another one won't. Don't give up so easily. You have to be the one to help yourself. What I mean is, the doctor is not going to change your drops if he doesn't know that they aren't working. You deserve relief, so don't stop until you get it! I'm not going to stop trying, and either is my doctor. You shouldn't have to suffer. Even if you have to experiment for a few months with different drops, it is all worth it when you find a drop that helps even a tiny bit.

What drops have you tried so far?

Hi Purple,
I used Patanol, Allergan Refresh Tears, and Natural Tears(something like that). It seems that so far this week my eyes haven't bothered me much. The funny thing is that my doctor said maybe it will go away in a year from when it started. He and the opthamologist didn't know what was wrong with my eyes. I will keep my fingers crossed for the rest of this week.
Take care!

Originally posted by Bellajoon:
Hi Purple,
I used Patanol, Allergan Refresh Tears, and Natural Tears(something like that). It seems that so far this week my eyes haven't bothered me much. The funny thing is that my doctor said maybe it will go away in a year from when it started. He and the opthamologist didn't know what was wrong with my eyes. I will keep my fingers crossed for the rest of this week.
Take care!

You may need to try a mild topical steroid. This may help you find relief. Also, a new medication called Restasis will be available to patients in about two months. This medication may help you find some relief from your itchy eyes as well.

HTH

It may seem like you have tried a lot of drops, and I totally sympathize with you. But if those are the only drops that you have tried then you have not tried that many. If Patanol didn't work that doesn't mean that something else won't. You have to experiment! http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif
My doctor and I tried about 10 different allergy drops and steroids, and all sorts of different combinations until we found something that even helped a tiny bit. But we never gave up trying. And also, you may trust your primary care physician, but he probably does not know all that much about eye disorders and is not the one who should be treating you. Never go to anybody but an ophthalmologist for an eye problem! The only eye problem that I ever went to my PCP for was when my former ophthalmologist was away and I thought I had pink eye. (at the time I had no clue that I had dry eyes and allergies...this was at tje very beginning of my saga!) Anyway, my PCP is a great doctor, but I learned my lesson the hard way. I had an allergic reaction to the medicine that he prescribed. I immediately went to a new ophthalmologist (and haven't left him since!) , and it turns out that I probably never even had pink eye. Unless a doctor actually examines your eyes with a slit lamp and a microscope, he should not be prescribing treatment. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/nono.gif

Some of the drops that my doctor and I tried for my terribly severe allergy eyes and dryness were Tears Naturale Free, Thera Tears, Refresh Celluvisc, Refresh Endura, Tears Again Gel Drops, Vasocon-A (all OTC) as well as several OTC ointments. Those were Tears Naturale PM Lubricant Eye Ointment, GenTeal Gel, and Bausch and Lomb MoistureEyes. That doesn't even include the numerous prescription drops. Those were Alocril, Patanol, Alamast, Zaditor, Livostin, Optivar, FML, Alrex, Lotemax, Cyclosporine, and probably a few others that I am forgetting. Plus, I have probably been on most of the eye anti-biotics available. Before I came to my ophthalmologist my regular doctor had me on NeoMycin, which is notorious for causing allergic reactions. So my eye dr took me off of that right away. Since then, for subsequent eye infections I have been on Ocuflox, Ciloxan ointment, Tobradex Ointment and most notably, specially compounded Vancomycin and Tobramycin drops, for the severe corneal ulcer. So basically, there is not a drop out there for this condition that I have not tried. When you count it all up, I have probably been on about 20-25 different types of eyedrops over the past 15 months. But I will never give up, and my doctor has promised me that he will never give up either. I think it has become a challenge to him. He told me that he will never leave me, and he'll always be around when I need him. Right now my eyes are not nearly as bad as they were 6 months ago, and I still see him once every 1-2 weeks. The thing is, my condition is not stable. One day I could be feeling great, and the next day my eyes could be so inflamed that I don't know what to do with myself. So he gives me an appointment for 2 weeks, and tells me that if anything changes to come in sooner. I usually wind up going in about once or twice before my original appointment!

So my advice to you is to stop going to your Primary Care Physician for your eye problems (I learned that even one time is too many!) and if you have an eye doctor who says that he tried Patanol and some tear drops and he doesn't know what else to do, get away from him as fast as you can! TRUST ME, there are sooooooo many other options about there and any good ophthalmologist will at least explore some of them. I just feel very strongly about this. I know exactly what you are going through, and there is no reason why your eye dr shouldn't try to help you further. (that is, if you have gone back and told him that the Patanol didn't work!) If your eyes are dry you may also want to consider plugging the tear drainage ducts.

Good luck,
Elyse
http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/heart.gif

[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 02-04-2003).]

[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 02-04-2003).]

P.S.

I'm curious.....what makes your doctor(s) think that your eye problems are just going to go away in a year? Generally they don't just disappear!

And also, if your ophthalmologist said that he doesn't know what is wrong with your eyes, and if he's not willing to explore further to find the problem, well then that is all the more reason to find someone else. A good dr/patient relationship is probably the most important aspect of your care. You have to like and trust the dr who you are allowing to treat you.

Dear Purple,
I agree with you 100%. The opthamologist is the one who took me off Patanol and gave me the other drops. Unfortunately I live in a small town and there is not a lot of doctors to choose from. This opth. is supposed to be the best. I think my thyroid disease doesn't help much either and until I get stabilized with my meds, I wonder if I can really be ok. I didn't like what my regular doctor told me either. I feel that it didn't sound very professional. I really would like to find another, but would have to switch my whole family too!
Thanks for your good advice!

You are very welcome. http://www.healthboards.com/ubb/smile.gif How far are you away from a large city with a major teaching hospital? I think that you are not really going to get any answers from these small town doctors. They may be very good, but think about it though.....they don't have access to the same resources that you would find in a big city, and probably have not seen nearly as much of this as a a doctor in a large city has. I live in Staten Island, NY. Staten Island is considered the suburb of NYC, and is relatively small compared to the rest of the city (only about 15 miles from end to end) but we have enough doctors to choke a horse! So I happen to be very lucky that even though it is not exactly Manhattan, we have a lot of fabulous doctors here. If it means changing your family's doctor, if you are really not happy with him then change. It can only benefit your family. Have you been seeing a Rheumatologist for your thyroid disorder?

Also, since you are in a small town, is your ophthalmologist the only one? If there is somebody else who you can get to easily, or if you are willing to travel then go get a second opinion! It doesn't sound like either your primary care practicioner or your eye dr are doing the right thing by you. Don't settle for anything but the best, and don't stop looking until you find your answer.

Also, try to get an ophthalmologist who is a corneal specialist, because they are the ones who see the most cases of dry eye.

[This message has been edited by purple2067 (edited 02-05-2003).]

Purple,
I live in Idaho, and there is only 1 big city which is only 200,000 people or less. It is about 235 miles away. I don't see a specialist for my thyroid. I had an endo when I lived in Pennsylvania but since I came back to Idaho I haven't been able to find one. There is one about 50 miles from here I might consider. He is on the "top doctors" list. I work full time and it is very hard to get time off. I guess I need to make the time. I will have to check out all my options to make my health better. Thanks again!