For day 3 of my Sjogren's Awareness month posts, I will be discussing dry eyes. As I have stated previously I have been living with dry eyes, for many, many years. Over the years I have seen various doctor types, don't want to knock non doctors, but I have never had good luck, and I always ask to see a doctor now for myself, and my children. I have been told it is allergies, see an eye doctor, try this eye drop, try that eye drop, but never getting an answer as to why my eyes were dry and gritty almost every day of my life. I do see an eye doctor, it has been a few years, but my eyes don't really change much. I wear readers bought from the dollar store, and that was all that was prescribed to me basic reading glasses. I was told there was no eye disease, and I believe that. Now that I am finally heading towards answers, I can concentrate on treatment plans.
Dry eyes is not as distracting as dry mouth, in my opinion, but it can be painful, and cause blurred vision. Because I have kidney involvement, with probably Sjogren's my options are not as broad as others may have. Talk to your doctor about prescription eye drops if you think you need them. I use just natural tears, or soothing tears, both bought over the counter, and have no medication in them. I also have light sensitivity, which can be quite awful, especially when fluorescent lights are being used. I worked night shift for years, one reason was to avoid all those fluorescent lights everyone uses. When I did work day shift, I would go home with the worst headache every single day. I wear sunglasses almost always when outside, even when it is cloudy. People used to stare and ask me if I was hiding something. I would just tell them yes, my glowing eyes. We live in Florida, so adding humidity into the house, when you want to remove humidity, is kind of silly. But, if you can use a humidifier by your bedside, or a bigger one for the whole house, it would be a great idea. Wash your eyes with warm water and a clean cloth. Carry clean, sterile cloths with you to dampen your eyes as needed. You can even spritz them with a spritz bottle, but carrying eye drops works too. I haven't discovered too many things that actually help dry eyes, so if you do something awesome let me know in the comments. Don't forget antihistamines, and other drugs may cause dry eyes as a side effect. Don't ever stop taking your meds without discussing with your doctor. There may be another medication you could switch.
Please share this blog post, and the others I am doing as well, to increase awareness to this disease. Use the hashtag #thisissjogrens. Visit the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation website to get all kinds of awesome info.
Remember this is my personal blog, my personal experiences with getting diagnosed with Sjogrens, and kidney disease. I am not giving medical advice, nor should anything I say be taken as medical advice.
Dry eyes is not as distracting as dry mouth, in my opinion, but it can be painful, and cause blurred vision. Because I have kidney involvement, with probably Sjogren's my options are not as broad as others may have. Talk to your doctor about prescription eye drops if you think you need them. I use just natural tears, or soothing tears, both bought over the counter, and have no medication in them. I also have light sensitivity, which can be quite awful, especially when fluorescent lights are being used. I worked night shift for years, one reason was to avoid all those fluorescent lights everyone uses. When I did work day shift, I would go home with the worst headache every single day. I wear sunglasses almost always when outside, even when it is cloudy. People used to stare and ask me if I was hiding something. I would just tell them yes, my glowing eyes. We live in Florida, so adding humidity into the house, when you want to remove humidity, is kind of silly. But, if you can use a humidifier by your bedside, or a bigger one for the whole house, it would be a great idea. Wash your eyes with warm water and a clean cloth. Carry clean, sterile cloths with you to dampen your eyes as needed. You can even spritz them with a spritz bottle, but carrying eye drops works too. I haven't discovered too many things that actually help dry eyes, so if you do something awesome let me know in the comments. Don't forget antihistamines, and other drugs may cause dry eyes as a side effect. Don't ever stop taking your meds without discussing with your doctor. There may be another medication you could switch.
Please share this blog post, and the others I am doing as well, to increase awareness to this disease. Use the hashtag #thisissjogrens. Visit the Sjogren's Syndrome Foundation website to get all kinds of awesome info.
Remember this is my personal blog, my personal experiences with getting diagnosed with Sjogrens, and kidney disease. I am not giving medical advice, nor should anything I say be taken as medical advice.
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