Eye discomfort

[mrneduc]

My eyes are red and a bit swollen and gritty. Not infected. I thought this was linked to hyperthyroid but I am wondering if it affects hypothyroid as I’ve had this on and off since diagnosis. I use lots of prescription and non prescription meds for dry eyes- help for short time only

[mrneduc]

Quite a few to choose from on Amazon but my eyes are dry and achy so I’ll go for the dry eye. Thx for tip. I’m being monitored by Hospital for glaucoma so will see if they can comment

[waveylines in reply to mrneduc]

Yes dry eyes & am optimally medicated. Worse in winter when the central heatings on.

My GP prescribes my eye drops.

My optician recommended ones that are pure & dont have preservatives in.... They come in individual capsules. He said its common in hypothyroidism & I would probably struggle if I ever wanted to wear contact lenses.

[Fruitandnutcase]

Once you’ve got dry eyes you’ve got them forever. Artificial tears work really well - as long as you keep using them regularly throughout the day - every day!

I use them all the time, my eyes improve and gradually I miss out a few applications of my HycoSan and low and behold - sore itchy eyes with blurred vision.

Have you tried either an eye bag heated in your microwave for a few seconds or else holding a face cloth soaked in hot water and squeezed out over your eyes, that helps too.

Check with your glaucoma specialist though to make quite sure you aren’t allergic to the carrier in your glaucoma eye drops, it’s quite possible that they could be causing your problem.

[helvella Administrator Thyroid UK in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Fruitandnutcase,

In my own case, after having dry eyes for quite a long time, they improved, and now I do not use anything at all as I have no need.

I think that appropriate thyroid hormone levels resolved the issue. But am also convinced that it can take a long time to recover.

mrneduc

Make sure that all the products you use are preservative-free.

Many people become sensitive to the preservatives used after using the products for a while.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to helvella]

That’s good news. I’ve had dry eyes for a very long time, I have quite long spells when I can give up artificial tears then they get dry again. It’s very annoying.

Driving long distances is bad for me because I think I probably don’t blink as often as I should because I’m watching the road ahead - whether driving myself or ‘back seat driving’ when I’m a passenger. I also find the ventilation system in our car really bad..

I think that if the OP’s glaucoma drops are not preservative free that might not be helping things. They need to check that out.

[mrneduc in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

I have Xailin HA from GP, these are preservative free. Great for first few minutes but dryness soon returns. I had the cream to put in at night but it didn’t help.

[mrneduc in reply to Fruitandnutcase]

Thanks for this. I’m not on glaucoma drops just monitoring. I’ve always had dry eyes long before hypo but the achyness is new. Will try the hycosan and see if they work

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to mrneduc]

I imagine it will, it’s like giving your eyes a lovely thirst quenching drink, another good preservative free brand that I like is Theolose Duo. If you do ever end up on drops for your glaucoma watch out for any preservatives 😉

[Rita-D]

I have hypothyroidism (Hashimoto's) and I have Thyroid Eye Disease. I struggled for a very long time with dry eyes and tried all the eye drops prescribed by my doctor. The only one which worked for me was an eye ointment which you can only use at night.

I saw a functional health practitioner and she suggested Omega 7 Sea Buckthorn capsules, They took a few weeks to work, but helped me enormously. They're by Pharma Nord and I see that they've now available from Holland and Barratt. I no longer need them as my eyes don't really run anymore and they're no longer dry and gritty. Clear spectacles have helped my when driving in the car in winter, which protects them against the car heater.

I'm still under the eye hospital for my TED, but it does seem to have settled down and I'm due a visit to the eye hospital on 15th Feb. I'm left with proptosis of right eye and lid lag on left eye. I'm hoping to have corrective surgery.

I only mention the TED to show that it can happen to hypo patients too - all the endos were telling me I was over-medicated (I wasn't). The opthamologist told me that 5% of TED patients are under-active, so it's quite rare.

Hope this suggestion helps you.

[mrneduc in reply to Rita-D]

It does help- there are no straight lines in thyroid disease!

[Archway]

I have been getting dry, gritty and sometimes painful eyes since I was diagnosed with hypothyroidism. The problem comes and goes. It was much more of a problem when I was on a higher dose of levo. I think I may have had hyper symptoms then rather than hypo.

I read somewhere that smoking makes thyroid eye problems much worse. Also, I read somewhere that selenium supplements might help. So I eat 2-3 Brazil nuts a day. They are rich in selenium.

My GP prescribed Hypromellose (eye drops) for my eyes. I think it is available over the counter. It is not much more effective than splashing water in my eyes. It is just water with some oil added for 'stickiness'.

[Fruitandnutcase in reply to Archway]

No, hypromelose is very cheap and nasty and like you say pretty useless. Or it was for me.

[SilverAvocado]

I used to have dry gritty eyes. But thinking about it haven't had them for a while. It might be due to getting closer to my ideal dose.

Although someone mentioning central heating making it worse reminds me that this year I've really battled to stop the heating drying out my house. Cups of water on every radiator refilled regularly, and running an essential oil diffuser in my bedroom every night - the kind that pushes a plume of vapour up into the air. I don't necessarily out any oil in, just the water.

I've been doing this mainly for my sinusses. The dry air makes my nose block up, and I can't breath through my mouth for long because of damaged saliva glands. So I used to be awake for ages in the night unable to breath.

[mrneduc]

Thanks to all for really great answers.

[JMTS]

Over 30 years ago I came down with dry eyes and I made an appointment to see my GP to find out what was causing them and he looked at me and said I have to be honest but I have never heard of dry eyes it happened a few years after I swallowed Radio Active Iodine for my overactive thyroid. They accidently overdosed me as their monitor wasn't working properly of course I had CFS as well but wasn't diagnosed for quite a few years later. . I am convinced that dry eyes has a lot to do with thyroid. There were no drops around then for dry eyes now the chemists are full of them - makes one wonder.

[mrneduc]

Never heard of dry eyes!!! Perhaps he didn’t attend the morning dry eye was covered in med school