I'm thankful for Refresh, as well, @reneewise50, and use gel at night and lubricant during the day, as you do. The only difference is that it doesn't seem to matter to my eyes what brand I use. Equate, from Walmart, is what I use now, as it's the cheapest. Living on Social Security Disability, cheap is good - most of the time. I started using it when my ophthalmologist told me that my dry eyes were the probable cause of double vision. I still have double vision, but my eyes do feel better. Maybe the cataract surgery I'm having next month will help that.

Jim

Hi Frank my name is Joan. I too have dry eye syndrome. It can be very painful and bothersome. Every four hrs eye moisture drops and I refuse to get eye plugs. Medications also can dry the eyes out. My doctor has me do an eye "wash". A warm cloth, place at the eyelid for 30 seconds, and it allows the moisture from between the eyelashes also to moisten the eyes.That surprised me and it helps. I do it 2x/day. He said to keep using the drops. I had uveitis years ago in 1993 and was told it was from arthritis (which I hardly had and was young). Hope you find answers. They do have longer acting eye drops to keep the eyes moist.

I was diagnosed many yrs ago with dry eye I was blinking every 2 seconds and driving home off night duty was a nightmare as my eyes felt as they were not only sore but clouding over.The eye surgeon Px'd Restasis eye drops . I have no extended benefits and are expensive as they come in a box of 30 pippets to use twice a day then you are supposed to throw the pippet out . My eye dr told me to not throw them out as they do not start to deteriorate so to keep them in a little sealed pill bottle.1 pippet lasts about 3 days now. When I 1st used them they stung like a buggar but 'I carried on for England' anyway long story short I now use them only once a day which is great as they now last me double the time.The Dr has told me to definitely NOT go back to the twice a day ( not sure why) and to just use a moisturings drop of an OTC . Restasis doesn't work like normal eye drops they actually stimulate your tear ducts to produce tears,it's NOT a cure though so will have to use them for life,small price to pay though. Hope this is useful Warren

I'm a 65yr old female who had always struggled even in my 20's with contacts whichever ones I tried but was never diagnosed with dry eye. When I was 49 I decided to get cateract surgery as opposed to laser due to that causing dry eye in some people who didn't have it before. Over the yrs that followed ( probably due to my age and having fibromyalgia) my eyes were constantly gritty. In my 50's I was diagnosed with Glaucoma by an eye surgeon here in Nanaimo,BC who told me I had really bad 'Dry Eyes'.After a long discussion about how long I had felt this awful condition which was worse when I had to do my 2 X 12 hr shifts on night as a nurse he Px me Restasis eye drops,It has changed my life. I have been using them now for about 9 yrs and have gone down from twice a day to once a day. I always carry around some OTC drops for those odd days when they might still feel a little dry of I get a bit of mascara in my eye. They are expensive but the eye Dr gives me a discount card when I see him once a yr which gives me 3 boxes at half price.

Hi, Warren. I'm Lee. I use a prescription Restasis for my dry eyes and I have to use it first thing in the a.m., then after supper. Have you tried that? BTW -- I would just think you were a very cool steam punker.

Hi Warren, My name is Woogie. I am an old lady now but haven't always been. When I was in high school, my eyes started itching, hurting, they felt exactly like they had sandpaper in them. My mother took me to the doctor and we found out I had conjunctivitis. I got a prescription for it and thank God, that cleared it up. Have you been to the doctor? Now, I have severely dry eyes and rub them constantly. My doctor said to use otc eye drops. He said you can do it frequently during the day. I forget to do it and now my neck hurts so bad I am in pain from multiple places. I have fibromyalgia which I was diagnosed with in 1980. I have severe spinal stenosis which causes immense pain in back and legs. I take pain pills from the pain clinic but they are not enough. In fact, he recently took one away from me because I asked him for muscle relaxor. Two weeks ago, I took a flying trip and hit the top of my head so hard, I was knocked almost unconscious. I had a cat scan and learned my neck C4 continous has been fractured. I have an appointment next week with a surgeon and pray to God that I do not have to have surgery. I also have a huge bulge in my esophagus and need surgery on hernia. I am praying for better health for everyone and that we all believe.

Hi Warren, I have dry eyes from Sjogren's Disease and my ophthmologist told me to use artificial tears to prevent damage to my eyes. I had been going to an optomotist and he said it was "the aging process". My PC sent me to an opthomologist and he said my right eye was so dry that I had scratches on my cornea and it was lucky I had come in as I could have gone blind in that eye. He had me using Systane non preservative every 15 minutes and Systane Ultra as needed. I am also on Restasis and Genteal gel for severe dry eye. Once my eyes were better, he put plugs in them. Dry eye is a dangerous disease. Please let me know how you are doing. Good luck

I have a similar problem, but it is not quite as bad. I know I got zero on the Schirmer test so I basically got the worst value. Have you tried eyelid scrubbing (they sell wipes for this) and that really expensive eye drop medication that takes 6 months to start working or even the sterile individually packed eye drops?

Frank, When I was in high school, I had conjunctivitis, my eyes were red, felt like sand in my eyes, hurting, burning. I only know they hurt for a long time. My mother took me to the eye doctor and he diagnosed it, gave me prescriptions for it. They helped immensely. Have you gotten help from any eye doctor? Whatever he prescribed was a miracle to me!

Hi Warren, please look into Corneal neuropathy. This is a relatively new diagnosis. We had to travel to Boston to get tested. There is some medical journal articles that explain it best. I tried to add a link, but I am not allowed to in this sight. The diagnosis can only be made after using a special microscope to look at the surface of the eye. We saw many opthomologist before finding Dr Pegram Harrah who has this microscope. There are only eight of them in the world. The treatment includes using tears made out of your own blood to regenerate the nerves in the cornea.
It turns out that my son may also have Small fiber neuropathy as well, causing migrating pain all over.