What the fuck is wrong and do I really want to know?

[Nirvana]

>Must show Sam Aleve commercial..<

Really...

I had no idea you were in that kind of pain yikes! I hope they figure it out soon!

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by Nirvana

>Must show Sam Aleve commercial..<

Really...

I had no idea you were in that kind of pain yikes! I hope they figure it out soon!

Yeah, I've seen those cute aleve commercials. That stuff may work down at the soup kitchen, but it's just one more thing that no longer works very well for me.

Meanwhile my health is going downhill at an impressive rate. Did I mention the thing with my eyes? Well, they're in on all this too. They've gone on strike when it comes to producing tears. This results in more than just no moist eyes during sad movies. If anyone here has accidently worn their contacts too long and ended up with a really, really painful abrasion of the cornea, that's about how it feels.

My dry eye episodes come and go, and yesterday one came on with a vengence. Usually I just get some OTC drops and soldier on as best I can until my eyes clear up in 2 or 3 days. But yesterday was really, really bad. Drops didn't do much and I'd promised to frame a photograph for someone and they were supposed to have had it a week ago. I could barely see, but I was determined to finish the job. I was hunched down over the frame when the edge of the photograph popped free and cut me straight across my dry right cornea. Like when you get a paper cut on your finger only on the eye instead.

That hurt my already painful eye like a son of a bitch. I laid down with compresses on both eyes, gritting my teeth until this morning when I could call the eye doctor (MD). Turns out that the Lost Corners is not graced by the presence of an opthamolgic specialist until tomorrow. Where's Spexx when I need him?

They referred me to a regular optomitrist to get the pain treated right away until I can see a medical doctor. The optomitrist told me I had a deep cut across the cornea of my right eye and that my left eye has several abrasions, as well. He put a special contact lens in my right eye that serves as a sort of "bandage" for my cornea.

I want to be checked out by an MD, though, and have him send his findings to my primary care. I feel a need to get medical documentation of what's been happening to me to prove I'm not just making all this stuff up. That trip to Denver to see a specialist looms ever larger in my future.

Meanwhile, I attended my first Aspirin Anonymous meeting today. But all that stuff in the Steps about God really turned me off. Plus, for the entire meeting my eyes and my bones were playing the pain card. I figured just one little aspirin couldn't hurt me, but at the end of the meeting I scampered down the back alley to score THREE aspirins from the local dealer. They've already worn off though and I can't see to drive in the dark to get more. Heck, I can barely see to type this, so I'm going to end this post.

I feel so ANGRY that my body has turned against me this way. I've been getting sicker and having increasing pain since early December. This is just unacceptable, especially when my vision is now involved (I put my page settings at 300x zoom so I could see to type this). I've even decided that if the choice is between going on narcotics versus becoming a semi-invalid, then bring on the dilaudid! Ouch and grrrrrrr!

[xoxoxoBruce]

That sucks, make your body a the priority.

[Griff]

whs!

[DanaC]

Sam, have you tried 'viscotears'? My mum has dry eye macular degeneration and they're the only drops thathelp when she's having a bad time with them.

[eta] damnit, I just checked and they aren't available in the US due to license restrictions

[eata] ha! they are available online from Canada though :p

http://www.canadadrugs.com/family/Vi...0-%20OTC/6443/

[Sundae]

I recommended those to a colleague just the other day!

I bought them on advice of a pharmacist (colleague) when I worked for the NHS. I was suffering after my laser surgery. Good stuff them.

Terri (VW van, remember?) used them as well because of her rheumatoid arthritis, which dried her eyes out.

[Nirvana]

They give so much of the same stuff here for eyes that they give to dogs. I had an old girl that came back to me at 14 yrs when the owner had Alzhimers she did not notice this poor gal had kerato conjunctivitis sicca {dry eye] she died last year at 16yrs old. I have all kinds of new tubes of Optimune which is cyclosporin or restasis for people, a steroid eye ointment, atropine, antibacterial etc. Some of this crap is about $50 a tube I bet its $100 for people. Anyhoo just a nosy question do you drink diet soda {pop}?

[IamSam]

Originally Posted by xoxoxoBruce

That sucks, make your body a the priority.

Thanks, Bruce. Right now my body wouldn't have it any other way!

Dana – Do the Canadian pharma’s require a prescription for 'viscotears'? Most of the OTC products for eyes that are available here in the US don’t do very much for severe cases of dry eye. Although, there’s some new thing out that the optometrist claimed was the cat’s meow. It should be at $35.00 for a single teeny bottle of the stuff. I can’t afford it.

Originally Posted by Nirvana

They give so much of the same stuff here for eyes that they give to dogs. I had an old girl that came back to me at 14 yrs when the owner had Alzhimers she did not notice this poor gal had kerato conjunctivitis sicca {dry eye] she died last year at 16yrs old. I have all kinds of new tubes of Optimune which is cyclosporin or restasis for people, a steroid eye ointment, atropine, antibacterial etc. Some of this crap is about $50 a tube I bet its $100 for people. Anyhoo just a nosy question do you drink diet soda {pop}?

Back in the day, I drank gallons of diet pepsi. I don't see how I stood that stuff because I dislike almost all diet drinks these days. Now I prefer tea, either hot or cold, as well as fruit juice. Why is there a correlation between the artificial stuff they use for lo-cal sweeteners and eye problems?

I’m pretty sure that I have one of the autoimmune diseases like fibromyalgia or CFS. I especially like SJÖGREN'S SYNDROME as the cause of my symptoms including the dry eye thing. Plus it sounds so much more exotic than fibromyalgia which everyone and their brother claims to have these days.

I need to get two more medical tests and then I’ll make an appointment with my primary care to discuss all this, including him prescribing me painkillers that actually work for when I have a bad spell like this. I sure hope he doesn't turn out to be one of those MD's who is skeptical of auto-immune syndromes.

Thank you all for your support and suggestions. I'm feeling better today!

[DanaC]

Not sure about Canada, but over here it's otc. And very effective. As I say, mum uses it and she has uber dry eyes from the macula degeneration.


[eta] according to the website, it's over the counter for Canada too. You can buy online:

http://www.canadadrugs.com/group/Vis...00.2%25/22237/

The smallest tube is 10grams, at $8.15. But taking postage into account you might want to get a bigger order. Dont know how much the postage is mind.

It is way more effective than anything else on the market as far as mum can tell, and she's tried a hell of a lot of different stuffs, most of which were total pants.

[Nirvana]

http://www.thisthatandeverything.com...FUZV4AodpHoA5w

This stuff works well too no antibiotics and over the counter. I found it online for $20 and up here its only $9.90 There are other choices on this page too.

[Sundae]

Just to say, Sam - when I was recovering from laser surgery I literally could not open my eyes first thing in the morning. When I did I had severe pain. Basically, my eyes were so dry I was removing a layer of cells from my eyeball. It wasn't dangerous (cells are lickle after all) but IT FUCKING HURT.

I had this diagnosis on 7th July 2005.
I came home from my very early appointment and sat down for a couple of minutes before going to work. They didn't expect me in until lunchtime anyway.

I caught the news. And I cried. And I cried some more. I don't know if dry eyes are cured by tears. I never want to test it again at any rate.

Didn't go into work that day.

[monster]

Sam, Dana is in the UK. Viscotears is apparently available on Amazon and it's main ingredient is carbomer.

UK peeps... barely anything has the same brand name over here, especially medical stuff.

[DanaC]

Well, Viscotears isn't licensed for US at all under any name (as I pointed out) but is for Canada, so figured it would be available online that way. The main ingredient may be carbomer, but whether equivalent products in the US are actually the same is a different matter. According to some of the stuff online it doesn't seem like it is.