On April 1, the skin around my right eye became swollen, and my eye hurt. I decided that the punctal plugs needed to be removed. They were removed on April 4. My eyes immediately felt much better. Oddly though, my discomfort began to return. Some days were fine, and others not. I couldn't understand it. I realize that happens, but I felt like there was an odd pattern to it like something was causing it. I couldn't put my finger on exactly what was causing it. [I mentioned in a previous post that this is important. I still couldn't figure it out.]
Meanwhile, I was prescribed serum tears. I went to the lab on April 9 to have my blood drawn. I ended up feeling quite tired—extremely so—for several days. I knew that my tiredness was due to the blood loss.
I am borderline anemic and have been for many years. The blood loss worsened my condition to where I really felt it. While the serum tears were quite soothing, I continued to have trouble. I read that serum tears can take several weeks before helping.
I continued to feel so very tired that I looked into the symptoms of anemia. I discovered that anemia can cause dry eyes. Oh!
I decided to start taking an iron supplement each day to see if that would help. My tiredness improved. I didn't notice anything different with my eyes, other than the usual variations, but I also knew that it could take some time.
My next regular doctor's appointment was in early June, and I felt like if I stuck with the iron until then, I could then see whether it helped.
Also, I had a lot of discharge from my left eye. It was most significant in the one week after the punctal plugs were removed. Those things messed up my eyes. On the day that I got the serum tears made, I had yellow mucus pooling in the inner corner of my eye and running out. It was a bit disturbing.
Serum tears help with inflammation, so that I knew that I had the treatment I needed for the irritation.
On April 13 and 14, my eyes felt much better, although still dry. I felt hopeful. On April 15, they worsened considerably and continued to be quite bad on April 16 and 17. I still felt like there was an odd pattern with something causing the change in symptoms. I still couldn't figure it out.
I noticed that my eyelids were becoming more irritated and a little swollen near my meibomian glands. My eyes were more inflamed, and I couldn't pinpoint why.
I tried the eyelid wipes again, and it seemed that my eyes became worse. I continued to feel that the eyelid wipes were an allergen.
By this point, I was quite frustrated.
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