The Grief Is Devastating

Greetings I’m Stacy, a CDE sufferer and survivor.

Living life with dry eye can be devastating because it sneaks up on you with no debating.

Each and every day is different and many days I want to cry. I bundle up in pain from the itchy, runny dry eyes 👀. This disease of mine is sneaky.

It shows up without any warning. It can be embarrassing and even quite daunting. It hates the drops I use and briefly rolls away through a tear or a cry all in one day.

Chronic dry eye grief

I was diagnosed several years ago not realizing what this thing was. I didn’t understand it because it just does what it does. It causes lots of pain and uncomfortable feelings. It causes me to panic like unintentional dealings.

I’ve tried so many things and so many different drops but my eyes just seem to scream 😱. Just STOP! STOP! STOP!

It’s like no matter what I do, I suffer all day long.

Just like a broken-hearted woman singing a sad chronic song 🎵. Dry eye leave me alone, leave me alone, leave me alonnnnne, lone, lone. Just please leave me alone.

But hey that’s too much to ask of something that doesn’t care. Dry eye is a culprit that will leave you in despair 😩.

Well that’s enough of you dry eye and today I’m deciding to tell you goodbye but since I know it’s temporary, I’ll just hold my head up and be like Mary quite contrary.

I knew it was too good to be true because you showed up the next day to do only what you know how to do. I arose just to greet myself in the mirror with blood shot red eyes 👀, the drops at this point were clearly a disguise 🥸.

I suffered all day no matter what I decided to do, walking around in a daze singing the dry eye blues.

The financial and physical costs of dry eye

Today I had to see my eye doctor and he was quite amazed due to the severity of my dry eye, he wondered how I made it through the day.

He prescribed me some eye drops that were too much for me to afford.

How can I get better when I can’t be on one accord, with the treatments and trying something new, Please! Please! Please! I need a breakthrough.

I left that day but had to return in a month or two to try new treatments that would hopefully see me through. Upon my return things still were not that much better.

The doctor stated that he would now have to treat my dry eye aggressively to get me through this stormy weather. I’ve been seeing my doctor every one month, 2 months, three. Hoping for a better plan to get some freaking relief.

Hoping for change

My journey has been very frustrating and it’s getting harder for me to see. I’m striving to get better because the panic of dry eye is making it harder for me to breathe!

My story may seem similar to the next person that suffers with CDE. However, every story is different but still yet the same.

We all suffer with something that’s not easy to explain or even understand. For many of us our eyes are the windows to our souls but with CDE our windows are blurry and hard to see through.

Walk with me as I walk with you on this journey. Let’s live through each other’s eyes as we create remedies together.

Let’s become better through our stories because our stories can clear the way.