Happy Mari Gras!

It's Mardi Gras season here in Louisiana.  And, Mardi Gras season gives the folks here in Louisiana one more thing to celebrate.  There are parties, parades, masquerade balls, and lots of fun to be had.  Everyone likes to get dressed up for it and wear beaded necklaces and fun masks. 

Since there is a lot of masquerading going on, it's the perfect time to talk about an eye condition that often masquerades as dry eyes - seasonal allergies. Or, I should say that allergies sometimes aren't the cause of your symptoms and it's really dry eye that's the underlying problem.

My patients often come in to see me and talk to me about symptoms of redness and watering. Then, they down play the symptoms by stating, "It's just my allergies". That's how it masquerades. A symptom that...

At masquerade parties, mystery can be really fun.  Mardi Gras is an awesome time of year to wear a costume, crazy hat, or a mask.  But, I am not a fan of mystery in my clinical practice.  Dry eye disease can often masquerade as something else because there are other diseases that have the same symptoms.  And unfortunately, patients will sometime self-treat the wrong disease for weeks or months before coming in to see me. 

One of the biggest masqueraders of dry eye disease is allergy symptoms.  Here in Louisiana, my patients will blame everything that happens to them on allergies.  And because our winters are fairly mild, something is blooming here year round.  Allergy season can really be any season.   For instance to my patients a headache = allergies, dry cough = allergies, watery eyes ...

What! Dr. T, what are you talking about now? I know you must think I’m crazy (or maybe that I’ve just move back to Syracuse), but today I’d like to talk about snowballs. I’m not speaking of the fluffy white snow packed into a perfect round ball kind of snowballed though. I’m talking about small events that happened one after another that add up to something bigger. 

Several years ago, my husband learned about Dave Ramsey. Dave Ramsey teaches financial peace. He has a radio show, books and courses all about getting people out of debt and achieving financial peace.  One of his methods is something he calls the debt snowball. 

Debt snowball in a nut shell: 

1) Line up all of your debts from smallest amount to largest amount 

2) Pay the minimum payment to each item, except for the smallest...

Red, itchy, watery eyes can make anyone miserable.  Spring is a great season to be outside. However, for allergy sufferers, this time of year can be agony.  And, when you add dry eyes to the mix, spring allergy symptoms worsen.  Here are some tips to keep you as happy as the sunshine this time of year: 

Know your Allergens 

In this case, knowing what you are allergic to can be game-changing for how you navigate this allergy season.  If you don’t know what you are allergic to, schedule an appointment for allergy testing.  The American College of Allergy, Asthma, and Immunology has a great tool to help you find an Allergist in your area: https://acaai.org/locate-an-allergist. 

Once you know your allergy triggers, it is easy to check the local pollen counts.  Check out: www.pollen.com and ...