Contact lenses and Chronic Dry Eye - Ristasis? Vitamins? I need some help.?

Hello, I have low tear production and this makes wearing contact lenses near unbearable. In fact, even when I wear glasses if I don't get enough sleep I'll wake up feeling like my eyes are desert and my eyelids are made out of sandpaper.
I got a perspiration of Ristasis when I was 19 (around 2 years ago) but I didn't take it seriously, but now I've opened a new box and I'm committed to taking care of this. The sad thing is that my health insurance ends in a month and 12 days so my time to figure this out is somewhat limited.

Has anyone used Ristasis for chronic dry eye? If so, how long did it take before you were able to wear contacts again? The vials that come in the box - do you use one vial per day or one per morning and another one at night?
Also could you share with me your favourite type of contact that doesn't dry out as easily? I tried the Oyasis a while ago but it was no different than Acuvue 2 for me : (

Lastly, I found some vitamins online that were 'essential to eye health'
http://www.contactlensking.com/totaleyes... This one, and the other one was just Omega 3 - Can I take these daily and possibly see results?

I just destroyed another pair of glasses at a concert and I'm just getting a bit tired of replacing these things without insurance.

Thank you for any and all replies.

all excellent and educated questions. a welcome respite from the "OMG IDK IF AM I GOING BLIND!!!??" type questions here.

restasis: if your tear film quantity (not quality) really is low, restasis will most certainly help. it stings a little and most experts agree you wont get the max effect until you've used it solid for THREE MONTHS. you probably wont know if its going to work or not in 1 month when your insurance runs out. but IMO you do not have to cease contact lens wear while you try it.

use a vial until its empty. this stuff is expensive. i wouldnt use 1 vial in the a.m. and one in the p.m. i'd use 1 until its empty...as many drops as you can get out of it. the manufacturer tells me the new vials will be resealable for this reason (they're not resealable as of right now).

the only contact lens material FDA approved for use in a clinically dry eye is omafilcon. thats "proclear" and "biomedics XC" by coopervision. both excellent products. high water content and chemically similar to the makeup of you own body's cell membrane structure. other good "dryness" materials IMO are the old polymacon (bausch & lomb's soflens 38) and the brand new air optix aqua by ciba. the brand new focus dailies aqua comfort is an excellent choice.

that total eyes link...i'm not personally a big fan. i never thought "eye bright" worked at all. but i *DO* think omega 3 fish oil works for dry eye if taken regularly and in the right dosage/formula. not all formulas work for dry eye. this is a good one IMO tho:

http://www.theratears.com/nutrition.aspx

also clear care contact lens solution by ciba is chemical-free which is important if you dont choose dailies.

so if you get the right contact lens, the right solution (if not dailies), and take restasis and oral omega 3, along with a good artificial tear like systane...you'd likely go a very long way towards helping your cause. and most of that is not even expensive (restasis being the exception).

good luck!