A tear of my own | Arthritis Information

Ten days ago I tested zero tears. It has been uncomfortable. I have been using artificial lubricants. I have a day time and night time meds. They have been dissapionting. Just not the same as real tears. Today i woke up with a tiny bit of real moisture. Not alot. Just a little. So horray for a sign of improvement.

Seriously it has been a little scary. I had a liver scare. I have done this before where my disease attacts the liver and well i tryed not to panic to much. It seemed to self resolve. Well maybe the meds helped.

As one would expect i have been tired. Well maybe that is getting a little bit better also.

So I am taking Hydroxychlor 400mg, ten mg of prednisone, Ciprofloxin 500 mg twice daily. And i was able to cut my Vicoden down to twice daily instead of three times daily. Oh yes and my vitamin C.

When ever i get this dry i get bronchitis or a sinus infection or both. Just the lack of moisture leaves me to vulnerable to infection.

I am anxious to see what the next ten days brings as far improvement. Slowly slowly i may be getting a little better.

I don't know if it will help, but I've found that taking a lutein supplement helped me for dry eyes. A woman here at work has very dry eyes and had plugs put in her tear ducts- sounds odd to plug them up but it helped her...I think they're called lacrimal plugs. They plug the ducts so the small amount of tears you produce don't drain out. something like that. my eye doc mentioned them to me last year, as I have severe sjorgren sydrone, but this year when I questioned him about them, he said they can be irritating, so I'm guessin I may no longer be a good candidate since my eyes are now extremely dry. but i've heard they have helped others, it may be something to look into. I had the plugs put in and at the same time started Restasis. My eyes are better so I really do not know which one to give the credit to. I use Restasis, too. Very expensive, but my rheumy told me it's the only thing that can protect the eyes. Mine are also exremely dry. The Restasis makes them a bit more comfortable but they sting when I use it.

Doc said I might need the plugs eventually, but I'm not going to unless I really have to.

Milly, I'm sorry for this latest trial you're going through. It does sound uncomfortable, scary and just really awful overall. I hope you get the relief you need soon. <Hugs>