Hi Emily.
I've noticed a lot of eye strain, itching, and intolerance for my contact lenses. My eyes are very dry and sting when I wake up in the morning. And, at night, they water quite a bit for no apparent reason.
This is apparently common for those of use with Thyroid antibodies (Hashimoto's) and for hyperthyroid (Grave's) patients as well. There are some named conditions ("Thyroid Eye Disease" and "Grave's Opthalmopathy"), but descriptions and pictures of the more severe cases are a bit off-putting, so I'm being selective in the websites I list below. Hyperthyroid folks typically have a "thyroid stare" (like typical staring into space, but a bit more often), and may have eyes that are slightly bulging in appearance.
I really like the moisturizing-type of Visine for its soothing properties. It's one of the only things that doesn't sting, and it doesn't have the redness-out ingredient (which the docs say we should avoid for this sort of thing). Keeping my eyes moist really seems to help a lot. And I'm learning to like my glasses.
Here's a couple of links about eye symptoms:
<A HREF="http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa091399.htm" TARGET=_blank>http://thyroid.about.com/library/weekly/aa091399.htm</A>
<A HREF="http://www.the-thyroid-society.org/med_letter5.html" TARGET=_blank>http://www.the-thyroid-society.org/med_letter5.html</A>
Be sure to mention these symptoms to your doctor. And to your eye care professional (if you have one).
