Hi, Angie:
Just for the record, our endocrinologists often do not diagnose thyroid eye disease. Sometimes they do, but it isn’t a guarantee. If you want to get the best information about the condition of your eyes you need to see an opthamologist. And opthamologists are the doctors that treat the eye disease, not endos. The diseases are separate and run separate courses, and need to be treated by different doctors. (That said, the opthamologists usually take a “wait and see” approach to things – there is no early treatment for the eye disease, at this point.) But the important thing to know is that treating the thyroid part of the disease does NOTHING to prevent or treat the eye disease.
What you have described, however, is very common with those of us with Graves and is not necessarily a symptom of the eye disease. Thyroid disease changes the quality of our tears. (What follows is “amateur-speak” to describe what is going on.) Normal tears are thicker, and oilier. They tend to sit on the eyeball, lubricating constantly. With thyroid disease, our tears lose that thick, oiliness and get watery. They tend to “run” more easily, and they do not sit on the eyeball, lubricating constantly. And our eyes get dry. Often they get very dry. This is dangerous, because it means the cornea can get damaged (scratched, typically) and scratches on dry eyes do not heal well.
What we need to do is use an over-the-counter product called “artificial tears”, and use it all the time. It comes in many different brands, and people develop a preference for one brand over another. My “instructions” from my doctor were to buy the individually packaged doses that come without preservatives. Some drops come advertising that they are “preservative free in the eye” — which sounds to me like market mumbo jumbo: they either have preservatives (i.e. come in multi-dose bottles) or they do not. You can check with your own doctor about whether you would need preservative-free drops or not. The main thing, however, is that you get a product that is called “artificial tears,” not a product that “gets the red out.” These products are in any drug store, and typically I can find them (although not necessarily the brand I prefer) in grocery stores, too. The drops also come in different thicknesses: tears for daytime and “goop” for night time. The night time product has the thickness of petroleum jelly, and it is designed to stay through night hours. If you are waking up with very dry eyes, you should probably, then, buy the night product, too.
Bobbi — NGDF Online Facilitator
