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Can't Open Right Eye When I Wake Up

Hi all.  This is an issue that has been going on for sometime and is getting worse it seems.  When I wake up in the middle of the night usually and especially upon waking in the morning I can't open my right eye right away.  It feels almost as if I'm clinching it and it takes some time to get it to open.  My vision is perfect.  I have no blurry or double vision.  This is affecting my quality of life because it will wake me up at night.  Has anyone ever experienced anything like this?
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233488 tn?1310693103
MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL
A disclaimer, I cannot tell you exactly what your problem is.  That being said your complaint has been posted before many times and it is something we see in the office regularly.  Generally this occurs in people, especially women over 40, who sleep with a fan running in the bedroom.  When we sleep our eyelids do not completely close. There is a small strip of eye that is exposed all night. If there is a fan running it often causes pain on awakening or as in your case  'sticking shut'   The problem is more common in the winter when the air is dry and in people that have dry eyes (extremely common in women over 40 and males/females after 70).  It can also occur in people that have eyelid problems where the eyes don't close normally (after Bell's Palsy, a facial stroke, or cosmetic eyelid surgery)    Generally in the most common form the problem can be taken care of by turning off the fan, and using a nigh time lubricant.  (Refresh PM,  or other lubricants' that has GEL  on it).  Regular  lubricating eye drops (artificial tears) only last 4 hours. GEL LUBRICANTS last all night. They are available at most all drugstores without prescription.   DO YOU HAVE A FAN IN YOUR BEDROOM?
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Thank you so much for your answer.  I forgot to mention that I am a 40 year old man.  I do sleep with a ceiling fan on in the  summer time but not in winter.  I have all my life.  This problem seems to have started about 3 years ago.  My ducts are in the floor so they don't blow directly on me.  I tried the genteal gel which consists of mineral oil.  That just made my eyes blurry for hours after I woke up.  I only tried it one night.  Perhaps I should continue using it?  I use a warm compress nightly along with keeping my eyes clean and lubricated.  I even tried the plugs for less than 24 hours but no way can I deal with those.  They were awful.  I consider my eyes more important that anything else on my body.  Someone had mentioned some kind of "tape" to seal the lids shut but I feel I couldn't sleep like that.  Someone also mentioned some kind of mask.  I'm at a loss and scared half to death.
These problems get worse as you get older and worse in the winter.  Depending on where you live and if/how good your furnace humidifier is your symptoms are likely worse in the winter.  The problem can occur in males especially if you take any kind of medicine that dries the eyes/mouth (antihistamines, diuretics, almost all meds for anxiety-depression, etc)   Get an inexpensive instrument to measure the humidity in your bedroom (hygrometer) and bet sure it is about 35-40%  if lower than that you will probably need to run a room humidifier in your bedroom constantly (we do in our house as both my wife and I have extremely dry eyes, both of us have been on restasis for about 6-7 years).  There are many other alternatives to genteal gel. Try Systane PM,  Celluvisc, Refresh Liquigel and others you can Google up.  They are not all the same and none require a prescription.  Severe overnight drying sometimes require lubricating ointment but people hate them as they blur the vision tremendously and stick the eyelids together also in the morning.  I suspect you do not need any mask to hold the eyelids shut or "Press & Seal" applied at bedtime.   I think you can be helped  1. try different gels till you find what your eyes and your biochemistry like  2.  make sure your bedroom has enough moisture in the air.
Thank you for your feedback.  I'm glad to know that there are professionals out there that volunteer their time to help people that keep getting bounced around like a ping pong ball.  I've been to three optometrists and two ophthalmologists.  The first ophthalmologist told me that I had thyroid eye disease so I had a thyroid panel done and it came back negative.  The second one said that it could be a tumor and ordered an MRI.  As you can imagine that scared the mess out of me.  I will try one of the gels that you told me about.  I've been using Avenova as it was getting good reviews for dry eye.  I'm waiting for Novartis to send me some Xiidra because insurance won't pay for it and it's $600 per month.  What do you think of those products?
Patients talk about "Dry eyes"  we ophthalmologists don't. We call it "ocular surface disorder'  there are two distinct types.   1. aqueous deficiency  and  2. evaporative type or lipid deficiency.    I have the first type. My eyes are dry as a bone,  sting and burn all the time, watching TV and using computer make much worse.  I used many artificial tears as often a 6 times/day.  About 5-6 years ago I went to our Kansas City Discover Vision cornea expert and asked him if he thought I needed to go on Restasis.  He agreed. Restasis takes about 4 to 6 months to work.  At the end of 6 months my eyes were very comfortable and I infrequently use artificial tears, just restasis twice/day.    I have been on restasis for 6 years.   NEXT STORY;  my wife has the second type. Her eyes watered all the time, she also was using artificial tears (tried many types) 6 times/day.  I put her on restasis about 8 years ago. She is very comfortable.   If either of us have problems I will switch to Cequa which is stronger but more expensive.

If your eyes are only uncomfortable in the  morning when you wake up and for 10-30 minutes and are otherwise comfortable during the day,  you don't need restasis/xiidra/cequa. You just need to lubricate appropriately at bedtime, make sure your bedroom in not too dry and has not air currents you can feel on your face and rinse your eyes with warm water when wake up and put in a set of artificial tears.    If you were symptomatic throughout the day and eyes BEST in morning and WORST in evening like my wife and eye and you had tried half a dozen-dozen artificial tears and still symptomatic then you might be a candidate for restasis or  cequa. I very much dislike xiidra, have not had good luck with it,  very expensive.  I am also appalled at the number of optometrists and some ophthalmologists that write a RX for one of these 3 expensive medicines at the first or second visit without trying less expensive alternatives.
I live in a VERY humid climate. (Southeast Texas) and normally I have to use a dehumidifier.  However, the humidity level in my room has been between 35 and 40 over the last 24 hours.  My routine thus far consists of using a hot compress for about 10 minutes before bed.  I then attempt to massage my eyelids (some swear by this and others frown upon it.)  After this I wash my eyelids with Tranquileyes tea tree shampoo (which is about the only thing that will keep my lids clean) and here lately have been trying something called Avenova which used to be prescription but is now OTC.  Last night I tried the Refresh PM and it seemed to help my left eye but my right eye was still slammed shut and it woke me up about 3.  Finally about 4 I was able to get it to open comfortably enough to put some eyedrops in and then went to sleep.  It wasn't swollen shut upon waking up.  I wonder if this means it's not going to work or if it takes a few days to actually work.  This whole thing is almost unbearable.  I'd like to sleep again.  Thanks for your help!  It's truly a blessing when there are people out there that help others out of kindness!
I would try the Refresh PM several more nights, perhaps putting more in or being extra careful to be sure gets on eyes.   Avenova is considered the gold standard for eyelid cleaning. I would not do this right before going to be, instead do mid-day or after your evening meal, not exactly at bedtime.   If your right eye continues to be a problem you may need to switch to an ointment in that eye like  lacrilube or duolube.  We use ointments only in the most recalcitrant cases.
I tried the Refresh PM for a couple of nights and it just didn't help.  All it did was give me blurry vision the next day.  I also tried Genteal and it did the same.  Pretty darn worried.  Perfect vision, just my right eyelid that's giving me a fit.  I tried splashing water on it and using eyedrops which obviously didn't work since my eye wouldn't open.
The only think I can suggest from here is trying an ointment.  If you have access to an ophthalmologist that specializes in Cornea/external disease I would suggest an appointment with one.  The other option would be an ophthalmologist that specializes in eyelids, they are called oculoplastic surgery. you could have an subtle eyelid problems that is keeping the eye partially open at night like a 'ectropion' or upper eyelid retraction. That is the best I can do.
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