Are you a patient Dry Eye Patient? In two words, probably not. In fact, you’re probably impatient and frustrated.
You’re sick of well-meaning people saying “just use some eye drops.” You’re tired of thinking about your eyes. You can’t believe how much money you’ve spent on them. You’re confused about the conflicting advice you get from doctors. When you let yourself look back at the life you once led, you wonder if you’ll ever get any of it back.
Take heart, you will.
If you’re patient, chances are – with the help of your doctor(s) – you will eventually figure out what’s going on and what needs to be done about it.
But it takes perseverance and patience. And that’s just not something most Dry Eye patients have. Who would when it feels like there’s a knife, or a log, or a boulder lodged in their eye?
The 125-Foot Orange
Remember the first time you woke up in the morning feeling like there was a knife in your eye? Did you panic? Did you want something done about it NOW!?!?!?
Sure you did. Here’s why. The eye has 300 – 600 times more nerves than any other part of the body. So something that’s small, like an eyelash, can feel 600 times bigger.
Let’s put that in perspective.
An average orange is about 2.5 inches in diameter. If it were 600 times bigger it would be 125 feet in diameter. That’s an enormous difference. You’d notice if you had a 125-foot orange in your mouth! And you’d probably want somebody to take it out RIGHT AWAY!
All of your friends would notice too, and nobody would suggest sipping a little water to make it go down easier. They’d be right there by your side, calling 911, pulling out their juicers, and FREAKING OUT!
The Impatient Dry Eye Patient
When panic sets in we become irrational. Our thinking becomes clouded. We lose patience and get angry, lashing out at our doctors, at our friends, our families, and even at other Dry Eye patients. We thrash around as if we’re drowning. But the thrashing just makes things worse.
We don’t believe our doctors. How can we when they tell us different things? We wonder if we’ve been diagnosed properly. Will the treatment be effective? Will we ever, ever get on with life?
It’s an ongoing battle. Actually, it’s more like a war.
On Your Way to Healing
Like with any war, you need to know your enemy and its allies (all of the co-morbidities that complicate things), inside and out. How they behave. How they respond. What they’re going to do next.
Then there’s treatment. Remember that patience and steadfastness are on your side, even when it feels like there’s a log in your eye.
That’s when it’s especially helpful to stop, breathe, reflect, and remember that you’re on your way to healing. And healing, like all good things, takes time.
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