Judith Proctor's Journal

I'd been getting on fairly well with my contact lenses after a relatively rough start.  I'd found a type of lens that worked for me and was starting to be able to tolerate them for longer periods.

A month or two ago, I started getting problems.  My eyes started to get irritated easily, the lenses itched (especially my left eye).  Sometimes it felt like there was grit or an eyelash caught under the lens.  I kept thinking I'd got the lens inside out, but I'd try it reversed and it didn't help the problem.  I haven't been able to wear the lenses for over half an hour for more than a month.  My eyes are starting to feel dry even when I'm not wearing them.

Eye drops (preservative free becasue I've already discovered that the preservative makes my eyes itch) help a little, but don't make it possible for me to wear the lenses.

Eventually, looking for a correlation, I realised that I'd started taking sleeping tablets not long before the trouble developed.  Sure enough, Googling for 'amitriptyline' and 'dry eyes' instantly produced hits.

Hmm.  I needed the tablets, because being awake at 2am was no fun.  On the other hand, I know the stresses that were making it so hard for me to sleep.  I'm going to have to think about this as I'm not past all of the stress yet.  But I'm also fond of my eyes.  Another known risk for amitriptyline is glaucoma, and although I don't have it myself, my mother does... (and there is a genetic factor in glaucoma)

I've used Kalms in the past, and they did the trick until the stress levels got too high.  Any suggestions for other forms of sleeping tablet that don't cause dry eyes or have a glaucoma risk?