How do you deal with dry eyes?

Posted by maryy @maryy, Jun 10, 2019

I have dry eyes due to sjogren's syndrome. Does anyone else deal with dry eyes?

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@rj4group

Have you tried a shower water filter ? I thought our City Water was safe but, it is not. For $25 you can install one yourself in 5 minutes. I had terrible dry eyes and sore eye muscles. The water filter helped the first time I used it. Wear eye protection when using your computer. I also placed good air purifiers in 3 rooms.Winix 5500.

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..thanks I have long suspected our City water for a long time and in fact years ago my spouse worked there; it is lake water and added chemicals but we live about 2 blocks away which means we get the water when 'strong' and sometimes can smell the bleach in it...plus they put zinc in to save the pipes...not our pipes, the water pipes! but bottled water has stuff added and we really do not know from where that water water obtained; once in a grocery store we saw the man filling up the bottled with a hose inside the store! Brita filtrs are good but tim consuming and have to clean out once a week. but I never thought of shower water... will check into. Some of the furnace and air filters now say they have anti this and anti that on the filters whereas i would like just a plain old filter, no chemicals sprayed on for mould etc... seems chemicals are everywhere these days. Bought a new bed which i could not stand the smell and had difficulty returning unused, man who picked itup said they sometimes spray against mould ... not sure when on ship to Canada or in store but..... store would only give a credit and we didnt want anything else, ended up another store and bought a floor model so any smell had dissipated but I still dont trust the mattress!! J.
p.s. changed my name here and now seems getting messages with both names, but am still me!

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Has anyone with dry eyes been prescribed or tried medically
necessary soft contacts?

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I have dry eyes and have tried many different eye drops but not found any relief from them. What helps me the most is a mask warmed in the microwave and applied to my eyes twice a day for ten minutes and after each application massaging in the direction of the eye lid for 10 counts.

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I suffered terribly with dry eyes most of my adult life. About 10 years ago in the autumn it Became unbearable, I looked like a vampire and tears were running down my cheeks 24 seven (if you have dry eyes you probably understand the irony that dry eyes produce tears to try to compensate but it only makes it worse). I went to a specialist who plugged my tear ducts, which took a matter of seconds and was totally painless and everything changed overnight and I have never had problems since then. I do use natural tears daily during the winter, but I often forget and I have never ever had a problem since having my tear ducts plugged

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Yes. I deal with very dry eyes since I was a teen and it has gotten worse as I got older and I have many symptoms that may be due to an auto-immune disease. I have been diagnosed with fibromyalgia and ME/CFS since 2011, but I suspect these diagnoses are not accurate. I read about Sjogren's syndrome and identify more with that than any of the official diagnoses. I also have peripheral neuropathy which no one understands. I plan to see my fourth neurologist who has peripheral neuropathy as one of the conditions she focuses on. I hope she can figure it out. I have also read the Some Sjogren patients also suffer from peripheral neuropathy.

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@ew100

I have Sjogren 's syndrome which causes dry eye and dry mouth for many years! I also use Allergan's Refresh eye drops twice a day. Just read that Krill oil may help relieve dry eye symptom. Start taking it last week instead of fish oil!

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Hello, just got on this sight and saw your post from 2019. I have all the symptoms of Sjogrens but years ago I went to a specialist who did blood work and said I didn't have it. I have extremely dry eyes, have had plugs in my tear ducts for 20 years and still dry! Always thirsty and my sodium levels are always low, I think from too much water. Thirst wakes me up at night and drink 32 oz of water overnight. I have interstitial cystitis, had severe reflux and have had surgery for that and many more issues that I think are all tied in. If I'm really careful with my diet I do better but my question is how did you get diagnosed?

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@tcokeefe

I suffered terribly with dry eyes most of my adult life. About 10 years ago in the autumn it Became unbearable, I looked like a vampire and tears were running down my cheeks 24 seven (if you have dry eyes you probably understand the irony that dry eyes produce tears to try to compensate but it only makes it worse). I went to a specialist who plugged my tear ducts, which took a matter of seconds and was totally painless and everything changed overnight and I have never had problems since then. I do use natural tears daily during the winter, but I often forget and I have never ever had a problem since having my tear ducts plugged

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I've had the plugs for over 20 years but now as I'm getting older they are getting dry again! I blink so much my grandkids mimic me, My doctor tried putting them in the upper ducts but watered so much I couldn't see!

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....oh wow talk about damned if you do and damned if you dont - same here with dry eyes for many years, my gp refused to test me for sjogrens many years ago... also have p.n, in hands and feet but seems no one believes me, i should refer them to neurologist who diagnosed; never had tears as symptom with dry eyes except but if i cry the salt tears sting my eyes badly and they get so red... seems everyone is slightly different so they should tailor the treatment to the individual... i wish years ago i had tried the little plugs to see if worked but was too scared in those days; so dry eyes as they say have many causes, illness, medications, dry house, not enough tears, or tears evaporate on eyeballs too quickly, and so on... and now am reading on internet the list of actual ingredients in dry eye drops and am amazed when check them out individually how many have side effects could affect "some" users.... including making eyes sore, red, on top of that those of us who have additional eye problems such as glaucoma and those drops; previous laser.... I am very thankful I still have vision but having sore dry, puffy, eyes every day puts a dampener on things plus it hurts! When I was working on dr suggested goggles and maybe would have helped but too proud to wear them!!

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I have dry eyes that result in filamentary keratitis in one eye. I have tried lots of things. Punctal plugs worked really well for me for quite a few years. But now, due to aging, they don’t stay in. What seems to be the most effective right now are the following things:

- using a preservative free eye ointment (like Systane Nighttime) before bed EVERY single night. Don’t ever skip a night

- warm compress twice a day for ten minutes (I use a fabric bag filled with flax seed. But you can buy them. Some people have suggested the Bruder mask I think )

- preservative free eye drops (Retaine MGD, Oasis Tears Plus, Refresh Optive Mega-3)through the day EVERY day (don’t slack off).

-Wrap around goggles when exposing eyes to dry and or moving air (in the car with the heater or air conditioning on, riding a bike, outside if it is windy or dusty ). I wear glasses so I got a pair of prescription wrap around goggles (Wiley x brand) from my optician.

So doing these few things HABITUALLY every single day has helped quite a bit.

Good luck and keep trying things !!

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@saucy

Hello, just got on this sight and saw your post from 2019. I have all the symptoms of Sjogrens but years ago I went to a specialist who did blood work and said I didn't have it. I have extremely dry eyes, have had plugs in my tear ducts for 20 years and still dry! Always thirsty and my sodium levels are always low, I think from too much water. Thirst wakes me up at night and drink 32 oz of water overnight. I have interstitial cystitis, had severe reflux and have had surgery for that and many more issues that I think are all tied in. If I'm really careful with my diet I do better but my question is how did you get diagnosed?

Jump to this post

I have the symptoms of Sjogren but have never been diagnosed. Instead, I've been diagnosed with Fibromyalgia and ME/CFS purely based on symptoms. It is very frustrating, because anything I test for comes out negative. I just learned that there are blood test for Sjorgen, so I intend to inquire about those.

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