Within the last few months, my eyes have seemed to get stingy, dry and sensitive. They water easily, and feel dry…but look glossy. I have regular eye exams, and sometimes go 2x a year instead of 1x a year, my last visit being 6 months ago. BUT, I’ve had hard year…DKA 2x since Jan. and extremely hard to control blood sugars ever since (getting better, but slowly and with a lot of effort…like highs and lows daily, highs as high as 20 at least a couple times a week). I see my eye doctor on Tues., but I’m freaking out a little bit. Do you think I need to worry?
I use a CPAP and have had trouble lately with air from my CPAP drying my eyes. I visited my ophthalmologist just two weeks ago. Guess what I asked him? He recommended a PM creme such as refresh PM. I don’t know if that will help you, but I do know that bringing the issue up with your eye Dr. will absolutely be the best thing to do. Don’t be afraid to tell your doctor about your health, they aren’t there to judge. In fact he may tell you that your sensitive eyes have nothing to do with your blood sugar and instead offer you real help. But if you aren’t honest and ask for help he can’t help you.
My eyes have really been bothering me for the past six months or so. Very itchy, scratchy, and watering constantly. Even with a ton of allergy medications, including eye drops, and a saline drop (recommended by an optometrist years ago to help wash away allergens), and wearing sunglasses all the time outdoors to protect from pollen and wind, my eyes were terrible, to the point I could barely concentrate at work and light would hurt from all the irritation. It got to the point where I actually went to a walk-in clinic just to make sure I didn’t have something like pink eye, because my eyes are also swollen some days. Tthe doctor there said that this year he had seen a ton of people with allergies really affecting their eyes, for some reason, possibly due to our brutally bad allergy season this year. I visited my ophthalmoloigst about a month ago, and he said that it sounds like I have some dry eye symptoms, although the drops he recommended were the same ones I’d already been using. I don’t think you have to worry (as in I don’t think eye irritation is usually anything serious), but it definitely doesn’t hurt to bring it up with your ophthalmologist.
I did just start a new job within the last few months and it is computer intensive…I have 3 monitors and have to do a lot of work with spreadsheets and data…I also got a new car with A/C for the first time ever, which I’m loving, and blasting daily. I think it’s probably a combo of that, but I will absolutely let my eye doctor know and get a thorough examination. Thanks guys…I feel a little less anxiety now 
Air conditioning will dry your eyes out, I had a bad case of a sore dry eye this summer (winter here in Australia) and was prescribed eye drops for it.
I was having a similar problem and wasn’t sure if it was allergy or dry eye and saw my ophthalmologist. He said if the eyes don’t itch and stick shut in the morning, it’s probably not allergy. He said it’s meibomium gland dysfunction, that the glands are producing too much oil (I thought it was a lack of oil), and the oil causes inflammation. What I should do, he said, is use hot compresses to soften the oil and then some artificial tears to wash the excess oil out.
I asked if the eye drops that contain mineral oil would make things worse if the problem is too much oil, and he said that paradoxically, those seem to help. Maybe they help dissolve the natural oils that are causing the problem.
I followed his suggestions, and it really seemed to help.
Search on meibomium gland and you’ll find lots of discussions.
Sjögren’s syndrome, however unlikely, may be the cause of your dry eyes. You may want to ask your physician about this. I mention it because Sjögren’s is also an autoimmune disease…
Hi, Jen. I know you too have Grave´s disease, and wanted to inform you about a common eye disease that sometimes comes with it. It´s called exophthalmos and you should check it out if you are experiencing the symptoms you describe. My ophthalmologist discovered that I had exophthalmos due to Grave´s disease and I thought it was just allergy. The reason you need to know is that you need to be checked regularly just in case IF you have exophthalmos. So, no worries, I just thought you needed to know.
Thanks! I did tell my ophthalmologist that I have Graves’, and he is following up with me at least once a year (or sometimes every six months) to monitor my eyes, since I have multiple things going on. He didn’t seem concerned. I do wonder if I have some sort of mild version of it, since it did start about a month before I was diagnosed. But when I look at pictures of it, my eyes definitely don’t have the physical changes that are shown.
Me too. I don´t look anything like the pictures, I am just a bit swollen, so I was surprised to be told I had exophthalmos. It´s nothing to worry about unless you actually look like the pictures anyway. In my case they like to monitor it clocsly just in case.
Interesting! How do they diagnose it? My eyes have looked swollen more than not for the past six months…
They measure if your eyes are protruding. They use something that looks like an ordinary ruler like the one we used in math class.
Hmmm. Thanks! I’ll ask about that next time I go, or if my eyes get worse.
And one more thing,- I was told I had dry eyes, which I thought was a joke beacuse my eyes were really watery and running. But I was told I produce enough salt water but nothing of the lubricating stuff, so I got some eye drops that really helped with the itching.
Yeah, this is what he said I had. He recommended just OTC eye drops, which were the same as the ones I was already using. It’s so hard to tell what is what, though, because I’ve also had horrible, horrible allergies this year. But the constant watering and itching drives me crazy at times.
I also found that my meds for Grave´s disease causes my allergy to worsen, I just switched to another type and my allergy is almost gone.
I found Tapazole made me itchy for the first month or so, but my endocrinologist didn’t think much of it. My eyes were bad even before starting Tapazole, so I doubt that’s the cause. My eyes have been bad in past years, but this year has just been extreme and I’m needing more allergy medications than I’ve ever needed in the past. Hard to tell if it’s allergies, dehydration (diabetes, medications), or Graves’, or a combination of all three…
Don’t mess around with your sight, get some medical hehp. Once your sight i gone, it’s gone.
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Try a vacation in a different climate. If it’s allergies, you will feel better.
In March my allergies to tree pollen were hellish in LosAngeles
But. Then I went to Seattle for a week, where the trees were still dormant, and my symptoms went away.
Now the trees are alive up here too so I get a second wave of it.