Dry eyes?

[Callabag64]

Anyone suffer with dry gritty eyes? Have had it numerous times over the years, and recently read about Sjögren’s syndrome. It states that people with Sjögrens usually have the RA factor, they can get kidney stones, dry gritty eyes, dry mouth, and can get pneumonitis, amongst other things. All of these I have. Getting my doctor to test me for it today.

[Hidden]

Yes, it is a pain - literally. I use preservative free eye drops, you can also get an oral spray for your mouth. When your salivary glands become inflamed, they become very sore. Drink plenty of water and sometimes chewing sugar free gum helps. There are 2 tyoes of Sjogren's, when it accompanies RA it is secondary Sjogren's. Some people have it without RA, then it is Primary Sjogren's. The following may help. nhs.uk/conditions/sjogrens-...

bssa.uk.net/

[Callabag64 in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for that, will check it out

[Mmrr]

My optician recommended Clinitas multi eye drops which work for me in relieving the dry gritty eyes.

[Hidden]

I was advised to use preservative free eye drops as we are using them so frequently.

[Dobcross1]

Hi yes I have dry eye. I have Chloramphenacol for when it's really bad and sore and lubricating eye gel called Carbomer for daily use to try to prevent it happening. I read a reply recommending Clinitas drops so I might try those instead as the gel really clouds your vision and I dont really rate it TBH.

[Hattie23]

Yes i have it. You can get lots preparations for eyes mouth everything to combat it. Also take pilocarpine.

[cerajon]

I have dry eyes and dry mouth. My rheumatologist prescribed and eye gel to use at night and drops for the daytime. These work really well for me and I can keep the symptoms under control.

[Mumcon]

I have this and also very very runny eyes I have been using Halo eyes drops from my optician and while they help i find it very difficult to use as my hands are too stiff to manoeuvre them I have to rely on my hubby.Im due an eye test soon so I’ll see if I can maybe get something simpler. If your hands are ok I think the Halo drops would work

[Callabag64 in reply to Mumcon]

I have the same problem, given eye drops in a bottle that I annoy sqeeze, optician tried me with aerosol drops, but cannot depress the top. The companies that make these things, should take this into account, don’t know how I would manage without my hubby.

[Callabag64 in reply to Mumcon]

I have the same problem with my hands, cannot spray, cannot squeeze, so I have got myself a small pipettes and bottle from eBay ( aromatherapy bottles) and then used a small pliers and both hands to squeeze the drops out of the tubes or bottle into the aromatherapy bottle, the pippette is much easier to squeeze, and don’t have to rely on my hubby.

[Hidden]

I have Sjögren’s with positive ANA and lip biopsy rather than Rheumatoid Factor. These are only high positive when my joints are sore and swollen. For dry eyes I have punctal plugs, use Hyloforte drops and ointment VitA POS - they work well for me and I get them all on prescription - but I also have mybomian gland disease/ blepharitis which is very common with Sjögren’s. For this I was told to use heated eye mask 15 mins daily and then massage my lids to unblock the oil producing glands.

For what the record, Sjögren’s is always a systemic autoimmune disease just like Lupus and RA and others. So it doesn’t matter whether your version is secondary or primary to RA - this only means the rheumatic disease that came first.

It’s always a disease in its own right and for some it is more severe - affecting the entire body including organs and nerves - where for others it’s mainly dry eyes and mouth and fatigue.

It often accompanies RA and also Lupus and Scleroderma. But you can have mild RA with severe Sjögren’s or vice versa or both mild or both severely. Optician’s can easily test for dry eye but can’t diagnose Sjögren’s. The majority will have +ANA and Ro & La antibodies but 25% won’t show in blood tests in which case it may be presumed if you already have RA but otherwise you need a lip biopsy to confirm. The dry eyes and mouth are called Sicca Syndrome.