I can't believe it....

[Lindsey]

Oh Gayle I know what you mean. The bike is lots of fun but since we have such a short riding season up here, drivers don't look out for us. I haven't rode to and from work in a long time because rush hour is terrible with people hurrying to get to work or hurrying to get home. I hate riding in the city. I was so excited to ride around our (almost trafficless) town though! And the highways outside of town would be good too. I was considering selling my bike next year, and for sure when Scott and I decide to get married we want to sell both bikes to pay for a wedding and honeymoon. So I'm getting to the end of my "biker chick" era and it sucks that my eyes had to cut it even shorter!

We saw the optometrist this morning and I am so much happier with her. I wish I saw her in the first place! She thinks we both have allergies and dry eyes. Other than that, NO infections. She doesn't like that they put me on all the steroids to begin with instead of an antihistamine eye drop, but she does want me to continue with them once a day as the specialist said just because I'd be following up with him. I'm also supposed to use hydrating eye drops, and we're going to look into a humidifier or two for the house. And we're going to vacuum out all the vents in the house (I think we may have started running A/C around the time this started) and since we are painting anyway, I have been cleaning out a LOT of dust!

I totally trust my optometrist and she is concerned with me and not pushy. She is very thorough. I am also glad she mentioned allergies, when the specialist said he saw no allergic reactions. I thought that could be part of it.

[gja1000]

You might look into getting your air conditioner vents cleaned (inside the vents). Lots of crud, even mold, can build up in them and that might be contributing to the problem.

I'm really glad that you are comfortable with your doctor. She sounds like she is listening to you!

[judy]

Thank goodness you found a good doctor! Allergies would make sense, especially in a new environment. There may be one or two new things that could really upset your allergies.

I always had allergies, sometimes worse than others. They very often changed when I changed the school I was working in. The funny thing is, when I moved upstate, many of my allergies are gone. You would think all of the greenery would make them worse, but I think allergens hide in corners of building much more than we think.

Check out this google search page:
http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&r...lergans&nfpr=1

[Lindsey]

Thanks Judy! I'll have to read through some more of that when I get some time!

I am sure it's something in our house now. When we went to BC on holidays, I think my eyes were still red because I DID still have an infection then. Or perhaps I was allergic to those drops. But I had yellow gunk coming from my eyes for the next few weeks, so there was an infection. On Saturday I spent most of the day outside, then went into the city and spent the night at my grandma's house. My eyes were so bright white in the morning! The veins were still there, but not as prominent. We were in the city shopping all day and my eyes didn't hurt at all, and stayed white. Last night we came home, went to bed, got up this morning, and they're more red again. We're going to clean the vents this week and hopefully buy a humidifier soon. If we can't fix it ourselves we'll look into how expensive it is to get someone out to test the air in our house.

[DianaB]

I hope your eye doctor has finally figured out what's going on. You may want to check into an ionizer. They ionize the air and help with allergies. The dry eyes could be caused by not blinking enough when you're on the computer.

[Blueyes]

Maybe you WERE allergic to the drops! I'm so glad you found a doctor you feel confident with.

[Lindsey]

Well. my eyes are still not better. I tried wearing contacts on Saturday night to a barbeque for a few hours. My eyes still hurt, not really any worse or better than when I wear glasses. I was supposed to go back to the specialist this Friday, but my grandma's second husband passed away on the weekend and I will be going to his funeral Friday instead. So I have rescheduled the appointment for next week.

Scott is taking antihistamine eye drops and his eyes haven't improved either! But now the cold is settling in, leaves are changing, crops are being taken off feilds, so if it is an outside allergy it may be calming down soon.