Hi,
I have a small problem with my eyes that I can't seem to figure out. Sometimes, when I don't get enough sleep, my eyes would feel dry and very sensitive to light. They would at the same time tear up a lot. So they would be filled with tears, feel dry, and be sensitive at the same time. I spend most of my 8 hour work day in front of a 24" LCD monitor that is pretty bright, but I don't think it ever bothered my eyes unless they are already dry/sensitive before I get to work. However, at home I have a much smaller 19" CRT monitor and that can cause my eyes to feel dry/sensitive within an hour or two.
I don't have to be lacking sleep in order to get this, but it feels like chances of me getting this increase a lot with lack of sleep. I have also noticed that this seems to happen more on weekends. I can feel it coming and I can generally slow it down a lot if I just wash my face/eyes with warm water. This is what puzzles me though, on weekends I'd get more sleep than on weekdays and would get this feeling when I just wake up, without any exposure to bright light. Sometimes I'd go half of the day with my eyes fine, and without looking at a TV or a monitor and then all of a sudden, my eyes get the dry/sensitive feeling which prevents me from doing pretty much anything but keeping them closed most of the time. Air blowing in my eyes, especially dry air in air conditioned areas would worsen the situation and make my eyes feel more dry, which would cause them to tear up more, and feel more sensitive to light. The other day someone woke me up within about 1 hour of me sleeping and mentioned that my eyes were really red, so it almost seems like it is sleep related.
So to recap, I get this dry/sensitive feeling in my eyes which would cause them to tear up a lot, and would force me to try and keep my eyes closed as much as possible. I feel like it happens much more often if I don't sleep enough on weekdays and watch TV for a few minutes before going to work, or on weekends (a lot of times right when I wake up, and before I open my eyes) even when I do get a lot of sleep. I can also get it just as easily in the middle of a Saturday or Sunday without any TV/Monitor/bright light exposure. My eyes also turn very red if I don't get enough sleep.
Sorry for the long post, I just feel like I should try to explain as much as I can from the beginning.
Thank you in advance for any help.