Dry eyes, headaches, swollen eyelids, irritated conjunctiva,

[nimas11]

I've had these weird symptoms that have been ongoing for about eleven months almost a year. I'm a college student and these symptoms have affected my performance in the classroom and my ability to complete assignments on the computer. I also have a hard time when I am at work as I also work part time to help pay for school and housing. This has been tough but the days leading up to my sinus headaches and inflamed eyelids/mild pink eyes I used to have episodes of tearing eyes (usually one eye would be affected and bloodshot red) in the middle of the night. This happened when I visited my parents and stayed at their home for 6 months. During those months there home had water leakage from several water pipes underground, shower valves, drip irrigation systems, etc. The walls were made out of Chinese drywall and were becoming stained. Our garage was flooded due to the leakage and there were cockroaches. The entire home smelled mulchy and I assume it was because of the mold. We moved out of the home and I helped my parents move into a new home. During my time at the old home I took antihistamnies and symbicort for allergies and asthma as this was the first time my upper respiratory tract was reacting and I did not know that our old home was the culprit. Anyways, I felt better after I took those drugs and a few months after we had moved into our new home before I was to leave for school again I started getting burning eyes and sinus pressure. One day, during late May of 2014 I woke up with the feeling of fullness in my head, ears, cheeks. My eyelids were swollen, I had a headache, there was a whistling sound in my left ear which was constant and there was ear drainage as well. This lead to a visit to the ER a few days afterwards when my symptoms weren't getting better and after bloodwork and a chest x-ray I was told to continue symbicort, albuterol, oral antihistamines and prescribed azithromycin for five days and prednisone oral steroids for eight days.The steroid helped a little bit and it reduce the inflammation in my chest because I had chest pain and a dry wheezing cough. But my headaches, sinus pressure, swollen eyelids, etc. were not relieved. I started developing photophobia, dry eyes , floaters (dark spots one in each eye), stinging pain in eye, and pressure in between and behind my eyes. My eyes would tear at night every now and then and the vision in my right eye is less sharper than my left. It is slightly blurrier or feels hazy. I have been to three ent doctors, two general physicians, a pulmonary specialist two optometrists, and I am currently seeing an ophthalmologist. I've been on several oral antibiotics ranging from amoxicillin to doxycycline to levaquin (I took this one for two weeks instead of ten). None of these helped. I've had two ct scans of sinuses which came out normal. The results showed slight inflammation at my right maxillary and my ethmoid tissues. My previous ENT told me that my turbinates were slightly swollen as well when he examined them using endoscopy. My head always feels heavy and I always feel tired and fatigued. I've been on several nasal sprays from astelin to flonase. None of them really gave relief. For my eyes I have taken lastacaft, maxitrol and tobradex (ointment). The lastacaft helped a little but did not decrease the swelling just the itchiness and prevented any kind of tearing while the maxitrol and tobradex did not do well and my eyes did not respond to them as well either. I take lubricant eye drops to help relieve the dryness and it helps sometimes. I first started using refresh tears with preservatives and now I am trying refresh optive (preservative-free). They aren't doing much but helps my eyes stay clean. My current ophthalmologist who is a glaucoma specialist as well says that there's a 90% chance that I do not have glaucoma and that he will conduct a few more tests during my next visit to completely rule it out. As for my swollen eyelids he has told me to use hot compresses and scrub the eyelids with ocusoft plus everyday about one to two times a day. I did that for two weeks and added the baby shampoo to my cleaning regiment and have been taking care of my eyelids consistently for almost a month now and the inflammation and irritation still hasn't reduced. The whistling noise in my left ear and the inflammatory response of my eyes have been consistent for almost a year now. My eyes are causing more problems for me especially because I have a hard time working and studying while suffering from these conditions. I need them to be healthy. It has driven me to the point of anxiety and depression and is affecting my family and friends as well. I'm not sure if I have some sort of infection of the eyes or eyelids resulting from this inflammatory response of my immune system. Some of my doctors tell me it's allergies. I'm taking allergy drops under the tongue for almost 9 months now, but that hasn't made me feel any different either. In fact, when I take those drops I feel more tired and fatigued. Maybe that's because of my body reacting to the drops? I'm not sure if I have any kind of systemic disease or an autoimmune disease which is triggering these reactions. I'm just tired and feel hopeless. I want to finish school and do it efficiently with a strong GPA and set my self up for a promising career. But that seems impossible with all these health problems I have going on. It's been driving me crazy and I have not been functioning well. I have attached a picture of my right eye showing the lower surface of the eye where the conjunctiva is because that is where my eye is burning and stinging most of the time. My right eye at this point is more problematic than my left. My right eye is slightly bigger than my left as well and it has been like that since childhood. Please let me know what I should do and what I should not do. I'm a student and I cannot waste so much money on these doctor visits. I have insurance but they charge me a lot as well. I need some advice and a strategic plan that can help me control and hopefully reduce my symptoms. I want my eyes to be healthy again! Thank you.

[JohnHaganMD]

Nimas11: I note you live in Florida. I would suggest you bundle all your tests, MRI reports and get DVD copies of same, medical records and head for Bascom Palmer Eye Institute of U of Miami in Miami Florida. I would make the initial exam with a cornea/external disease specialist or a neuro-ophthalmologist.  Your eye is not infected. Your symptoms are compatible with moderate-severe dry eyes. Your profile lists you as a 24 year old male.  Dry eyes is extremely uncommon in young males unless associated with underlying systemic disease or due to medication. Note that antihistamines and most medicines for anxiety dry the eye and mouth.  

I have had personally many of the symptoms you have as has my wife. We are much older. Both of us have moderately severe dry eyes. My wife has the evaporative type where her eyes have watered constantly and I have the aqueous deficiency where my eyes are dry as a bone. Both of us got limited relief from drops-omega 3-environment modification. We are both on Restasis with complete relief. My wife for 7 years me for 1 and a half year.  Restasis takes about 6 months to work but its fabulous for moderate or severe dry eyes.  The noise you hear in your ear is concerning unless you are tuning in on the noise your heart makes contracting. That needs further investigation.  Look on this page at the bottom to "Today's Pulse". Click on the blue dots until you find my dry eye article and read it.   Bascom Palmer is one of the world's greatest eye research center and will do well by you. You need things like Schirmer Test, tear osmolality, Rose Bengal staining.   Also go on the Restasis website and read about this fabulous product.  To restate dry eyes is extremely rare in young male unless caused by underlying systemic disease or side effect of medication.

Good luck. Make it happen

JCH MD

[Larryparry]

I totally feel you, I'm a student with those eye problems... Have had this for years so have tried a lot of things. Luckily I'm passionate about health and study it. The only thing that has helped is a very clean diet (only vegetables, especially greens, organic meat, coconut oil, avocados, egg yolks, berries, chia) and stress-management+good sleep and some exercise. Also cosmetics and other "man made" should be natural if possible. But as a student the stress and sleep part isn't always good and I can feel and see it in my eyes every time... I strongly feel it is immunity related, whether it's allergy, candida, fungus, stress... All those things listed need to be addressed. The diet it hard but that way no bad thing can live in your body and it can take lots! Especially in this chemical etc ladden time.