Dry Eyes

I am having the worst problems with dry eyes.  Who knew such a thing could totally derail your life.  I've noticed when you tell someone you have dry eyes they respond like it's no big deal.  It's like they're thinking, "oh, is that all?" and act like you are making a big deal out of nothing.  Some people tell me to take fish oil and drink lots of water.  Oh yes, I do.  What people don't seem to realize is that it can be caused by certain prescription meds and it is not such an easy fix.  I have an autoimmune disorder so I take drugs that suppress my immune system.  Those drugs are pretty strong and I wouldn't take them if I could avoid it.  

When I wake up my eyelids stick to my eyes and I cannot open them.  I mean, they are really stuck like my eyelids were glued to my eyes.  I always have to use gel lubricant before I go to bed and my eyes soak it up so I usually have to reapply during night time trips to the bathroom.  The gel makes it hard to see though so then I have to feel my way back to bed.  I also use lubricating drops during the day and also prescriptions drops for dry eyes.  I take fish oil capsules, guzzle water and use a humidifier.  It doesn't seem to be a thing that gets better and then goes away.  I thought it would bet better in the spring/summer because it is so dry here during the winter in Alaska but I haven't seen any improvement.  My eyes burn all the time.  

Sometimes I just fall asleep when I wasn't planning to, like when I'm reading or listening to an audiobook, and so didn't use the lubricating eye gel.  A few days ago that happened and then my phone rang and startled me awake so I opened my eyes too fast when they were stuck.  I hurt my left eye, causing a corneal abrasion, and that eye started pouring out tears like there was something big in my eye.  It wouldn't stop and I couldn't see to do anything.  I put lubricant in that eye and then put a gauze patch on it to keep it closed.  That helped some but the vision in my right eye is a lot worse than my left so I couldn't see to do anything.  It also hurt all day so I was pretty miserable.  I kept lubricant in that eye and it was not so bad the next day so I could stop being a pirate.  Now I can barely feel that spot but I'm being very vigilant about using the gel and drops etc. because if my eyes get dry again it can pull of the new cells where it is trying to heal.

So, dry eyes can be more than a minor inconvenience.  I wish I could just take fish oil and drink water and make it go away but that's not really how things work.