I think I have eye allergies. HELP!

In My Humble Opinion
1

Ok… here is the lowdown on what has been happening:

2 years ago or so, I started waking up in the morning with my right eye feeling very dry and irritated. I went to an opthalmologist and he concluded that the problem was dry eye. The only thing is that during the day, my eye would feel fine. Once in awhile I would have an eye infection for no reason in my right eye and would go to the opthalmologist for a prescription to clear it up. Also every once in awhile, my eye would feel like there was something in it all day. Sometimes it would go away on its own after a few days, sometimes I would have to see the doctor. This latest time it happened and stayed that way for 4 weeks, until I got a prescription for an antibiotic ointment to clear up an infection in my eyelids.

Anyways, through all this, the one thing that has been consistant is that I always woke up with my right eye feeling dry, irritated, and sometimes puffy. This happened until I had a cold this past week and took some Allegra-D that I had left over from some sinus problems last year. Well, I took that one evening and woke up the next morning to find my eye feeling completely normal!

My question to you is this: Does this indicate eye allergies? What should I do? I’m not all that impressed with what my opthalmologist has been trying to do with this. He still thinks it’s just dry eyes and that I should just put in artifical tears up to every 15 min. I say that’s a bunch of bull and that they should find the source of the problem. I think it’s eye allergies, but I’m no expert.

So I ask any of the teeming millions who have had similar problems…What do you think I should do to resolve this?

2

IANAD (or ophthalmologist), but logically, if anti-histamines clear up the problem, it sounds like allergies to me. I have hay fever which manifests in my sinuses and eyes - my eyes are dry (and sometimes watery {!}), itchy, red and irritated all the time. My nose spray for hay fever makes them feel much better. I also use an allergic-eyes formula eye drop, which also helps. I would bring my concerns to my eye doctor, and if he doesn’t seem very interested, find another one.

3

Remember the name: Patanol. If you have serious eye allergies, you’ll want to remember the name (serious as in regular lubricating drops, or Opcon-A etc… don’t take care of the problem).

Good luck.

4

Yeah, another hay-fever sufferer here. Also look up Piriton, as that usually helps with runny noses and eye irritation temporarily. A less than conventional treatment would be acupuncture, which has worked really well for me.

5

Well, green_bladder, I can see how being stuck with needles can bring tears to your eyes :smiley:

Seriously, though, I have several allergies, and chronically dry eyes. Every spring (late March through much of April), when the pollen here in Atlanta gets thick enough to see, I invariably come down with allergic conjunctivitis. Antihistamines are powerless against my mighty allergies – the only relief I’ve ever gotten, eye-wise, is from Blephamide.