Feeling hopeless about dry eye

I can't handle dry eye anymore. I feel paralyzed by it. I hate the way my eyes look and feel and it's making me depressed. I don't know what to do anymore

 

To the point where I don't want to leave my house...

 

When I went on a whole foods plant based diet my dry eye went away completely. That wasn't the reason I went on the diet so there was no expectation of improvement. There were also numerous other health improvements that coincided with the diet.

Do you wear contact lenses?

 

I eat pretty healthy as it is. No I do not.

 

How much water are you drinking per day? Are you taking any medications that could contribute to your dry eyes?

I thought I was eating a healthy diet too but when I bumped up the fruits and veggies, got rid of processed food, and dropped the oil my dry eye went away. My eye prescription also had to be lowered 2 notches, my blood pressure dropped 35 points, and I lost 25 lbs.

I don't mean to ignore the possible TMS component. That's a real possibility. I hope others chime in with there thoughts on this.

 

I don't know exactly, but probably not enough. I guess I'll try to eat more fruits and veggies. Everyone seems to say it's tms. Thanks for your input.

 

I would focus on the water first. That's easy and in some cases gives quick results. My optometrist also suggested hot packs over the eyes. I bought a gel mask for this and it did help but I don't need it anymore as the problem seems to be resolved.

Best of luck I hope you get some improvement soon!

 

Thank you for the tips! How long did it take you?

 

It was years ago so I can't remember exactly. The gel mask helped within a couple of days and there was slow improvement after that, which correlated with the dietary changes. I could only wear my contacts for 2 hours when I had the dry eye but now I am good for 10-12 hours.

 

Ahh gotcha. Mine has been going on for 3 months but I haven' really started treating it as the tms until now. I was treating acid reflux as tms and that went away and this took it's place. I got lax with using the tools when I started feeling better and endured a pretty stressful time earlier this fall.

 

Can you cry? If you can cry, it isn't a physical problem. It's TMS. Keep telling your brain that. Dry eyes is one of the most clear of the TMS diagnosis, I think. If you are capable of producing tears when you cry, then it's TMS.

 

I can cry. Okay I'll keep telling myself that. Thank you so much

 

Marcia please can you tell me more about the crying thing? I've been told I have Sjogren's Syndrome (autoimmune condition that causes dry eyes, dry mouth etc) but I can still cry normal tears. But my eyes get painfully dry to the point that I've been told they are classed as severe and not putting drops in them when they hurt will lead to damage. So it's not something I can ignore. Really keen to hear of successes with Sjogren's though.

 

That sounds like evidence that it could in fact be TMS. Maybe time to get back to the tools? in the meantime more water can't hurt and it could help. Have you tested positive for autoimmune (ANA test)? Also, don't rule out the plant based diet. It changed my life!

 

No I have not been tested.

 

I was told by an eye doctor friend that the "dry eye" thing is being promoted to sell prescriptions. He said, if you can cry real tears then you don't have a physical problem based in your eyes or ducts or tear production. So, any treatment is topical and not handling the problem. You might not drink enough water, or take decongestions, or be eating or drinking things that dehydrate your system: alcohol, coffee, tea, etc. But, it's not a disease. It's a result of an imbalance.
ONLY if you can't produce tears at all when crying, is there something wrong with your eyes.

 

Hi All,

This is another very helpful thread.

Thank you!
AC45

 

I wanted to let you know that I finally saw an opthalmologist and he said my eyes were only slightly dry. Again nothing to worry about. It's amazing what the brain can do.

 

My opthalmologist said the same. Slightly dry, just a few dry spots on my eye. So, there was NO organic/physical REASON for me to suffer so badly. She even said I shouldn't use eyedrops because my eyes really weren't all that dry as I thought/felt they were AND even said my body should be able to fix the slight dryness by itself because I'm still young. So, def TMS.

 

Yeah mine said it was from studying so much in grad school.