I had cataract surgery a couple of months ago. The plus side being I no longer have to wear glasses. The downside I might experience dry eyes under certain conditions until my eyes completely healed. Unfortunately not knowing what dry eyes felt like became extremely dangerous on the way back from JAX. Two hours out of JAX, 08:00 am, on the way home to Arizona I went to sleep. Yikes! Micro Sleep? Oh Crap! Berating myself, yelling to keep myself awake, etc., I got off at the next exit. I went so far as taking a 5-hour energy drink which I never do, waited a little while and got back on the road. Not long afterwards I closed my eyes for another long second and instantly stopped at a rest stop. Leaned down on the tank bag and took a nap all the while wondering what's wrong. One of the few times I was scared, almost running off the road on a motorcycle at 75 mph is a no win. I resigned myself to taking short breaks frequently at the first sign of any kind of a head nod. All the while knowing I got a good night's sleep and wasn't sick.
It took a long time, half way home, to put two and two together. The doctor talking about dry eyes and comments from my wife who has dry eyes. While I heard the words I didn't understand the meaning. I had been told to take lubricating eye drops with me in case I needed them. Putting a drop in each eye and all of a sudden I was awake! My eyes weren't tired and didn't ache. I also remembered it was okay to use the eye drops every couple of hours. Almost on the two hour schedule I would notice getting a little tired and stopped to use the eye drops. No more closing my eyes and almost running off the road.
What was different going to JAX verses coming home. It was cold, raining, and a little cooler and I was using a chin guard with my new helmet. Coming home I removed the chin guard because the weather was warmer, some fog which sucks moisture out of the air, and after a while was really nice weather. The extra air circulation inside the helmet obviously dried my eyes quickly. I didn't know what dry eyes felt like never having the problem. The body wants to close the eyes not just blink them, it almost got me killed if I hadn't snapped out of it before I hit the ditch or another car.
Now that I know how dry eyes feel preventing it will be easy. Yes there is a difference between the dry eye feeling and actually being tired. I was lucky and my Guardian Angel was looking out for me.
It took a long time, half way home, to put two and two together. The doctor talking about dry eyes and comments from my wife who has dry eyes. While I heard the words I didn't understand the meaning. I had been told to take lubricating eye drops with me in case I needed them. Putting a drop in each eye and all of a sudden I was awake! My eyes weren't tired and didn't ache. I also remembered it was okay to use the eye drops every couple of hours. Almost on the two hour schedule I would notice getting a little tired and stopped to use the eye drops. No more closing my eyes and almost running off the road.
What was different going to JAX verses coming home. It was cold, raining, and a little cooler and I was using a chin guard with my new helmet. Coming home I removed the chin guard because the weather was warmer, some fog which sucks moisture out of the air, and after a while was really nice weather. The extra air circulation inside the helmet obviously dried my eyes quickly. I didn't know what dry eyes felt like never having the problem. The body wants to close the eyes not just blink them, it almost got me killed if I hadn't snapped out of it before I hit the ditch or another car.
Now that I know how dry eyes feel preventing it will be easy. Yes there is a difference between the dry eye feeling and actually being tired. I was lucky and my Guardian Angel was looking out for me.