No teardrops on my guitar, unfortunately

April 27, 2008 3:09 PM

I'm having problems being unable to cry and produce tears, and it's really getting annoying. Help me turn on the water.

I had a couple eye infections over the past few years, and I've been having an increasingly hard time producing tears. I could be eating jalapenos watching Bambi's mother on infinite loop, and just a couple drops. My doctor wasn't keen on any probing, and said it's not terribly serious, but it takes forever to blink irritants out of my eyes. I've tried gently rubbing beneath my eyes, but I think I might be doing it wrong, as it hasn't worked very well. Is there anything I can do to increase my natural tear flow and stop supporting the shadowy eyedrop mafia?

posted by StrikeTheViol to health (9 comments total)

Chop onions. You'll be crying in no time.
posted by Blazecock Pileon at 3:11 PM on April 27

Some people just don't make as many tears. I have "dry eye syndrome" and I just don't make too many tears. Your doc seems to think your tear production is within normal -- he/she doesn't think you have any serious duct damage, he/she doesn't think you have Sjogren's syndrome (which causes a serious problem). In some cases, a doctor will suggest plugging up the drainage ducts, and he/she (I refuse to assume your doc is male, I guess!) hasn't suggested this.

There are worse things than the eyedrop mafia -- you might have to live with it. One suggestion -- I hope you're using artificial tears-type drops and not medicated Visine. Visine can CAUSE irritation as a rebound thing if used too often.
posted by lleachie at 3:27 PM on April 27

Visine can CAUSE irritation as a rebound thing if used too often.

Seconding the advice to stay away from Visine. Look what a dick Ben Stein became after prolonged exposure.
posted by Inspector.Gadget at 3:46 PM on April 27 [3 favorites]

you can use saline drops, too.
posted by thinkingwoman at 4:00 PM on April 27

Maybe you need a humidifier in your bedroom, and you need to drink more water.
posted by desjardins at 4:13 PM on April 27

Stay away from visine.

Instead of your family doctor, perhaps check in with an opthamologist (specialist eye doctors) - before I had lasik done, I had a full checkup and one of the tests was tear production (it wasn't pleasant).

If you do have abnormal tear production, the opthamologist might be able to recommend something.

Alcon's "Natural Tears II" is a good product for acute relief as is Refresh Celluvisc for chronic relief (it's quite viscious, though, but it keeps your eyes nice and lubricated for a good long time).
posted by porpoise at 4:27 PM on April 27

Apparently, tears are composed of both oil and water. I read somewhere that taking omega-3 supplements can make your eyes more moist and lubricated. Maybe you have an omega-6/omega-3 imbalance. Via Google. If you try this, make sure it's a good quality supplement. Good luck!
posted by zeek321 at 4:35 PM on April 27

My eye doctor diagnosed me with dry eye syndrome after I complained of painful gritty feeling eyes. She did the test where you basically stick filter paper in your eyes to collect tears and then set me up with prescription drops. When those didn't do the trick I had punctal plugs put in. These have made a HUGE difference in the quality of my eyesight and comfort, and it was a quick, painless, in-office procedure. Good luck!
posted by Biblio at 5:53 PM on April 27

Blink more. My doctor says that people who use a computer a lot, tend to stare and forget to blink, which then dries out your eyes. He recommended keeping one of these animated gifs of a blinking eye open in a window in the background, to remind myself to blink more frequently. It's annoying, but it is helpful. Yawning helps, too.
posted by hooray at 3:28 PM on April 28