Stabbing eye pain

We had a conversation about this recently and I can't find it... hopefully those participating will also see this post.

But I saw another ophthalmologist to try to get to the bottom of this stabbing eye pain. I have other sx - infrequent floaters and blurry vision sometimes and the loss of peripheral vision resolved last year.

Admittedly I have attributed this to yeast/fungal or biofilm issues or Lyme & Co damage. And all the sx are gone or certainly so much better now - except the stabbing pain.

But And during the previous conversation about this someone piped up to suggest that their eye MD suggested this happens when the "skin" of the eyeball gets dry (or that's how my MD explained it)...

and I quickly recoiled with "no way"! My eyes do not look or feel dry. It can't possibly be something that simple.

Well, this doc did a bunch of tests - even a 3-d photo imaging and everything looked good. And he said he could tell just by looking at my eyes that they were very dry. LOL

He suggested that perhaps it wasn't as "loud" a sx as most of the other sx people like us deal with. And he said with all the stuff we're on and the antimicrobials and who-knows-what-else... it's not at all suprising that our eyes get dry.

So the good news is he found nothing else so we're going to try these eye drops and, well, yes. My eyes feel better after one day of drops. Only time will tell if the stabbing pain is also resolved. The active ingredient is polyethylene glycol. The first inactive ingredient listed is boric acid. ;)

But I apologize to all the eye specialists out there for being dismissive. We Lymees do find ourselves in the habit of questioning what we're told. Often. But for good reason.

Still, I should have looked harder into the possibility of dryness a very long time ago. ;)

-p

Post Edited (Pirouette) : 11/9/2017 8:08:09 AM (GMT-7)

Timely post. My son was just complaining about his eyes this morning (like many mornings). Thanks for sharing.

Warmly -

Peppermint Tea

I started a post last week about my eyes.

Super dryness appeared suddenly and caused me to scratch my cornea. I received abx ointment and was told to use PRESERVATIVE-FREE eye drops from Systane. They come in single-use vials so half of it gets thrown out :-/. So I prop them up in a pill case or shot glass and just reuse it within 1-2 hours.

This also came with pain behind my eyes and I’ve had that stabbing sensation once or twice in the past year. The headaches have increased lately as well when I ramped up treatment.

My LLMD says it’s likely autoimmune, like Sjögren’s Syndrome - induced by Lyme and will resolve with treatment. Yes, my mouth and bowels are dry too.

The past two days have been much better though. I’ve only used the drops in the AM and before bed. They always get worse at night, and I find myself waking up rubbing my eyes. That’s how I scratched my cornea in the first place. :-(

I did not use the Xiidra drops I was prescribed by the optometrist - the side effects (burning, long-term blurriness) and bad reviews were not worth it to me. I’m curious if anyone else has tried them. They are new and I don’t generally trust drugs untested by time.

Also, adding a pinch of Celtic sea salt to a bottle of water has helped everything absorb. I alternate drinking salt and plain water through the day.

Loutucky said...
Pirouette, I just wanted to second what BabsBunny said. I was also told to only use preservative free drops. I could only find them in the single one time use vials with about 30 in a box.

On the plus side, they’re BOGO 50% off at Walgreens and Rite-Aid this week, and there’s a coupon floating around. And for once, the solution is not another pill to schedule into my day (I have 6 pill cases now )

I developed this and my GP suggested i go for an eye test...i have been having deterioration virtually every year. He did an air test and the normal time it takes for eyes to dry is around 20 secs...mine took 5 secs. he told me to buy contact lens drops...cheap ones and contact lens eye wash and they do alleviate it for a while. I still get the problems with painful eyes, where i can't open my eyes on waking up and they feel like a cartoon bulgy eye. I also stopped driving because of the spatial problems/blurring and i am a nightmare in the passenger seat...i am convinced i am going to be in some sort of accident due to feeling like everything is too close, breaking is not quick enough and now avoid car travel etc due to the stress.

there are two problems i had with vision
- change in vision - partial vision loss - basically you still see but u no longer see clearly or the light is not as bright as it should be, it's darker. this is optic neuritis and it's the same thing you feel in the feet when u have pins and needles. this is "optical pins and needles" it means nerve damage. this one, im sorry but it's an autoimmune response, your only chance to get it under control is to get the bacteria number lower and pray your immune system calms down. it may or it may not. it's not a direct action of the bacteria against your nerve, it's indirect, immune system attacking the nerves. i still have this even if i am on full dose antibiotics for 2+ months mino+rifampin+zithromax...


- pain at the eyeballs, itchy eyes, dry eyes etc.... - this was much worse for me and i was not able to read anything. this got better with antibiotics, rifampin and zitrhomax. i saw quick response to this, in 1 month or so, so i think this was bartonella in the eye.