I've read on several postings about sufferers deciding to give up caffeine in an attempt to aid blepharitis. I was just wondering if anyone had any information about the link between caffeine and blepharitis and whether anyone has given it up and seen their symptoms improve? Do doctors recommend this.
View 1 RepliesI've have vitiligo for years and always had dry skin with occasional eczema spots on my body. I also have pityriasis rosea on my side for years which finally cleared with antifungals.
Last summer I started to get blepharitis under my eyes but I thought it was just a one-off or due to a couple stressful events in my life.
The blepharitis did start a few weeks after I started visiting a dog at a pet store in short 20 min intervals a couple times a week until finally purchasing her. I never noticed I had any allergic reaction to the dog when I'm in her presence. No sneezing, runny nose, watery eyes, itchy skin, etc.
I later purchased the pup and my blepharitis continued to get much worse and it eventually spread to other parts of my face and my entire body started getting more eczema spots. It then became very widespread.
I am able to control the symptoms with steroids and Elidel but I'm trying to get to the root of it.
I realize it may sound like it's definitely the dog, and it certainly may be, but I don't notice that when I'm interacting with the dog that I'm itchy or anything.
Before I consider giving the dog to family, I want to understand if it's possible it's something else.
If you do believe it's my pup, are there any options besides ridding myself of my dog -- (I already bathe her, vacuum, etc).
I've got another flare up on the way and it's dragging me down psychologically. I'm suffering from depression now because of it. I feel sad all the time and want to cry. I have to be honest and say that I'm having thoughts that not being alive would make things easier.
The only thing that ever works for me is antibiotic tablets but I've been told I can't be on them for the rest of my life. The last doctor I saw didn't care and prescribed me drops that never work for me.
My partner says I need to see a Dr about my depression but as there's no cure for my blepharitis I don't see the point? No matter how much counselling I could have it wouldn't change anything. I fear that I'm going to be constantly depressed.
I can't go on like this anymore. This illness is destroying me and its beat me
Ok so today I woke up and right away went outside which was very bright. I came back into my room and started to see flashes, but then went away in 3 seconds. Is this normal? I've been dealing with blepharitis for a few months now and have been seen by a few doctors including a really good one in Mexico and said everything looked good.
View 13 RepliesI was diagnosed with ocular rosacea and rosacea type 1 last week and have just started antibiotics. I've never had either before. I have no idea how long it's going to take to improve but I wondered if someone who is further along the track could tell me. Does the ocular difficulty come in bursts and go, or is it persistent until it goes. Also, if it goes do you wear eye makeup (girls?)or are those days over for me?
View 1 RepliesEarlier this year, I noticed I was blinking a lot more than usual but it wasn't having any negative impact. In the summer I noticed the blinking getting worse and then I went to the optician who said I had moderate dry eye disease. She recommended lubricating drops. Nothing was improving and I went to another optician who said I had Blepharitis. He recommended a warm eye pad and regular cleaning of my lids. This hasn't improved things either. I went to my GP who confirmed the blep and put me on a 4 week course of Doxycycline. I've been on them 3 weeks and guess what, no improvement! It's affecting me quite negatively, have to wear my glasses all the time (previous wearer of lenses for 14 years with no problems). I'm not wearing eye makeup either in case it exacerbates my symptoms. I hate not being able to look groomed, sorry if that's shallow! I'm interested to read that it could be a candida overgrowth, I have suffered fungal infections before. I eat quite well, but suspect there might be a little to much sugar (alcohol etc). My eyelids looks a little red and slightly swollen, my eyes constantly look tired and a little bloodshot, this is worse during the week when I am working at a screen. Any advice at all? I am trying to eat more Omega 3 in my diet as well because I've read this might help. I suspect if it is candida that the antibiotic will be making me worse!
View 133 RepliesI believe I have posterior bleph since it affects my Meibomian glands and I've had it for around 5/6 years, although I wasn't aware I had the condition until I saw a fantastic independent optician who also has it (note: don't both with any of the 'fast-food' opticians e.g. Specsavers - they haven't got a clue!).
Until recently, I never really had much of a struggle with it - it was generally more of an irritant, but recently it's become worse despite me upping the usual maintenance. My current routine involves the warming bag + cleaning with Blephaclean pads. There used to be an excellent product called Lid Care but they seem to have disappeared now unfortunately. Other than that, I take Omega-3 supps.
My symptoms lately are the usual e.g. soreness, grittiness, bright red lid margins, bloodshot eyes etc. However, recently I'm struggling a bit as I keep developing badly blocked glands that become a little inflamed and uncomfortable - is this quite common with the condition because I've never really had that? If so, does anyone have any alternative methods to counteract it?
Does anyone have any suggestions for anti-inflammatory drops, creams, oils or ointments of any type that has helped with your MGD/blepharitis? I do all the hygiene stuff which keeps the crusts absent and eyelashes from falling out which is amazing to a certain point.
My problem is constant inflammation of varying degrees to my eyelids (or to be more precise the Meibomian glands). when they are at their worst inflamed there is literally no oil getting through to my eye which is really irritating and my eyelids become reddened around the lashes which creates a really annoying self-image paranoia + the inability to converse with anyone without being distracted by blinking a million times and feeling like I would like to close my eyes altogether or rip them out lol. I have tried drops but the lubrication effect seems to wear off after 10 minutes and I just don’t have the patients to be doing it that often.
The only thing that has seemed to work well for me so far is a tiny amount of castor oil applied to the lids at night (takes a few days to adjust to it). I have not tried steroids yet or antibiotics with anti-inflammatory properties but right now I am using chloramphenicol drops which are hopefully doing something + bead type warm compresses regularly which are helping but only slightly.
I saw an American youtube video recently about a doctor prescribing androgen gel to patients with MGD/Blepharitis and after researching why I realised that it’s because it reduces inflammation in the body, for the MGD/Blepharitis type that I am sure I have it seems to work well for patients that have tried it. That said there is plenty other things on the market that would have the same effect on the eyelids but more localised and less side effects are preferred, I don’t like the idea of roid-rage, shrinking nether regions and pancreatic cancer etc. It seems like too much of a trade-off in my situation.
In from my evening shift at work, and I have got to say that I spend the time before I had to go in, scrubbing my eye lash margins with a wet cotton ball and baby shampoo (the old standard) both top and bottom, then after rinsing it off, I proceeded to wipe the rest of my face with some full strength tea tree oil on a cotton ball, and let it sit for a while before I took a shower. Scrubbing the margins (insides where the oil glands are) really was a bit uncomfortable (it didn't hurt though) and it did produce some of that lovely old whitish stuff, but I cannot believe how much better my eyes felt all night long (and they look better too) after doing this. Now I am going to hit this full force and keep doing this every single morning and every single night and see what happens. (I fell by the wayside on the Wet Ones, b/c they dried out my skin in the eye area too much, sadly). But I did mention in a previous post that my skin under my eyes felt like it was "pulling" and it was VERY crinkled looking and pulling upward. After doing this, it seemed to lessen that feeling (and it looks better too). I am hoping and praying that with dedication and persistence in encouraging my m glands to produce oils again, this could be something to get excited about. I sure hope so, but wanted to share. Has anyone else had success in doing this persistently? What inspired me to really get to it was watching the video today on the BlephEx procedure. I can't afford to get that done so I thought to myself, well I can certainly deeply clean and stimulate those glands on my own at home (especially after I saw all the gunk that the lady in the vid had come out of those areas). I saw some of the same thing with my own eyes after doing this and it is giving me some hope so I thought I would share.
View 13 RepliesI am a 42 year old male that has been battling Blepharitis for over 7 years. It started with severe insomnia and stress in my life. I thought once I fixed my life and my insomnia my eyes would get better. Well guess what? I was wrong. I have tried everything from Wet Ones, baby shampoo, antibiotics, steam, oils, every eye drop you can imagine even dandruff shampoo. Nothing works, nothing. I just want to rip my eyes out. This pain is so bad that I would cut off a toe or finger if it would make the pain go away. These doctors just look at it and say oh it looks really inflamed try some natural drops or baby shampoo. That’s like telling a cancer patient to take some aspirin and see how it goes. If they only knew the pain I was in each day they would find a cure for this. I refuse to accept that I am going to live the rest of my life like this. Every hour I am awake I am in constant pain. I have now keep ice cubes with me and rub them on my eyelids whenever I can. That is the only thing that sooths them. Please God find a cure for this I can’t go on much longer with this constant pain.
View 46 RepliesDoes anyone have a problem with drinking caffeine? I want soda or coffee more than ever since I've been pregnant. I'm 29 weeks. Have you known a pregnant woman to have complications with pregnancy due to drinking a lot of caffeine?
View 7 RepliesI know caffeine is a big thing while pregnant, but lately I've been drinking soda everyday. And coffee I've been craving it, I don't want to drink coffee and soda in the same day. Could I be drinking to much caffeine? I don't want it later on being my fault for drinking to much. I cant help it sometimes. The past 2 days I haven't drink any soda nor coffee, but right now I'm craving some coffee.
View 6 RepliesLately i have been drinking alot of coffee and i guess it has an affect on the baby? Do any of you ladies still drink caffeine while preg? Why is caffeine such a bad thing anyway?
View 11 RepliesI was just curious if it's OK to have at least one caffeine drink a day? I'm a ftm and I will be 33 weeks tomorrow.
View 8 RepliesI was diagnosed with SVT years back and have had 2 ablation ops with no success. Too near my AV node. Exercise is the main catalyst for an episode with myself(rapid heart,sweating,have to stop, feel faint) but have the odd flutter and increased heart rate at any time. However i have stopped drinking Caffeine and what a difference. I have not had any episodes whilst out running for about 3 months now( used to be every other run) and have confidence in entering 10k runs and completing them without having to stop. I am going to start playing squash again and really test out my hypothesis.Also, i am not noticing my heart jumping or bouncing during the day now. Just wanted to share this with others as stopping caffeine as really benefited me. I check all labels on soft drinks and obviously no coffee or tea.
View 1 RepliesI accidentally drank a frappe today forgetting it had coffee in it .. Omg Is this bad? I barely drink coffee tho?!
View 6 RepliesI'm always needing soda or something with caffeine
View 3 RepliesRecently, I have been having really bad reactions to nicotine and caffeine. After consuming either of them, I find myself in a confused and agitated state. I feel focused, but it feels as if my thoughts are blocked and I can't think properly. I find it hard to understand basic life situations. I even find it hard to speak and understand language. I also seem to lose my short term memory and all of my actions feel meaningless. I never used to have a reaction like this in the past. In-fact, I used to benefit from nicotine and caffeine greatly. They helped me manage my symptoms of ADHD. Also, I quit consuming either of them for at least 2 months, and once using them again, I still experienced this effect. Why is this happening to me?
View 1 RepliesI normally do not like Pepsi but for some reason I am wanting Pepsi like crazy!! I know it's not good for the baby but I have been drinking it here and there trying not to drink too much.
View 11 RepliesI was diagnosed with CP about a year ago. Since then I have quit alcohol, fatty foods, and exercising a lot. However, I noticed that although the pain had subsided, I was still getting this annoying pain from time to time. I finally got to know that coffee, coca cola, and a lot of tea during the day was causing the pain. Now I only drink one tea bag 3 times daily and the pain has gone. Hope this will help some of my friends with similar problem.on this forum.
View 1 RepliesFor the past 2 years i have had trouble with my sleep, but more so in particularly this past year. It takes me up to and over and hour to fall asleep and even then on average i only get about 5 hours sleep on a good night, and am tired constantly throughout the day. This past year it seems worse as its effecting my eating habits and mood. I tend to forget to eat anything because i just don't get that feeling of being hungry and my moods seem to have completely flipped, I'm more short-tempered and emotional. I have tried everything to help me sleep better. less caffeine, not using technology before bed, setting up a sleep routine, relaxing before sleep. Nothing seems to work, and i'm a bit dubious about going to my GP because i don't know how they could help me.
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