Anybody else have dry eyes?

This was my first tms symptom to manifest (probably from too much screen use phone,video games ,tv) and I've had it since the summer of 2017. Its only bad when I wake up. I have eye crust along both eye lids that I need to clear every morning I know I shouldn't just use my fingers while closing my eyes to wipe it away but I do. I do use systane ultra preservatie free drops when needed.

Anyone else have this ? Or has anyone cured this issue. I know it can be it's just unfortunate that alot of people online say there is no cure it's just manageable. But I have feeling this is tms ?

 

Well it may indeed be tms, but an optometrist told me recently that the tear-releasing ducts (sorry not a technical term) can get clogged with the oil that is also present in the eye (again, not technically accurate), which leads to the dryness. She sold me a wheat bag thing for £25 but I’m sure a warmed facecloth would do.
Using a warm compress for 10 mins or so and gently massaging downwards over the eyelids can clear the clogging. Also, use water as hot as you can stand twice a day to clean (some say cooled boiled water but really hot from tap is fine. The crust is usually considered to be blepharitis, which I was told I’d have for life but I haven’t, so maybe that was tms!

 

Yes - dry eyes can be caused by an overactive sympathetic nervous system, due to stress and powerful emotions: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/having-trouble-believing-dry-eye-is-tms.17399/#post-92197 (Having trouble believing dry eye is tms)

NameK, some of the posters on these forums aren't aware of the long-term health anxiety you've had, all the different conditions you've feared, and the various symptoms you've experienced and how they're connected to your health anxiety. You're going to get advice from people who don't understand this about your specific situation, and it may lead you down a path where you think something else is wrong with you. It's important that you don't go down that path; the way to avoid this is by managing your health anxiety.

And whenever someone online says there's no cure for something, remember that there's probably a bunch more people off those forums who have indeed gotten over those same issues. Plenty of us have recovered from dry eyes. Focus on success stories, and work toward getting to a point where you don't even need to think about success stories - you just instinctually know healing is possible and that you're going to be OK.

Look at this other post from the same thread I pulled above as an example - occasionally, someone on a health forum presents other participants with mind-body/TMS information. KittyKat was lucky to have received this information, and they healed. Can you imagine what would have happened if they had only been told there was no cure and they'd be suffering forever? The mind is a powerful thing: http://www.tmswiki.org/forum/threads/having-trouble-believing-dry-eye-is-tms.17399/#post-92350 (Having trouble believing dry eye is tms)

 

Dorado, you are right, I wasn’t aware of NameK’s history. Thank you for your information; it looks like I have some reading to do - it had never occured to me that my eye issues might be tms.

 

@Trellis,
there are so many symptoms and conditions that are caused by anxiety and/or powerful emotions - it's truly crazy! I've experienced everything from visual snow to excruciating nerve pain to obsessive compulsive behaviors to phobias of swallowing food to strangely colored genital discharge without any infection present to nerve pain after drinking alcohol (without any alcoholic nerve damage) to wrinkled fingertips to purple feet while swimming in the lake (Raynaud's) and much more.

In fact, that's why it took me so long to accept that what I was dealing with was psychosomatic - some of the symptoms, especially the visible ones, were so puzzling. How can you deny a purple foot? But it's true.

 

Everything you’ve said here is feeding into TMS. It’s all a focus on our “broken and weak body.” Which of course is false. They told me all of this garbage too. Out eyes have oils and whatever else for a reason. None of these things have helped me as again, it’s a focus on normal body responses. Yes, I believe my dry or itchy eyes are due to an emotional response. Any of these treatments are temporary symptomatic relief and do not solve anything. We are perfect and durable and our body’s know what to do. A secretion is a response to the problem and not the problem.

 

@NameK, thank you for bringing this up. I keep brushing off my dry eyes because I have so many other "problems" to focus on.

@Dorado, Thank you so much for saying this and posting this link. Such a relief to hear. I've worn contacts half my life, but in the past year my dry eyes have gotten so bad, I can hardly wear them for half of a day. I had been wondering if it was TMS because it seems like there are just too many "rules" or "conditions" I have accepted - it's worse out west because of the dry climate, it's worse at night because I'm tired, it's worse at elevation, worse when it's windy... all baloney. For 'some reason' when I'm being active it's totally fine... because I'm too distracted and too in-the-moment for my brain to get in the way. It all definitely makes sense. My eye doctor even said everything is fine last month and gave me a new brand to try. I will definitely peruse the links you posted.

 

Yes I'm starting to learn that for me anyways I worry about my health issues in cycles. What I mean by this is my dry eyes or eye lid inflammation is there every morning but I pretty much forget about because I'm so focused on my other symptoms.

Also the big problem is alot of conditions or symptoms we have doctors and people online are always saying "there is no cure" you just gotta learn to live with it. But we know based on the reports of people on this site that is simply not true.

I think alot of sciencests are starting to realize the emotional connection (more so chronic stress and anxiety ) to alot of these symptoms.

Where as before they always looked at the psyhical cause and if they couldn't find anything they pretty much just shrug there shoulders and dont really give you an answer. Leaving us more scared and frustrated because they dont and we dont have a solution.

Or some people are too close minded to believe such a concept and are stuck in their ways.

I used to a person who was constantly searching online health specific fourms for reassurance and I thought it was helping. But in reality it was making my anxiety and stress 10 times worse.

Yes there was the odd positive person on but it was like 2 or 3 out of 10.

 

Brilliant post; I agree 100%. Thank you for your wisdom, @Un0wut2du.

And @NameK, that's exactly why you can't listen to people on these health forums. You cannot trust the horror stories. Do you know how many things - from cold turkey antidepressant withdrawal to some Ehlers-Danlos symptoms that were clearly worsened by stress to bladder issues and much more - were deemed "incurable" on the health forums I looked at? And yet here I am.

As an example, there came a point when I was so paranoid about antidepressant withdrawal being permanent that I was sure my life was over. ~98% of the posts on withdrawal forums claimed that I was in for a lifetime of excruciating hell. Even if the brain zaps eventually went away (but some people said it was possible they never would), I'd likely have crippling anxiety, depression, mood swings reminiscent of bipolar disorder, headaches, etc. forever. Some people even posted links to scientific articles claiming that antidepressants can cause brain damage via the disruption and corruption of important neurons. I started becoming super paranoid about my entire life, like when I began freaking out about the time I had taken other things that affected my serotonin - what if I couldn't recover from antidepressant withdrawal because my serotonin receptors were already sensitive? I drove my neurologist as well as my psychologist crazy with these scenarios.

I had to cut myself off from the forums and keep rereading messages from doctors like Schubiner reassuring me it'd end once I stopped being so stressed out. Withdrawal is real and valid, but it's not permanent, and symptoms that don't eventually go away are totally mind-body/TMS. I later saw a friend on social media complaining that insurance issues led to her antidepressant script being filled late. She was describing horrific withdrawal, and one of her friends commented that she'd better refill her prescription soon or she'd be risking "permanent damage." I was at the point where I was so confident in myself that I was able to say to myself, "I know that's not true. Antidepressant withdrawal does not cause permanent damage, and I am safe and OK." I believed this to be 100% true deep in my core, and that belief was everything.

 

Yep it's just like the people who say there is no cure for tinnitus or cpps etc. There are people here who have been gotten rid of it here so why wouldn't I be able to. Ironically this past weekend I had the stomach flu and my anxiety was lowered and has been since.

Because I stopped trying to worry about it. It doesnt help or get me anywhere. It just makes me more anxious and stressed which causes my symptoms to be worse. That also means I've been trying my best to avoid health fourms , reddit subs related to health etc.

And in trying to work managing my anxiety. The best way I used to do this was weightlifting.

For some reason I stopped to years ago but got back into it on and off last year. But I want to start consistently going again 4 days a week.

 

Yep it's just like the people who say there is no cure for tinnitus or cpps etc. But that isnt true based on what I've seen on here.

Because I stopped trying to worry about it. It doesnt help or get me anywhere. It just makes me more anxious and stressed which causes my symptoms to be worse. That also means I've been trying my best to avoid health fourms , reddit subs related to health etc.

And im trying to work managing my anxiety. The best way I used to do this was weightlifting.

For some reason I stopped two years ago but got back into it on and off last year. But I want to start consistently going again 4 days a week. Really helps take my negative thoughts and turns them in positive ones.

Only thing I'm weary of now is using headphones as It can apprently make tinnitus worse but I mean I dont plan on blasting my music so it should be fine.

Gotta get past that fear part of it.

 

Thank you soooo much!!!! Exactly what I needed to read!!!!!

 

Hey Dorado
I have gained a lot of strength reading your posts and replies
While it is true that my eyes are dry and I also have light sensitivity due to tms, I am not able to read with as much speed on the screen with as much efficiency as I used to be able to. This... has resulted in me feeling quite depressed.