That gritty dry-eyed feeling could be signs of Graves' exophthalmos.
Have you had your thyroid function checked lately?  Since I've been
boning up on hyperthyroidism the above is what immediately sprang to
mind.

Of course, it could be any number of things.  

+++++++++++++

Reply to the list as I do not publish an email address to USENET.
This practice has cut my spam by more than 95%.  
Of course, I did have to abandon a perfectly good email account...

Jenny I used to have that problem back twenty years.  tt was torture.  I
used a product called natural tears .  There are many artificial tears
on the market,  Have you tried them. Visine doesnt do it.

Loretta

--
In tribute to the United States of America and the State
of Israel, two bastions of strength in a world filled with strife and
terrorism.

Jenny, I have been diagnosed with dry eyes.for several years and I saw a
brochure
that said to get the tear ducts blocked.  It was kind of like pressing a
Teflon plug into
a hole that is too small. This doctor managed to leave the plugs sticking
about
1/16 of an inch.  This was very uncomfortable so I went to a different
doctor that is
very knowledgeable about diabetes and I get an appointment every year.  I do
have good insurance
including Medicare. (I got the plugs removed)
This doctor wrote me a prescription so I could get Genteel from the VA.  As
you said
this helps very little so he prescribed Restasis.  I'm not getting the same
results as the
lady in the commercial and I notice that when I eat spicy foods or my wife
peels an onion
it gets much worse.  I read a recent article saying dry eyes is associated
with diabetes
and you could probably pull up many articles on Google. I find myself
batting my eyes
and holding them closed a lot which gets me accused of, sleeping, by my
better half.

Charlie  T-1

I had that problem for years, but don't now.  At least not most of the time.
Not sure what caused it or made it go away.  Now it's only a problem
sometimes during allergy season or when I've been on the computer for a very
long time with no breaks.

What my eye Drs. have told me to do is rinse my eyes at least twice daily
with baby shampoo.  Be sure to use the tear free kind.  And I've tried a
variety of different artificial tears.  One Dr. suggested that I use the
Thimerisol (single serve) bottles.  Although they say each bottle is only
for one use, the Dr. said it is fine to re-use provided it is used within 24
hours and the bottle is kept upright and clean.  It was also suggested that
I use the thicker kind at night.  Those didn't work for me at all and only
caused more irritation.

Now when I have a problem, I rinse my eyes, use the tear drops, and if that
doesn't help, then I use some allergy drops.

If I spend too much time on the computer my eyes get dry and gritty feeling.
I use refresh eyedrops or put a hot washcloth over one eye at a time and
then massage my eyelids.  It's supposed to stimulate tears, oils or
something...I forget, but it works.

For nighttime I use Refresh Celluvisc...it is preservative free. Daytime I
use Refresh Plus...they are also preservative free. My corneas have become
scratched because of my dry eye.
jacquie

I have been having a terrible time this winter with my eyes drying out
and feeling like they are full of grit.  I have been running humidifiers
through the house and taking flax oil, which is my usual solution, but
it isn't helping enough.

Does anyone here have that problem and have you any solutions?

The eye doctor recommends drops, but they do not help me at all. I've
tried at least 5 different brands of them.

--Jenny

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