Thursday, December 4, 2014

My Special Eyes

I've always had dry eyes, but they were manageable with some diligent attention... I switched to audible to give my eyes a rest while still indulging my reading appetite, I keep eye drops at work, in my purse, and in my car, I have overnight gel for sleeping, I have special glare protection on my computer glasses, and I keep the humidifier running at night. Wow, what an arsenal it appears to be when listed out like that.

Apparently, dry eye issues are yet another ridiculous complication of PCOS. So, even with all those preventative steps... I've been feeling pain, stinging, itching, watering, graininess, and general weirdness... mostly in my left eye. So, I went to the optometrist to see what's wrong and get some new computer glasses. My vision is still great after Lasik eye surgery, and nothing was wrong with my eyes.

Fast forward a week or so... things are getting worse. People at work are noticing that my left eye is like crying. Awkward. So, I finally went to the ophthalmologist today... and he thinks that the issues with my eye(s) may be a side effect of my medication. He sees a lot of patients on Metformin (which I take for insulin resistance & correlative treatment of PCOS) because that is a common drug prescribed for treatment of diabetes, and diabetes can cause any number of complications with the eyes and vision. Interestingly enough, my dosage was just increased from 500mg to 1000mg last month. Spot on, doc!

In an effort to alleviate some of the discomfort, I was given a whole ton of samples for Refresh Advanced single-day use vials... and they gave me a bunch of coupons to buy more at the store. It may feel better than what I've been using because it doesn't have any preservatives, which could be aggravating the problem. It should all last me about a month until I go back for a follow-up. I hope this is the solution to my eye problems!

On another note, sometimes when you're down... something unexpected is just waiting around the river bend, ready to pick you back up! My best friend asked if I got a package in the mail - I told her I'd check after work. I just thought she was sending me her daughter's school pictures. Turns out she sent me an early Christmas present and a little mini pick-me-up package!!

I can't wait for the weekend to come so I can curl up on the couch with some steaming hot, relaxing, and calming loose leaf tea... steeping in my "manatea" infuser! And then I can dig into part two of the Sailor Moon manga box set... it's seriously like unfinished business from my childhood, haha. And I'm reunited with one of my favorite movies, Horton Hears a Who! :)

See, I don't even remember that my eyes bug me anymore... YAY!!!!