Brand New Balls

Many mommy-bloggers write about post-partum depression, depression in general, adoption, child birth, losing pregnancy weight, etc. But today folks, we are going to talk about dry eyes. I am here to tell you that if you are experiencing dry eyes, you do not need to suffer... as I have for most of this year.  

I am practically blind. So blind, in fact, that without my specs or contacts, I wouldn't be able to make it in this world for more than a couple minutes. I wore glasses at age seven, and eventually switched to contacts at the ripe old age of ten. I am now almost 38. You do the math.

Early in the year, I figured my dry eyes were from my contacts. So, I switched to new ones that were supposed to help my eyes to "breathe" better. They sucked. But I never told my eye doctor.  { insert snide comments here from my family about how I self-diagnose somewhat too frequently }

So, I scheduled a LASIK evaluation, because I have four-grand laying around that I didn't know what to do with. I ended up canceling it because I suddenly realized that there are many things that I could use that non-existant four-grand on.

Contacts in. Contacts out. Glasses on. Glasses off.  Add some drops of steroids here. Stir. Repeat. Sinus infection here. Pink eye there. It has been a very rough year for my balls.

Fast forward to a couple weeks ago, when some friends and I were talking about LASIK again. A friend of ours had both eyes done for a fraction of the $4,000 I was told I would spend by my eye surgeon's office. Yep, you guessed it. I scheduled it again at the clinic our friend went to. Then, I cancelled, because let's be real... my balls are old and dry, and I would end up being the anomoly paying $4,000 per eye instead of the set.

Here is where I get REALLY smart. I decided maybe I should put this situation in the hands of someone else, and I schedule an appointment with my eye doctor. Genius!

He walks in to the room, I tell him I have severely dry eyes... like I wake up in the morning, and I can hear the lids scrape across my balls as they are trying to open. He welcomes me to the club. 

The contacts he gave me for my dry eyes were actually making my eyes worse. But, the good news is, I can still wear them with the help of a new solution which takes all the bad out of the "good" contacts. After one night in this solution, brand new balls. I kid you not. Hello? Why couldn't someone have told me about this miracle solution sooner? It is called Clear Care for those of you that are interested, and it is a hydrogen peroxide based solution.

My balls are also inflamed, which means that the glands that produce tears cannot secrete the tears because there are smashed shut. So, I now put some 'roids in there every day for six weeks. I was also prescribed Restasis to produce more tears.

To keep my glands slick, I am now taking flaxseed oil. To keep my balls slick at night while sleeping, I use an ointment called Systane.

So, the moral of this story is ... if you have dry eyes, and you KNOW if you do ... see your eye doctor TODAY! I am kicking myself for having waited so long, and of course, trying to fix the problem on my own. What do I know about eyes, after all? { this is being filed under "My cRaZieS" for a reason }