"Crocodile" Tears ???

[Joojie]

I go to see my internist tomorrow morning - wish me luck ...... going to start with labs, and then go from there.

One question - do you ever just have periods of excessive tearing for no reason   In the mornings, especially, my eyes burn so terribly ....... but these tears will just run out from the outer corners of my eyes.  They don't seem to provide much eye lubrication - because my eyes still burn.  A soft warm washcloth actually hurts my lower lids.

Today, it is eyes, mouth, throat, and even my "bottom" ...... oh my.

Thanks all ................................................

[Scottietottie]

Hi Jooje 

Welcome to Sjogren's world.

Recently I've had some tearing in the mornings but from the inner corner of my eyes - and also - yes - the burning. This is new for me though. There had been no tears for a few years. I thought maybe taking fish oil had helped.

Have you seen an opthamologist? If your washcloth is hurting you could have an infection or something. Please tel your internist about it and see a specialist if possible.

Take care - Scottie 

[eyeamdry]

These are likely "reactive tears" and are of no real help.  Reactive tears are when they come from irritation, or the wind blows in your face.  Lucy

[Annj5]

Hi Jooje,

Very early on in my diagnosis, my eyes would tear up in a very similar manner that you describe. It was so strange! As my Sjogren's progressed and my eyes got more dry, this went away. Not sure what it was caused by.

[wen.uk]

Hi there

Normally the tear film in the eye is very greasy due to the lipids that make it up, so when the tears aren't greasy enough the eye over compensates by producing more tears - which is why people often have streaming eyes when they suffer with a dry eye condition.  I know it sounds like a contradicition in terms and hope you can understand my explanation.  The tears produced are fairly ineffective as they don't have the correct lipid content to moisten the eyes.  Hope this helps.

[Brawen]

I used to have this happen all the time. For no reason at all I would have tears pouring out. My eye doc called them reflex tears. As others have said, these tears are not very effective and you still can have a dry eyes. Now, I only have reflex tearing every once in a while.

I hope you find out soon what is causing your symptoms and your eyes feel better!

[Rania]

I experience this too. I have the burning and the tearing. The tears feel less "solid" than normal tears. I still have some "real" tear production left, and they are saltyer and more "firm." The crocodile tears feel very watery and they can take whatever direction they feel like in my face, depending on the situation.

Now that was a strange description. 

But I know what you are talking about. I also have the feeling of burning in my eyes, and sometimes it feels like the tears are in kind of a pressure in their glands, but cannot come out. Then, out of a sudden, it is like they come out like cannon balls. My rheumy described it as having an inflammation going on in the glands, making the ductus narrow, so the tears doesn't come out easily. It is when the pressure inside build up to a certain point and then burst, the tears will come out.

Sjs never seem to stop surprising me.

Sorry about this description. I feel like I'm not capable to speak or write what I have on my mind. It is all in there in my head, I have problems with the expression, and it happened after my last episode of healt issues last week.

Rania

[Linda196]

Rania, I think you express yourself very well, not even considering what you went through with the hemorrhage. As it continues to resolve, I'm sure your language skills will continue to improve. I remember the first months after a stroke that affected my right side, and therefore the left hemisphere of my brain where the speech center is...some very well meaning friends said I sounded like "Captain Kirk" from Star Trek! His speech is far from fluid (too say the very least) and knowing that I sounded like that drove me to diction, elocution and pronunciation exercises faster than anything else could have!

I still (13 years later) feel my speech is halting and my vocabulary has suffered, but apparently it has actually slowed me down to a more "normal" rate of speech, and no one else notices a problem!