Dry Eyes...any advice appreciated!

dibdab

Hello all,

RA, the disease that keeps on giving :oops: . I've had an achy eye socket for a couple of days and earlier today realised I've burst a blood vessel in my eye so I now have a blood red eye ball, it's most off putting. I popped to the local walk in clinic who sent me to A&E to get it checked. The eye nurse has diagnosed dry eyes as a result of RA as a probable cause and given me artificial tears which she tells me is a forever thing....to add to the enormous range of meds I already take

So, I was wondering if anyone here has practical experience/advice to share to make living with it easier? Some days the whole nonsense of living with this ridiculous disease just feels a bit over whelming, but I guess I'm still way better off than many who deal with much worse.....so for now I explain to the nearest and dearest why I look so ridiculous and get to grips with putting stuff in my eyes 4 times a day, but oh how I wish I could have just a few days of feeling healthy.

Winge over, thanks for listening,I needed to get that off my chest and my poor hubby must be getting tired of hearing about what else in my ridiculous body has gone wrong.

Deb

stickywicket

Sorry, Deb. This particular nasty has escaped me so far. I expect it'll just be a matter of keeping taking the drops. I'm thinking straws and camels, right?

dibdab

Indeed SW, sometimes it's quite a small straw that topples the camel

trepolpen

hi Deb

I had blotting up in each eye for 5 or 10 mins & it was still totaly dry afterwards , so been taking hypromellose ever since + sometimes use a dry eye drop from Boots with no preservative

as for RA keep giving , I have had other problems with my eyes like episcleritis and scleritis & now because I take to many steriod raised eye pressure which is controlled by more drops

get your eye sight done regulary & do hypromellose atleast 4 times a day & everything should be fine , had RA 22 years now & dry eyes for most of it , just keep a check & dont mess with & your sight will be fine

dibdab

Due for my annual eye test around now, but I thought I'd wait for the burst blood vessel to settle for a couple of weeks. I have to say the gel tears seem to make things more comfortable, and I'm getting the hang of putting them in now. Our eyes are indeed precious, and as I have a grandparent on both sides that lost sight due to glaucoma I'm very careful to get regular vision checks.

Deb