I have been in remission for quite some time, at least a year. I had hyperthyroidism and went the route with medication instead of surgery. My eyes are now red and splotchy under both eyes and my eyelids. They are red, feel raw, and I can't quit wiping tears away, they are constantly flowing. I took a allergy medicine and used allergy related eye drops and it's worse than before. I'm not sure what to think and if I need to see my endo dr or someone specializing with the eyes. Any advice would be really great….thank you…

Try “artificial tears” instead of the “allergy” eye drops. When we have thyroid disease, the quality – the chemical composition – of our tears can change dramatically. The tears become watery. I know that sounds stupid: tears are supposed to be watery right? No. And I didn't know it until it happened to me, either. Normal tears are – for want of a better word – gooey. I think the technical term is “viscous.” They are actually present all the time, sitting on the eyeball, providing lubrication. They don't “run” all the time. We only noticed them before when they ran.

So, with the more watery tears, they do not sit on the eyeball, lubricating it. They just run. And the eyes become drier and drier, and the tears run more and more trying to compensate. By using artificial tears eye drops, you add a thicker tear to your eye, which helps to keep it from drying out. It is extremely important to keep our eyes well-lubricated. Otherwise we can get scratches on the cornea, which take forever to heal, and can leave scarring.

Our opthamologists tell us to buy the artificial tears in preservative free form, because we use them so often that preservatives can cause us additional problems. So, the packets to use – at least until you can see an eye doctor – are the single use packets.

The product you need to look for are the “artificial tears,” not the “get the red out” or the anti-allergy eye drops. They come in a daytime solution and a night time one (more like the consistency of petroleum jelly).

The first symptoms of TED I noticed were allergy-like redness and watering. My regular opthamologist told me it wasn't TED but allergies. When allergy meds didn't help, he told me it was an infection. When I saw my endo a few days later, he said it was most definitely TED and referred me to a neuro-opthamologist who confirmed the diagnosis. Not trying to scare you - it may simply be allergies especially this time of the year. However, it can't hurt to get established with a neuro-opthamologist in case it is TED, or in case you develop it down the road. It's so hard to find them and even harder to get an appointment, so the sooner you get established with one, the better. Good luck!

Thank you for this information, very helpful. When I used the allergy drops, it had such the opposite effect than I'd hoped for. I will certainly get the other kind suggested…

I'm glad to know what initial symptoms sound like, and I too, don't think this is allergy related given what I've tried to use for allergies is not helping at all. I will talk to my Endo and see where to go from here. Thanks for the information!

Watering, red, dry, scratchy eyes are a symptom of TED. They thought I had allergies also and took me that route – allergy drops did not help and my eyes hurt worse. It was not until I got to an opthamologist that understood TED and made sure I got the information and teaching I needed to protect my eyes. It was a tedious and constant routine. He taught me that the ones called artificial tears is not enough for severe TED – those drops will only last 5 minutes, but taught me to get the dry eye solution lubricants (there are several brands and varieties and yes, get the ones that are perservative-free) and to use then as often as I needed. I had it so bad, he said every 15 minutes waking and to use the night-time lubricating ointment and a mask at night. That was my routine until I got out of the hot phase and could get the surgeries to reconstruct my eyes and eyelids. He also taught me to avoid air movement – that includes being in the line of A/C or heater vents, ceiling fans, etc. and to avoid dry or windy weather. If I could not avoid it to use a humidifier. I worked and slept over a humidifier. At times, I had to wear safety glasses indoors when just the still air wafting past me as I walked through the house dried out my protruding eyeballs. Outdoors, I made sure I had protective wrap-around, with wide sides type of sunglasses and on a windy day had to wear optometry dark glasses (they kind they give you after they dialate your eyes) over safety glasses for double-protection. Another thing to note, is to have someone check your eyes when you are asleep. It may seem like you can close them when you close one and look in the mirror but when you sleep muscles relax and if a sliver of your eyeball is exposed while you sleep, it can dry them out. If you try using a mask while you sleep, get the kind that “cup” over your eyes so there is room for eye movement while you sleep or you eyelashes may bother you. If you have TED and your eyes have begun to protrude, they may each protrude at a different rate. A good Opthamologist will measure this and monitor it. If they are protruding, it is one of the symptoms. Another is for the eyelids to receed (top ones up and bottom ones down) so that you cannot close your eyes and when open you have a startled look. All of this causes them to dry out even more. When my eyes get real sore, I have to close them down with nightime lubricating ointment and a mask until they are re-lubricated to the point they do not hurt anymore then live with the lubricating drops – these allow you to see once used so they are for waking hours. Using the ointment you will not be able to see, so, you have plan accordingly. There is one other thing that helped me in the midst of the hot phase and severe TED and I still have them years later – that is punctum plugs – they really help keep more of the good moisture on the eyeballs. One last symptom of TED is eye-fatigue because the eye muscles are so swollen, and rubbery (causing the protrusion). Mine got to the point were they hurt all the waking time – just normal reactive eye-movement was fatiguing. I couldn't wait to close them down. There is light at the end of the tunnel. I survived and so did my eye-sight. I am grateful to the proacitve and caring doctors I had. I hope you get good medical help. Eyesight is a precious gift.

Thank you for such valuable information….I appreciate all the help I can get to learn what is going on. My eyes are fine this week, wouldn't know they were swollen and so dry and sore a week ago. This has happened twice in one month's time-really bad and fine for a short while. That makes it confusing to know will another bout happen again and how soon….I can't prepare for it. I will be getting blood checked per Endo doc soon and she suggested I also make an eye appt. with my eye doctor. I will see Endo doc after lab results come back. I made it through the hyperthyroidism and initial Graves, if this is TED, I will feel like I am somewhat prepared with all the support and suggestions here, plus a great support group of family and friends. I feel blessed every day and have a strong faith that everything will work out in the end. I will come back and post what the doctors say in hopes to help others learn this process.
Thanks again!
lkmanley

Hello - It's not well understood why TED symptoms can get better/worse within the course of a few days, but I wanted to mention that I'm hearing more docs mention a connection between excessive sodium and swelling with TED.

Personally, I find that if I eat out at a chain restaurant that uses a lot of sodium, my eyes tend to be a lot worse by the next morning. I don't know if you dine out a lot, but that might be one other thing to keep in mind.

(The body does need *some* sodium to function, but it's the excessive levels that seem to cause an issue).

Take care!

Kimberly,
I've never heard that but sure glad to know sodium can potentially have an effect. Thanks for sharing this with me. I will definitely keep in mind…
Lkmanley

You most likely have Ocular Myxedema. I have suffered from that and pretibial myxedema for two years as a result of Graves. You need to see an Opthamologist who is familiar with Graves. in the meantime, use eye drops and gel. Your eyes are watering from dry eye causing over production of tears to compensate. It's manageable but you may need annual eye checkups to measure the pressure inside your eyes that can cause bulging.