Re: Treatment for dry eyes

[Guest guest]

Hi, ,

Yes, I had that procedure, but unfortunately, I have a couple of

immune system diseases and they created great inflammation around

these plugs and they had to be removed. However, the inflammation

caused scarring, so they actually are now as if they were lasered

shut, which is a more permanent way of dealing with it. That has

helped greatly, I agree. I still need to use drops especially in

the winter months. But having 'dry eyes' versus having Sjogren's is

a matter of degree of severity, so that could be why I still have to

use the drops.

Thank goodness for procedures like that - glad it helped you a lot!

> > >

> > > >

> > > > Hi Group-

> > > >

> > > > Wanted to comment to Jill and others. The runny

> > > > nose symptom has been discussed over the years

> > > > and at one time it was named the " Nasal Faucet "

> > > > as it can run and run and run. My dad also had

> > > > this symptom. There were many times in our

> > > > walking the halls that we would stop in another

> > > > residents room just to get some tissue or TP

> > > > to wipe dad's nose. It always seemed that I

> > > > was the one to wipe dad's nose and ended up

> > > > carrying the tissue with me. He never seemed to

> > > > think to wipe or carry the tissue.

> > > >

> > > > Just another related symptom to experiences

> > > > with my dad.

> > > >

> > > > Oh, and drooling. My dad seemed to have saliva

> > > > run from his mouth and quite regularly. It could

> > > > be tough to shave him with the continuing drool.

> > > > I know 's mom struggled with as well.

> > > >

> > > > Best wishes to all, hugs from Iowa-

> > > >

> > > > Sandie and

> > > > dad, Merle, passed away from LBD 9-20-02, age 65

> > > > MIL, Jo, still living in New Zealand with LBD, age

> > > > 77

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > -- Thanks to all of you!

> > > > I asked my

> > > > mom if Dad has a runny nose and she said Yes -

> > > > constantly! I hadn't

> > > > ever noticed it when I am visiting, but she says

> > > > it's most prevalent

> > > > when he is eating.

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > >

> > > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > > > removed]

> > > >

> > > >

> > >

> > >

> > > __________________________________________________

> > >

[Guest guest]

,

So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you don't have enough

to deal with.

[Guest guest]

i too had this procedure done along time ago, and i am sure they have come out

over the years only 20 to be exact ia m contemplating have the procedure done

again, mboth of my tear ducts were plugged to ehlp the scrachty feelings my

eyelids had everytime i blinked, just a little eye dialoation and that was it,

hugs sharon m

Date: 2006/03/26 Sun PM 03:00:42 EST

To: <LBDcaregivers >

Subject: Treatment for dry eyes

I have dry eyes, and my ophthalmologist has inserted tiny plugs into my lower

tear ducts and Voila! all better! I don't know how cooperative some of our LO's

would be, but I can assure you it was painless. I just had to hold very still

while he inserted them. Even now, I cannot tell they are there. He said some

doctors will plug both the upper and lower ducts, but he thought that was

overkill, except in extreme cases. No more eye drops for me!

Thanks to all of you!

> > > I asked my

> > > mom if Dad has a runny nose and she said Yes -

> > > constantly! I hadn't

> > > ever noticed it when I am visiting, but she says

> > > it's most prevalent

> > > when he is eating.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > > [Non-text portions of this message have been

> > > removed]

> > >

> > >

> >

> >

> > __________________________________________________

> >

[Guest guest]

Thanks for your kind thoughts, . I really try to look at

things positively and realize that the diseases I have (sarcoidosis

and secondary Sjogren's) I can handle and for the most part, the

problems that occur with them are relatively minor and can be treated,

not cured, but relieved anyway. However, stress does play a big part

in whether these activate and in the ebb and flow of everything, I

need to keep my stress under a certain level, which definitely, as

with everyone's lives, can be difficult. Then add the older

parents/LBD, etc to it, that can add up to a lot, then the symptoms

can really kick in and I end up on Prednisone again, which is not a

good thing to be on for long term or high doses. Or I'm so fatigued

and achey that I can't accomplish much. But basically I consider

myself healthy and I take things as they come and deal with them as I

need to.

Even with my mother's situation, actually a lot of my stress is

brought on my Dad, he's a very difficult individual, we have had years

of not getting along very well, so dealing with him - along with my

mother - can cause me the worst stress! I imagine a lot of people on

this list have the same issue, that the spouse of the one with LBD is

an even bigger problem sometimes. They can actually make the care of

the one with LBD much more difficult due to their own issues. With my

father, it's always 'all about him', which of course, drives me mad

when my mother is the one who is ill. I think sometimes he just needs

the attention, so he creates things which are happening to him when

most of the time they are nothing.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a whole new tangent! Thanks for

letting me vent!!

I am usually a very optimistic person who tries to see the good or fun

or whatever in a situation, so I do think of myself as just physically

fine, or maybe, just as 'I can handle it.'

Thanks for listening!

-- In LBDcaregivers , " " wrote:

>

> ,

> So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you don't

have enough to deal with.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Hi , My husband sounds just like your dad , I was DX with diabetes in

1991 but its all about him also , so when he was dx in 2004 with LDB it was

so hard to keep my stress down , it was so difficult for me but he didn't

care , they put him in a home and now he calls with threats and still wants

me controlled,so GOD bless you for caring for your mom ..... Eileen ...

Canada

-- Re: Treatment for dry eyes

Thanks for your kind thoughts, . I really try to look at

things positively and realize that the diseases I have (sarcoidosis

and secondary Sjogren's) I can handle and for the most part, the

problems that occur with them are relatively minor and can be treated,

not cured, but relieved anyway. However, stress does play a big part

in whether these activate and in the ebb and flow of everything, I

need to keep my stress under a certain level, which definitely, as

with everyone's lives, can be difficult. Then add the older

parents/LBD, etc to it, that can add up to a lot, then the symptoms

can really kick in and I end up on Prednisone again, which is not a

good thing to be on for long term or high doses. Or I'm so fatigued

and achey that I can't accomplish much. But basically I consider

myself healthy and I take things as they come and deal with them as I

need to.

Even with my mother's situation, actually a lot of my stress is

brought on my Dad, he's a very difficult individual, we have had years

of not getting along very well, so dealing with him - along with my

mother - can cause me the worst stress! I imagine a lot of people on

this list have the same issue, that the spouse of the one with LBD is

an even bigger problem sometimes. They can actually make the care of

the one with LBD much more difficult due to their own issues. With my

father, it's always 'all about him', which of course, drives me mad

when my mother is the one who is ill. I think sometimes he just needs

the attention, so he creates things which are happening to him when

most of the time they are nothing.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a whole new tangent! Thanks for

letting me vent!!

I am usually a very optimistic person who tries to see the good or fun

or whatever in a situation, so I do think of myself as just physically

fine, or maybe, just as 'I can handle it.'

Thanks for listening!

-- In LBDcaregivers , " " wrote:

>

> ,

> So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you don't

have enough to deal with.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

Eileen, I'm sure it's even worse when the already difficult person

is the one with LBD. At least my Mom, the one with the LBD, was

always a sweetheart, so even in her worst moments, I don't have hard

feelings toward her, so it makes it 'easier' to care for her. She

is still somewhat ruled by her baseline personality as well so she

doesn't (yet anyway) exhibit some of the things I hear about on this

list.

My heart goes out to you that you are getting that type of phone

call from your Dad, and I know it's hard to keep the blame on the

LBD when they were already a problem to start with. I just get calls

from my Dad or when I call him, that are all about him and all his

little problems (all the same ones every day that EVERYONE has to

deal with). He acts like he's the only person that these things

happen to (car trouble, a mistake in billing, an appointment mess

up, his cat didn't come home last night, whatever!!) It's non-stop

complaining. One day at the nursing home he was really going at me

about stuff, (with my Mom laying in the bed with her horrible

situation) and I just looked at him and said - today is not a good

day to do this, Dad, since I am way up to my eyeballs with my own

stuff (which I won't list out here!). He later said to me - well, I

am almost 84 years old, I'm losing my hearing and my eyesight (which

isn't true totally!) And I just looked at him and asked him what he

was trying to tell me. He said - well, I don't need any

more 'stuff' either! The ridiculous part was I wasn't giving

him 'stuff' earlier, just there to help.

I've told my son that I hope to God I don't complain when I get

older like that, that I'll just accept what goes along with old age

gracefully. When you have all your faculties, one should just be

grateful!! My Dad totally doesn't recognize how good he has it,

especially in comparison with my Mother. One day he was complaining

about how lonely he was (he never initiates seeing anyone, friends

or otherwise, we are all supposed to call him and initiate visits).

I was okay with his statement until he compared it to my Mother's

situation. At that point I told him that he didn't even know lonely

yet - put himself in her place and see if he prefers the nh to his

nice beautiful comfortable home/car, etc, etc. He can still at

least somewhat 'fix' lonely - he can drive, he can go visit people,

go do whatever, etc. How does Mom fix lonely when she feels it??

Good luck in your continued efforts with your father and I hope you

can somehow keep the stress down in your life too!! I know sharing

things here is really helping me!! Thanks, everyone!!

> >

> > ,

> > So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you

don't

> have enough to deal with.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >

[Guest guest]

Oops, Eileen, I said your Dad, when I meant your Husband. (with me

it's my Dad). Sorry!

-- In LBDcaregivers , " "

wrote:

>

> Eileen, I'm sure it's even worse when the already difficult person

> is the one with LBD. At least my Mom, the one with the LBD, was

> always a sweetheart, so even in her worst moments, I don't have

hard

> feelings toward her, so it makes it 'easier' to care for her. She

> is still somewhat ruled by her baseline personality as well so she

> doesn't (yet anyway) exhibit some of the things I hear about on

this

> list.

>

> My heart goes out to you that you are getting that type of phone

> call from your Dad, and I know it's hard to keep the blame on the

> LBD when they were already a problem to start with. I just get

calls

> from my Dad or when I call him, that are all about him and all his

> little problems (all the same ones every day that EVERYONE has to

> deal with). He acts like he's the only person that these things

> happen to (car trouble, a mistake in billing, an appointment mess

> up, his cat didn't come home last night, whatever!!) It's non-stop

> complaining. One day at the nursing home he was really going at

me

> about stuff, (with my Mom laying in the bed with her horrible

> situation) and I just looked at him and said - today is not a good

> day to do this, Dad, since I am way up to my eyeballs with my own

> stuff (which I won't list out here!). He later said to me - well,

I

> am almost 84 years old, I'm losing my hearing and my eyesight

(which

> isn't true totally!) And I just looked at him and asked him what

he

> was trying to tell me. He said - well, I don't need any

> more 'stuff' either! The ridiculous part was I wasn't giving

> him 'stuff' earlier, just there to help.

>

> I've told my son that I hope to God I don't complain when I get

> older like that, that I'll just accept what goes along with old

age

> gracefully. When you have all your faculties, one should just be

> grateful!! My Dad totally doesn't recognize how good he has it,

> especially in comparison with my Mother. One day he was

complaining

> about how lonely he was (he never initiates seeing anyone, friends

> or otherwise, we are all supposed to call him and initiate

visits).

> I was okay with his statement until he compared it to my Mother's

> situation. At that point I told him that he didn't even know

lonely

> yet - put himself in her place and see if he prefers the nh to his

> nice beautiful comfortable home/car, etc, etc. He can still at

> least somewhat 'fix' lonely - he can drive, he can go visit

people,

> go do whatever, etc. How does Mom fix lonely when she feels it??

>

> Good luck in your continued efforts with your father and I hope

you

> can somehow keep the stress down in your life too!! I know

sharing

> things here is really helping me!! Thanks, everyone!!

>

>

>

>

> > >

> > > ,

> > > So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you

> don't

> > have enough to deal with.

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

> > >

[Guest guest]

Venting is healthy. No one in this group should feel guilty about it...if

anyone has something to vent about, it is those who are sharing this road. We

are all like little tea kettles, and stress makes us boil and produce

steam...and if we couldn't vent the steam, we'd explode! But when we have heath

problems and work on helping the LO with LBD, it can really turn up the burner.

Is there anyone else in the family who can help share the load? Can you call in

professionals? Not answer the phone? Find placement? It has taken me years to

find what my limits are, and to learn to set boundaries to protect myself. AND

I had to learn that I am not the only capable person in the world, and that

others can get things right. They might not do things my way, but at least they

can get the job done.

Hugs,

Re: Treatment for dry eyes

Thanks for your kind thoughts, . I really try to look at

things positively and realize that the diseases I have (sarcoidosis

and secondary Sjogren's) I can handle and for the most part, the

problems that occur with them are relatively minor and can be treated,

not cured, but relieved anyway. However, stress does play a big part

in whether these activate and in the ebb and flow of everything, I

need to keep my stress under a certain level, which definitely, as

with everyone's lives, can be difficult. Then add the older

parents/LBD, etc to it, that can add up to a lot, then the symptoms

can really kick in and I end up on Prednisone again, which is not a

good thing to be on for long term or high doses. Or I'm so fatigued

and achey that I can't accomplish much. But basically I consider

myself healthy and I take things as they come and deal with them as I

need to.

Even with my mother's situation, actually a lot of my stress is

brought on my Dad, he's a very difficult individual, we have had years

of not getting along very well, so dealing with him - along with my

mother - can cause me the worst stress! I imagine a lot of people on

this list have the same issue, that the spouse of the one with LBD is

an even bigger problem sometimes. They can actually make the care of

the one with LBD much more difficult due to their own issues. With my

father, it's always 'all about him', which of course, drives me mad

when my mother is the one who is ill. I think sometimes he just needs

the attention, so he creates things which are happening to him when

most of the time they are nothing.

Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a whole new tangent! Thanks for

letting me vent!!

I am usually a very optimistic person who tries to see the good or fun

or whatever in a situation, so I do think of myself as just physically

fine, or maybe, just as 'I can handle it.'

Thanks for listening!

-- In LBDcaregivers , " " wrote:

>

> ,

> So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you don't

have enough to deal with.

>

>

>

>

>

[Guest guest]

We have a fairly small family. All my mother's family, the ones who

are still living, are scattered throughout Europe and Australia.

There are no relatives who live closely except my brother and me.

My other brother lives in California. I did have a sister who lived

locally but she died in 2000, at the start of all this stuff.

My brother helps as he can, he is an attorney and he does a lot of

legal stuff for my father ( & about pulls his hair out doing it!).

He visits my mother on his way to work several days a week, and he

tries to help with my father too. We hired a caretaker for my Mom

when she was still living at home and we kept her to help with my

Mom in the nh and then with my Dad when he is ailing in one way or

another. She's wonderful, but my Dad has reduced her time to a

couple 4 or 5 hour blocks a week, since his money is dwindling.

I do have to set boundaries, since I work a lot of hours, and when

it was in Michigan I was still 45 minutes away from them (where I

worked and live). Now I live in Indianapolis for work Monday

through Thursday, so it's even tighter with only 3 days at home to

catch up 7 days worth of 'home' stuff. I try to visit Thursday

evening when I get into the airport and then another time, Friday

through Sunday, it depends on how much I have on my plate to get

done at home. Having two parents to see, when they don't live

together any more, complicates it as well. My Dad expects attention

and doesn't always want to get it along with my Mom at the nh.

However, I can't spend my entire weekend over at both places.

I'm also the one who does all the communication with the doctors,

hospice, nursing home staff, etc. I'm the medical one in the

family, so that is just the way it is, not likely to change. My

only difficulty is that is that my father expects it but yet doesn't

want to hear it when I have advice to give he doesn't like. I told

him he can't get it both ways, it's most or nothing. I try not to

advise him too much, but he's always calling me when he has a

medical issue, so anyway, that's how that goes.

My brother does the legal questions.

Anyway, at the moment, things are reasonable, since my Mom is doing

so much better. Being in a nh is still a problem, but that's not

likely to change either, my dad couldn't handle her at home any more

even with her level of improvement, I think he'd end up in the

hospital again like in the fall.

So - I think I have a pretty good handle on my stress level at the

moment, I take each day at a time, and deal with each issue

separately. I try to spend some time each weekend with friends. I

do not have a dating life at the moment, and don't really want one.

(a whole other story!) When I need to veg or chill, I just hibernate

into my house with my dog and cat and don't answer the phone!! I

would say the one thing that suffers the most is my home, I don't

keep things up as well as I'd like to and since I just moved into a

new condo in August (to decrease house responsibilities) I would

like to do some decorating things, but don't have a lot of time

other than to plan. It'll come gradually, I'm trying not to worry

about it much.

On occasion my brother and I have long discussions to determine

anything that needs a decision, or if we need to have a family

meeting with Dad again to get things straightened around a bit.

How does everyone else handle their own life and everything that

needs to get done? Bet we could all write a book together about all

our different methods!!

In LBDcaregivers , " " wrote:

>

> Venting is healthy. No one in this group should feel guilty about

it...if anyone has something to vent about, it is those who are

sharing this road. We are all like little tea kettles, and stress

makes us boil and produce steam...and if we couldn't vent the steam,

we'd explode! But when we have heath problems and work on helping

the LO with LBD, it can really turn up the burner. Is there anyone

else in the family who can help share the load? Can you call in

professionals? Not answer the phone? Find placement? It has taken

me years to find what my limits are, and to learn to set boundaries

to protect myself. AND I had to learn that I am not the only

capable person in the world, and that others can get things right.

They might not do things my way, but at least they can get the job

done.

>

> Hugs,

>

> Re: Treatment for dry eyes

>

>

> Thanks for your kind thoughts, . I really try to look at

> things positively and realize that the diseases I have

(sarcoidosis

> and secondary Sjogren's) I can handle and for the most part, the

> problems that occur with them are relatively minor and can be

treated,

> not cured, but relieved anyway. However, stress does play a big

part

> in whether these activate and in the ebb and flow of everything,

I

> need to keep my stress under a certain level, which definitely,

as

> with everyone's lives, can be difficult. Then add the older

> parents/LBD, etc to it, that can add up to a lot, then the

symptoms

> can really kick in and I end up on Prednisone again, which is

not a

> good thing to be on for long term or high doses. Or I'm so

fatigued

> and achey that I can't accomplish much. But basically I

consider

> myself healthy and I take things as they come and deal with them

as I

> need to.

>

> Even with my mother's situation, actually a lot of my stress is

> brought on my Dad, he's a very difficult individual, we have had

years

> of not getting along very well, so dealing with him - along with

my

> mother - can cause me the worst stress! I imagine a lot of

people on

> this list have the same issue, that the spouse of the one with

LBD is

> an even bigger problem sometimes. They can actually make the

care of

> the one with LBD much more difficult due to their own issues.

With my

> father, it's always 'all about him', which of course, drives me

mad

> when my mother is the one who is ill. I think sometimes he just

needs

> the attention, so he creates things which are happening to him

when

> most of the time they are nothing.

>

> Anyway, I didn't mean to get off on a whole new tangent! Thanks

for

> letting me vent!!

>

> I am usually a very optimistic person who tries to see the good

or fun

> or whatever in a situation, so I do think of myself as just

physically

> fine, or maybe, just as 'I can handle it.'

>

> Thanks for listening!

>

>

>

> -- In LBDcaregivers , " " <cloudy@> wrote:

> >

> > ,

> > So sorry to hear about your immune system problems. As if you

don't

> have enough to deal with.

> >

> >

> >

> >

> >