My eyes are dry.
They were dry last winter. Not so bad during the summer.
Dry again now.
I don't have forced air heating, and thank god for that, or it would be horrible. As it is, I take off my contacts as soon as I get home and use eye drops repeatedly throughout the evening and when I wake up in the night. I also use them at work during the day, particularly in the afternoon.
When I asked my rheumatologist about it last year, she said "sicca" something. Or something "sicca."
I know it's dry eyes related to the rheumatoid arthritis diagnosis because I didn't have dry eyes before and they're sooooooo dry. Is it actually Sjögren's Syndrome? Are my other mucous membranes drier than they were before? Could be. Not so dry as my eyes. And even those aren't so dry that I can't wear my contact lenses. Woohoo! I hate wearing my glasses. I have horrible eyesight and they're heavy and have really thick lenses and I can't just buy any old frames, and in winter glasses fog all up when it's cold out and you go inside and, well, I could just go on, but the long and the short of it is, I just hate wearing glasses. So there.
Dry eyes. That's what I have.
Add it to the list.
Like you needed a longer list :(
ReplyDeleteIf I drink extra water, my eyes are less dry. Don't know if you've tried that. Or a room humidifier? I hope winter weather ends soon and with it, the dry eyes.
Great, one more thing to add to the list eh?
ReplyDeleteCant help with this one, but it's funny how people who need glasses hate them. I don't need them but think they're pretty stylish, especially proper vintage frames! But I'd feel like a right twat if I wore clear lenses, it's so poserish. Haha
At least summer's on its way - hopefully you'll feel better again!
I have dry eyes also, don't wear contacts though. Hang in there, winter will be over soon ... maybe.
ReplyDeleteDang, Laurie. Just what you need--another RA-induced condition. I tend to have dry eyes myself, though they're not bad, and I'm good with wearing my glasses. I hope you, with the help of your rheumatologist or your opthalmologist, will soon come up with an answer.
ReplyDeleteSending warmth, comfort and hugs your way.
-Wren
keratoconjuntivitis sicca - that must be it. I have had good luck with Restasis. It's a prescription that just became available in Canada and it works really well for some people.
ReplyDeleteThey do suggest saline eye drops for this. You don't want them to get too dry. I also got some big wraparound sunglasses at Shoppers that help in the wind. Watch out for the "get the red out" types of drops - You can get addicted to them
And here's the Sjogren's Canada web site
http://www.sjogrenscanada.org/
Annette
Hey all,
ReplyDeleteThanks, as always, for commenting! So nice to know you're out there and following along with my trials and tribulations!
I'll mention the dry eyes thing again to my rheumatologist when I see her for my regular followup next Monday. She did mention a product called Aguify, which can be used with contacts and isn't just a "get red eyes out" thing – thanks for mentioning that, Annette, that is important to know!
Squirrel, I'd love funky glasses, too, and wouldn't mind so much if I could wear them, but my lenses are seriously so thick that I can't just buy whatever old lenses I want. They have to be quite small – so the lenses don't look like coke bottles! – but thick framed – to actually hold those thick lenses! – so any of those cool geek-type frames are actually out as they're too big!! Dang!! And I can't go the opposite route and try to get invisible-looking frames as they're too delicate. I'm doomed re glasses.... :(