I've been keto for over a year and a half. In the last 9 months I have developed severe chronic dry eye.
I have 2 humidifiers in my room. I drink water like crazy. I keep my electrolytes up, I have a night ointment. I reapply it twice a night plus use gel drops every hour at night. It's so bad that I have developed recurrent corneal erosions. In layman's terms, my eyelids plaster themselves to my cornea and when my eyes move during my sleep cycle, it rips my cornea from my eyeball. It's like getting stabbed in the eye. My vision is blurry for days until it heals. Over time, scarring will occur and my vision will be affected if we can't make my eyes lubricate and stop ripping. I got drainage-duct plugs. It did not help at all. So $500/month Restasis is my next step. Insurance does not pay any of it until I hit $7000 every year. The prescription is $6000 per year...sigh.
I have every reason in the world to be angry and blame low-carb. I'm miserable and exhausted. It seems reasonable right? I didn't have this problem until after I went into ketosis for awhile right? But I went out of ketosis and into reg low-carb for a full week. It made no difference whatsoever. So I have no leg to stand on there. Turns out that it is genetic as my father has suffered with this his entire adult life ( I never knew until I brought up what was going on with me and he responded with a resounding "ME TOO!") and he has never been low-carb.
I wish it had been low-carb to blame. It would make my life so much more simple.
Looks like I have a new expensive bill every month...
I'm cutting out every vitamin and supplement I take this week.
If that doesn't help a little, then I'm getting bloodwork to see if I have any imbalances.
Cutting out dairy is a last resort. How am I supposed to live without it?
But as it is genetic, I can flail around looking for a scapegoat to pass the time if I want. It may not get me anywhere.