My Dry Eye Story

Sitting in the lobby during a much-needed break from entering data into spreadsheets, I felt the overwhelming desire to just close my eyes.

Not soon after, a kind lady a few rooms down noticed my shaken appearance and asked, “are you sleepy?”

I replied “yes,” which was only partly true. I had a full night’s rest, my body was ready to work, I was ready to work. All except for my eyes.

My eyes were exhausted; my lids wanted to stay shut, and I could tell that they had had enough. It was a very confusing experience. The painful and frightening sensation I felt when trying to focus my eyes on everyday objects was completely alien to me.

The job of entering legal documents into a spreadsheet was a new experience for me. Most everyone I worked alongside seemed to be doing well and had been doing it for a while.

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I thought it would be the same for me.

Dry eye symptoms emerge

It had never occurred to me that spending that much time working in front of a screen reading hundreds of documents a week would have this effect on me.

The first month wasn’t too bad, but by month two, I started to notice symptoms.

It took me maybe another month to realize that I possibly needed help.

In the very beginning when my symptoms started to appear, I would always try to rationalize the pain and discomfort. I would tell myself that these symptoms are temporary and would eventually disappear. Finally, I decided that these symptoms were not going to go away and my eyes were, in fact, getting worse. It was time to see a doctor.

Finding the right eye doctor

I visited my local optometrist.

The doctor was able to diagnose me virtually right away after seeing that the tears in my eyes dried up in a matter of seconds.

She also noticed that my meibomian glands had taken damage and would have difficulty lubricating my eyes without assistance.

She gave me a list of medications such as Xiidra, over-the-counter eye drops, and omega 3’s. She also recommended that I wear a bruder mask for 20 minutes daily.

Since then, I’ve found that only two of those things seem to bring any relief. I will get into that more in another article.

How my dry eye feels now

After my diagnosis, I continued to attempt to keep doing data entry and I stuck with it for a very miserable and depressing two months.

During that time, I felt as though I was working my eyes to the bone only to come home to complete darkness because I did not want to open my eyes for any reason whatsoever.

After too long a time I was finally able to leave the data entry job; due in large part to the support I received from both my father and my husband.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The ChronicDryEye.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

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