bizarre "allergies"

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mamaad

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I have been having a "mysterious illness" since January... but it seems that it could all just be allergies. I'm not 100% sure if its allergies or not but so far it seems to be the only logical explanation.
I wore contacts for about 3 years and then in January I had a bizarre reaction where my eyes became incredibly sore (I stopped wearing contacts since, they seemed to make me eyes worse), it felt like I pulled the muscles in the back of my eyes. I panicked thinking there was something wrong with my eyes and went to the emergency room twice because of the pain. My ophthalmologist said my eyes looked healthy but she gave me steroid drops just in case (she said there could be residuals from a possible previous infection), I took them for 2 weeks and they didn't help much until the end but then I got bizarre shooting pains in my eyes (which I think was just a weird side effect from the drops because once I stopped so did the shooting pains). The soreness came back, I was so focused on my eyes that I didn't realize how full my head felt and that I was having some pressure in my ears also. My eyes are also pretty dry, they don't itch, just from time to time in the inner corner of my eyes. I have really bad post nasal drip (sorry if this is gross but I swallow mucus constantly) and I wake up with a stuffed nose all the time. I had a CT scan done and they said my sinuses were clear but I feel pain and pressure in my sinus areas as well as have occasional headaches, I'm also pretty fatigued, despite getting plenty of hours of sleep.

My doctor was stumped, but since he saw that I was congested he prescribed a decongestant and a nasal spray, I also started taking claritin D 24 hrs... the second I took the claritin my symptoms improved immensely, they're not 100% better and some days are worse than others but I couldn't believe that claritin made me feel so good! I was even given pain meRAB that did absolutely nothing when compared to the claritin. I was amazed, I wish I could be "cured" but my question is, do you think its allergies? I thought I developed an allergy to the contacts I was wearing but the symptoms persisted even a month after I stopped wearing them so it could just be general allergies. For a short period of time I had flaky skin on my eyeliRAB (and face as well) but that went away, now however my liRAB are very oily.

Thank you for any input at all, I've never dealt with allergies before so I have no idea what I'm dealing with... :eek:

here's a list of symptoms:
puffy eyeliRAB
sore eyes
dry eyes
pain in temples
pain above eyebrows
occasional pain near cheekbones
fullness in ears (pop them all the time)
stuffy nose in the morning
constant post nasal drip
sometimes my left eye will water for no reason
"eye boogers" in the inner corners of my eyes all the time
 
SounRAB like you may have a corabination of sinusitis and dry eye. Are you using any eye drops - systane, thera-tears, restasis? The Claritin would help the sinusitis (I get it every winter once the heat is turned on).
 
My sinuses definitely seem to be the problem, and my eyes are pretty dry as well, I did a schirmer test a while back and my left eye is dryer than my right eye, which makes sense now why my left eye generally bothers me more.
I use systane and I use the gel at night sometimes too. Sometimes it helps sometimes it doesn't, I'm thinking of trying restasis, depenRAB what my ophthalmologist says, if anything I may get punctal plugs and see if that makes a difference.
The allergy meRAB don't seem to be helping much anymore either, if anything things seem to be getting worse, but all my symptoms seem to be allergy and/or sinus related.

I'm also dying to be able to wear my contacts again... but I'll be trying a new brand and only the one-a-day ones so my allergies aren't overly aggravated.
 
After wearing them for 30 years, I had to quit because of the dry eye. The best they could promise me using restasis was maybe 2-3 hours a day of wear...not worth the $50 a month for the copay on the restasis, if you ask me.
 
I haven't worn my contacts since the problems started so I'm not sure how my eyes will react when I put them in... I think I may just have to get PRK done since thats better for people with dry eyes. I can't deal with wearing glasses all the time, the back of my ears are so sensitive that it always pains me when my glasses are there, I can't even push my hair behind my ears without it bothering me...

I really hope the MRI I'll be getting will shed some light on my problems or the ENT will see something and offer some solutions for me... I'm so fatigued every day, its really bringing me down. The claritin worked so amazingly for about 2 days and now I feel like I'm back to where I was. Agh I can't live like this on a day to day basis, and I'm only 19.
 
you definately sound like you have allergy symptoms. your best bet would be to get yourself to an allergist to check for environmenatal allergies. once you know what you're allergic to, you can take measures to at least have a better control on the triggers.
hope you get some answers.
in the meantime try a visine product for your eyes, there are different one's and there is one available for dry eyes.
 
I think I'll do that as soon as I see my ENT. I'm really curious to see the state of my sinuses. Considering the only thing thats helped are allergy medications must mean its allergies. I definitely need to see an allergist and see whats up.
I'll try visine. Thank you. :)
 
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