Don’t think I can carry on living with dry eye syndrome anymore

[Bethnalgreenbeth]

Been awake since 5am
eyes been running my life

You need a referral to a dry eye clinic, and tbh if your eyes are as dry as you say, your optician should have told you this long ago.

They need to look at the volume of tears, quality of the tear film, surface of the eye, check for sjogrens, make sure you don't have blepharitis. There are lots of options, the drops, gels and creams, eye massage (don't dismiss this, it is often helpful), punctual plugs, various medications up to cyclosporin.

If you are really suffering then ophthalmologist first. They have lots of different drops, medications and know the most up to date advice and research to help you now. They can also order blood tests for other conditions.

After that you can seek advice about hrt, rheumatology etc but it seems to be that you need the pain to be sorted asap and for that you need a corneal specialist ophthalmologist.

This sounds like advice from an eye professional. I agree totally.

Use Biotene for dry mouth.

Also, this is a lesser known symptoms of perimenopuase*, ditto dry eyes and given your age and mention of achey and painful arms, plus night sweats and not sleeping well makes me pretty certain you would benefit from some HRT.

*You can still have regular periods when going through perimenopause.

Have you only tried the red hycosan? These are not that great for severe dry eyes.

systane preservative free drops in the vials are very good. This is the gold standard drop that the dry eye clinics advise. Initially you can buy in boots. Don’t dismiss that. They are much more viscous that the red hyco san.

These are gold standard drops. There is quite a lot in one vial and I was told to spread it out throughout the day.

It’s interesting that a few people have said HRT solved/improved their dry eye symptoms, because the largest cross-sectional study to date found that long-term HRT increases the risk and severity of dry eye symptoms. The researchers found that larger doses corresponded to worse symptoms. Also, the longer women took hormone replacements, the more severe their dry eye symptoms became.

Other risk factors for dry eye include:
Being female, being overweight 50yp, computer use, previous laser eye surgery, some medications including antidepressants, antihistamines and diuretics, vitamin A deficiency, anxiety and depression (even without medication), sedentary lifestyle hepatitis C, bone marrow transplant, contact lens use, metabolic syndrome.

I know this because I was going out of my fucking mind with it. So I searched and searched and stumbled upon an NHS dry eye clinic advice sheet online (for practitioners to read not patients). I looked at all of the treatment options and drops and googled what was suggested for their most severe patients and how often to put the drop in etc.

**being over 50 years old

This sounds like advice from an eye professional. I agree totally.

I need to clarify that I am not an eye professional! But I did work at Moorfields for some years and had a lot of involvement with the dry eye service.

@CheeseMeltCracker

I had a couple of them. When it started I was quite stressed, I was definitely very overweight and was eating far, far too much sugar (which I do do when I’m stressed). This was coupled with far, far too much iPhone usage. I mean a ridiculous amount really.

Heavy computer usage at work, coupled with a compulsive iPhone addiction. I had also just got a new Nexplanon implant inserted for contraceptive purposes so I do think there was a hormonal link too, I think it was a couple of factors combined really and a couple of years prior I had to completely abandon contact lens usage as I had totally overworn them too. They’re seeing a LOT more severe dry eye these days.

Oh OP, I've been there and completely understand. My GP was an "eye expert" and refused to refer me to the hospital eye clinic. I was referred the day after he retired and it changed my life.
Now on Ikervis 3x a day (single use drops)
Thealoz Duo (hourly)
Ketotifen (twice a day for allergies)
Plus various steroids when it gets bad and use hydrocortisone on my eyelids daily.

The only thing I can suggest is Googling your local hospitals to find the nearest emergency eye clinic and see if you can get an appointment. Or see if your optician knows how to get an appointment with the clinic.

Good luck

Do you have an eye hospital in your nearest city with eye a&e? They are not open 24/7 so check the hours before going but my advice is to go there yourself. They can give advice, refer etc

Have you tried Hycosan night (I also use the day droppers) Vaseline like consistency. Heat masks didn't help me much.

I am sorry, how awful for you. I think you should make an appointment with your local NHS eye clinic - urgent community eye services. Look up your nearest in the NHS website.

I have a friend with similar who finds a tablespoon of flaxseed oil twice a day helps. Doesn't taste very nice, and is a more long term measure for improving it, but they definitely worsen if they stop taking it.

The optician will have looked at most of those already, the criteria for referral has probably changed and you need to have tried all the over the counter meds first before the referral will be accepted.

Massage is only going to be useful if there is MGD, rather than aqueous deficiency.

It's easier to be seen by an ophthalmologist first and they can refer over if they think Sjogrens is an issue.

Anyway, as I said before, you need to go back to your opticians/gp and say that you cannot sleep as your eyes are so painful and ask for a referral as you've tried all the over the counter options. There is no reason for them not to.

Are you near Moorfields? Go to A&E if your GP won’t refer. At night you can use a thicker ointment - my eye hospital prescribes Xailin Night Lubricating Eye Ointment or this:
And make sure you are using the red Hycosan and use it very regularly. Again, my eye hospital prescribes this. You need to be seen by a specialist.

I would second Xailin eye ointment for at night. I have thyroid eye disease and the dryness is the worst part about it. When my eyes were bulging and I couldn’t even close them, I used the thick ointment with bandages over them to force them closed.

I take a good quality selenium supplement, as recommended by all the consultants at Moorfields. Selenium is good for general eye health as well as dry eyes. I really feel for you. It is very debilitating.

Im
an hour from moorfields

if I went there would they see me
I could go on the train

but would they say I’m out of the area ?

im going to try n get some of those systane preservative free vials form boots today

also eatting flaxseeds and have been for couple of months 20g a day

I’m not over weight I’ve actually lost a good stone and a half for no real reason which is also worrying

only thing gp prescribed to try was carbomer. Gel which isn’t even as lubricating as hycosan

things I’ve tired so far
optase eye spray
hycosan sheild
hycosan eye ointment
carbomer gel
thealoz eye drops and also the gel
😰😰

The Xalin night eye ointment is the same ingredients as hycosan night

Anyone can walk into Moorfields, it’s an A&E. They will see you x

Also tried acupuncture

I used to have horrific dry eyes and dry mouth & lips too. What totally changed it for me was a radical change to diet. Masses more green leafy veg of every variety. Aiming for 30 different plant-based foods a week, not excluding meat etc and ditching the sugar. Sugar is a major contributor to drying out. It changed my life.

Really I thought they might be like
you don’t live local to here you are from one hour away

Drink lots more water.
Supplement more, try different ones.
Pre goop your eyes at bedtime with a thick one.
Eye mask at night to keep eyes shut.

Push for referral.