Connection between blepharospasm and dry eyes?
Posted , 3 users are following.
Does anyone know whether there's a connection between the two?
I've had intermittent attacks of blepharospasm for about 20 years now, roughly the period in which I've had Sjogren's syndrome. It only ever affects one eye at a time, but I've had it in both eyes over this period.
The latest attack started in my left eye about a week ago. It's not too bad as blepharospasm goes, as I haven't had the thing where the eye closes completely and just won't open. I've had that in previous attacks. But it's quite violent - uncomfortable almost to the point of being painful - and it's waking me in the night as well as featuring in my dreams. I've never had that happen before. Embarrassing too, as I can appear to be winking at strangers. My neighbour's six-year-old asked about it (much to the horror of her big sister) when we met in the lift this afternoon!
Thinking about it this morning, it's dawned on me that I always get these attacks during periods when I'm suffering dryness in the affected eye. Someone oddly, I've always noticed that extreme attacks of dryness only ever affect one eye at a time. The last few months it's been the left eye that's very dry. I remember quite clearly that the last attack of blepharospasm was in my right eye, and that was the eye that was very dry then.
Looking back now, I think the blepharospasm has always occurred in the eye that's driest at the time.
Anyone else have this?
0 likes, 2 replies
estelle44124 lily65668
Posted
Two days ago whilst in the supermarket I had one of my choking coughing fits and they brought a chair for me until I recovered.
Do your episodes perhaps relate to more stressful periods. Certainly my SS as regards dry eyes and throat have been much worse this year.
Hope you can get sorted soon. X
lily65668 estelle44124
Posted
Yes, there may possibly be a link to stress, but it's a fairly tenuous one. The link between the blepharospasm and dry eyes is more direct, but then again my SS has always proceeded in flare-ups and remissions, and I'm naturally more inclined to have flare-ups - hence dry eyes - in times of even minor stress.
I used to get terribly swollen eyelids due to allergy when I was a teenager, but that was because I worked for three years in a poorly-controlled industrial laboratory. We were testing electroplating solutions for our clients, there was no fume extraction in the lab, and nickel-plating salts were spraying into the air. (Nickel is one of the metals that carries the highest risk of allergy.) My hands and face got into a terrible state, and I couldn't wear eye-shadow for many years after that.
Fortunately, the blepharospasm doesn't seem to be linked to allergy because I don't get any swelling, just the annoying and slightly painful sensation of my left eyelid doing its own thing.
Sorry to hear about your coughing fits. Hope you're feeling better now. Brussels is in the middle of a record period of good air quality, so I've been down to a maintenance dose of my inhaler for a couple of months now. Next week's stay in London will probably put a stop to all that though!