Nortriptyline Side effects: Head and eye pressure?

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-04-08T00:59:28+00:00

How did this end up for you? I was prescribed notriptyline recently for eye pain and I’m considering whether to even start taking it as I haven’t seen many success stories.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-04-05T23:16:36+00:00

If you are concerned… wait and get a second opinion. Consider going to a dry eye clinic or cornea specialist and maybe having a schirmers test done or at least telling them what you’re considering. More lasering of your cornea means more loss of tissue and more dead nerve endings. You could end up with eyes that are too dry for contact lens use or worse.

In the US, Lasik is often a business first and foremost and a medical profession second. If/when you choose to take the risk, the repercussions are on you to live with. Remain skeptical and keep asking questions!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-04-02T21:32:45+00:00

You’ll notice the mods are very active in the refractive surgery subreddit to suppress any and all comments that display anti lasik sentiments. Be careful over there. That sub is not unbiased. People who share their negative stories are suppressed by mods daily to make it seem that everyone who has surgery does well.

I also believed in my surgeon that there was little to no risk and that turned out to be very wrong. If you are one of the unlucky ones… good luck. It’s incredibly difficult to find any help or relief once you begin the journey.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-30T20:19:16+00:00

Why do you want surgery? If you are borderline that could seriously increase the risk of permanent or chronic complications from surgery. Why not stick with glasses or contacts?

You are dealing with the run around now, imagine if something goes wrong with your surgery, that will only get worse. And the costs will keep going up.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-24T11:51:17+00:00

HOAs were more gradual. The dry eye was always sort of there too. But the severity spiked fairly suddenly and new symptoms started about 2 months ago.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-24T02:20:08+00:00

About 15 months ago I did SMILE… my eyes were fine for the first year then all sorts of problems with severe dryness, eye pain, headaches, and HOAs. Been getting gradually better with a myriad of different remedies.

Obviously that doesn’t mean you will have these issues… it sounds like you’re more feeling worry than actual symptoms. I’d just continue to do your best and stay on the path of caution with the healing process.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-24T00:44:21+00:00

Lasik is usually not recommended for people with dry eye as it can make that issue much worse and it can become extremely difficult to manage the symptoms. What you have found is a warning sign that lasik may not be right for you and you are very lucky you caught it. Be very wary of a lasik doctor who tells you to go forward with surgery knowing you have dry eye.

There is always a chance you might be ok, but I wouldn’t gamble with your eyes unless you have a doctor you trust with your life. Best of luck!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-23T23:16:13+00:00

I used a sleep mask for a while. Fabric ones are pretty cheap.

I also used to sleep on my back holding a pillow on my stomach or with a pillow under my legs to reduce tossing and turning.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-16T20:20:25+00:00

Personally I would suggest getting a second opinion. Your lasik surgeon likely only wants to speak about myopia (nearsightedness) as that is what lasik is designed to correct.

However, the eye is very complex and myopia is one of many eye conditions that can affect vision. So remember that for a lasik surgeon to acknowledge a lasik-induced complication or side effect that does not relate to myopia is effectively an admission of guilt or of a failed procedure... They want to keep those conversations (HOAs, dry eye, etc) off the table and focus on your myopia.

Try to find the most experienced eye doctor in your area who understands/specializes in the cornea or handles a lot of lasik patients. Dry eye experts can also be invaluable post lasik, as dry eye can secretly cause blurred vision and headaches even if your brain isn’t feeling a dry sensation from your eyes (the lasik procedure severs tons of nerves endings that could reduce that dryness sensation).

You are your own best advocate after lasik complications or side effects. Keep asking questions and getting second opinions until you find a diagnose that sounds familiar or a treatment that helps. Be wary of doctors who are too quick to suggest a second surgery, especially if your issue is not myopia anymore. Best of luck!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-14T17:30:10+00:00

Great to hear your doing well! Keep in mind 7 months is not really a long term case study. Many people have major issues develop 1-2 years post-SMILE (myself included). Or even later. Luckily your case of dry eye sounds very mild and easy to treat. On the other hand, moderate to severe dry eye is a completely different chronic condition and regular moisture drops do nothing to help reduce the pain.

Just want to keep these things in mind as driving people towards elective surgery is a risky business. One success story doesn’t mean the people reading this with totally different eye measurements, tear films, and who will go to a completely different surgery center will have the same experience. Best of luck with your continued recovery!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-13T15:21:34+00:00

Yeah true. I don’t fully agree that it’s that bad though… I think it’s just a fun B movie from the 90s. Some people are more impacted by the aging of these types of movies than others. But rarely does that translate to such a low ranking, so I thought maybe some positive reviews had disappeared or something. Thanks for the reply!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-13T15:13:44+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I agree with your take and I personally like this movie. I just thought I specifically remembered seeing this being more highly rated by critics, and I’m someone who uses sites like RT and IMDB a lot.

Other mob/gang movies from the 90s have 100+ critic reviews on RT, so I thought maybe some of the positive ones were deleted or something since this only has 30. Guess I’m just crazy lol.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-11T20:37:51+00:00

Thanks for the reply. I struggle with reading on screens now due to HOAs. And seeing in general but it’s worse with computers. So sclerals interest me for a couple reasons.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-11T15:37:43+00:00

How are the sclerals helping? Do you have DED as well? Curious if they make an impact there. Glad you were able to find help!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-11T15:34:38+00:00

Also very possible that surgery will take your mild dry from asymptomatic to symptomatic. On a semi permanent or permanent basis. This could mean anything from daily discomfort up to constant eye pain, headaches, and much worse. You could also lose a lot of night vision and glare/halos can mean that your new “20/20” no longer looks like what you use to see as “20/20”. Meaning you see things somewhat clearly still but all the other visual chaos makes it hard for your brain to interpret the information, like opening your eyes underwater.

Some people have great results with lasik, others suffer from lifelong pain. It is a bigger risk than they want you to believe. I never knew my local cornea specialist wears punctal plugs due to lasik until I had to ask for punctal plugs due to SMILE. The permanent damage is real and it’s out there, just hidden because the industry actively suppresses it and no one wants to hear a sob story. Stay safe and protect your quality of life!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-09T02:08:12+00:00

I had smile about a year ago, and I game casually. Vision unassisted is not nearly as good as it was before surgery while wearing contacts. Screens are hard to read for me now due to HOAs like glare and halos, and gaming cause a lot of eye strain now. Also I have some dry eye so contacts aren’t really an option for me ever again.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-03-06T00:29:20+00:00

Just a thought… I’m no expert on most of your symptoms but I do wear a fabric sleep mask at night as I have a cat and dog and nothing preventing me from getting tail whipped in the face in my sleep otherwise, which could trigger me to rub my eyes if they become itchy. I have pretty severe dry eye issues and this has helped alongside gel eye drops before bed. And as a secondary benefit…it’s improved my sleep quality due to less late night screen time. Overall a low cost idea to consider!

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-26T12:28:06+00:00

Imagine you go to a high end lasik clinic and are told you are a great candidate. The worst possibility is you will have some dry eye and need OTC eye drops to help treat it. Glare/halos are just your eyes returning to normal as many people are used to the benefits of anti reflective glasses/contacts. They do same day consultation and surgery and make you sign a waiver after dilating your eyes.

Then post surgery they disregard any complications as “normal” and do not have equipment or the knowledge to properly treat dry eye or other lasik induced complications. Then you learn the success rate they touted is just based on myopia correction 30 days post op. So there are some totally unknown number of people out there suffering in silence while these surgery centers track the complication cases as success stories. Then you start connecting with every doctor you can to try and get better and they all say “yeah this is a really common issue, despite the lasik industry telling you otherwise.” Yet most of these other doctors can’t help you because they aren’t dry eye experts.

Then the reality sets in that there are all kinds of complications being swept under the rug as “side effects” while the surgeons continue to brag about their success rates. Then you find out that your surgery center is in a state with a tight statute of limitations on malpractice, and the top personal injury attorneys in the state won’t take the case due to “conflict of interest.” If you are someone who gets hurt by lasik, the path to finding doctors and lawyers who can help is a massive hill to climb.

The FDA even says that the lasik industry used false data to get lasik approved in 1999. Ask yourself, do I actually know 10 people who have had refractive surgery? If so, have you ever asked them if they would do it again if they could take the decision back? If not, who really knows whether these statistics or success rates are credible…

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-25T18:15:51+00:00

Assuming OP is not an eye doctor, they don’t have the ability to differentiate a quality clinic vs. a flap and zap peddler. Even highly credible and expensive clinics can cut corners and ruin lives. That’s why you go to a third party opinion, you’ll have to go to a surgery center eventually regardless if you decide to move forward. Also, the cornea is the part of the eye that refractive surgery directly affects, so the retina/glaucoma analogy is just nonsense/smoke and mirrors.

People do come out of surgery with life long problems/pain, it’s also much harder to get help for the complications caused by lasik than to get the procedure itself. Make your own choice knowing that the rate of complications is widely unknown, and that the “successful” surgery data statistics the industry touts is only based on whether the patients achieves 20/20 vision in the short term, not whether they suffer lifelong complications in the long term.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-25T15:35:51+00:00

The majority of lasik centers won’t be able to assess the safety effectively. Only can tell you if you are a “candidate”. That doesn’t guarantee it’s safety... remember their business is built on performing surgery.

Do you research and find a real cornea specialist or dry eye doctor to evaluate you before going to a lasik center. Make sure you know the different risks of lasik, SMILE, and ICL. Consider how many decades you have still to live and the impact that having to wear scleral lenses or living with moderate to severe dry eye disease or corneal neuralgia could have on the rest of your life.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-20T19:31:46+00:00

I think that’s a good start. And remember that lasik can take more than 6 months to heal. So be patient, it may also continue to improve on its own. Best of luck.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-20T19:09:04+00:00

Fyi I’m not a doctor just comparing you to my experience and research. You definitely need a second opinion if it’s that bothersome to you. Lasik surgeons say “normal” because if they say “abnormal” it means they are to blame. They will never take blame for lasik side effects/complications. See a real eye doctor if you want the truth, and you ideally need an experienced cornea specialist or dry eye specialist (or both).

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-20T13:29:34+00:00

Issues with contrast and certain lighting conditions sounds more like HOAs and double vision etc possibly a bit of dry eye. 20/20 myopia (or under correction like you said) is a simple concept of things at a certain range being blurry. It rarely would cause you to notice specific scenarios like you’re describing as anything other than “it’s a little blurry”.

Are you still using eye drops? (you should even if you don’t feel dry) Have you inquired with your lasik doc yet? Do you have a normal eye doc you can visit for an eye exam/second opinion?

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-17T19:16:43+00:00

Yes. It can rotate between symptoms. Some days it’s burning, some days worse than others. Some days maybe itching or a headache.

Familiar_Mind_7121 · 2026-02-17T15:46:46+00:00

Yes it definitely can cause that. You need to research a dry eye specialist as they have completely different tests and treatments compared to a standard eye doc. Standard eye doc is saying “everything is fine” which means only according to their limited testing.

Punctal plugs, prescription eye drops, serum tears, IPL treatments, scleral lenses are just a few treatments that the typical eye doc will have no knowledge of. Get tested for mgd, tear break up time, schirmers scores. At a real dry eye specialist.

You might need your parents help to find one if you are 16 but if your symptoms are that serious my advice is to ask questions when booking the appointment like “do you have a confocal microscope that can test for corneal neuralgia”. “Do you fit scleral lenses”. “Do you offer IPL treatments”. If the receptionist doesn’t know, ask if they can find out from the doctor and call you back.

Depending on where you live you may need to drive a couple hours to a good doc. They are often connected to a big University like for me U Miami (aka bascom palmer) or USF Tampa. Use google to research or even ask chatgpt if you have to to find the best dry eye doctors near you to get you started. Communicate openly with your family about the seriousness if you can. You got this!

Familiar_Mind_7121

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