What the hell is wrong with my eye?!

[TastesLikeFlavourlessFizz]

So I woke up at 4am with a sharp, awful pain in my right eye. Somewhere toward the back/crease/socket but IN my eye, IYSWIM. Similar to a windy day when a huge bit of gritty crap blows in.

But, aside from the fact I obviously had my eyes closed, I wear a bloody massive, close-fitting eye mask so nothing could have actually gotten in!

Anyway, I trudged the bathroom and used my optrex eye bath thingy. By this point the pain had subsided considerably but the eye bath did nothing to make it feel normal. I went back to sleep and it felt quite good this morning so I forgot about it.

For the last few hours it’s been really uncomfortable - still with a feeling of something being in there but I highly doubt this is the case. It also has a bit of a dull pain in the back of it at times.

I can’t get a quick appointment with an optician and I’m now thinking I should be more worried than I have been.

Anyone got any ideas? And does it sound like something I should be worried about or ride out? I’m not a wimp but eyes freak me out!

Optician asap. My sister had this and needed proper treatment.

Oh crap. I’ll see if somewhere has a cancellation tomorrow.

Thank you.

My partner had this exact thing happen. Woke up in the night with sharp eye pain, felt like he had something in there. He rang opticians and they gave him an emergency appointment that day, they said he had corneal erosion. Apparently if you have dry eyes, while you're asleep your cornea can get 'stuck' to the inside of your eyelid, and then when it pulls away because your eye moves, it can cause injury to the cornea.

He was given drops and ointment to use, he has to use it every day now to avoid it happening again.

Your opticians should treat this as an emergency . Phone another opticians in the morning.

Yes, any optician should agree to see you as an emergency appt.

If you can’t get an appointment with an optician find out if your local hospital has an Eye Casualty Dept. Ours has, it’s separate to the main A&E. Check the opening hours, ours isn’t open 24 hours.

You can go to a&e for a check up (but may need to wait a while). Can you see normally out of the eye? Is the Vision normal out of it?

If in doubt, go to a&e. Eyes and vision are important

Sounds like a corneal erosion. Waking with that exact kind of pain in the middle of the night is a classic symptom. Second the advice to go to an eye clinic or at the very least an optician. Eye clinic is better because they can do more specialist in depth tests and exams. Ask to see a corneal consultant if one is available. And in the meantime don't rub your eyes!

Oh Christ. Thanks, all.

I did start getting dry eyes a couple of years ago and I take antihistamines which may well make it worse. I’ve taken doxylamine every day this week to take the edge of my left-over covid cough at night (which is perfectly safe but could maybe have contributed?). 😫

My vision seems fine (it’s not perfect anyway but seems no worse).

I’ve managed to find an appointment at a specsavers with a fancy extra scan tomorrow. I’ve no idea about eye casualty round here but I’m in London so I’ll find one if the optician can’t help/tells me to.

I’ve been rubbing it just in case there is something in there! I will stop immediately!

Thanks again. I really wasn’t sure whether I was just being ridiculous.

I've had this before - twice it was ulcers inside my eye and the other time it was viral keratitis. You'll need to be seen at an eye hospital.

I hope you feel better soon x

Thanks @snowstorm2012 ☺️

Sorry to hear you’ve had so much trouble with yours! Eyes are so weird!

Erosion can cause micro ulcers. Sounds much more terrible than it is and is incredibly common with erosion but it does need attention. If you're in London, can you get to Moorfields OP?

www.moorfields.nhs.uk/

They're open 24 hours.

Yes have spent a lot of time at King Edwards Eye Hospital in Windsor lol! I had conjunctivitis at the same time as viral keratitis, the whites of my eyes were pure red. Fun times lol!!

Take care of yourself - you'll get it sorted 👍🏼x

God, thank you for that reassurance. I’ve just had a little flap about it! No idea why I’m so daft about eyes. 😅

I just had a look and I can do Moorfields but there’s another one - Western? - that might be a bit easier. I’ll see the optician first as I’ll probably need to pay them anyway if I cancel late. I can head there afterwards if need be.

Do I need to go now?! Will tomorrow be ok?

Honestly if you've got an eye hospital you can access I'd just head there. They have different machines for examining your eyes and staff spend most of their working day dealing with people with eye problems. They can also give you any prescription drops or creams you need straightaway.

Just noticed you've had covid. There are reports that covid can cause eye pressure changes and make your eyes more vulnerable to infection. I don't know if that helps but sometimes it's less daunting if you know why something is happening.

To be truthful, we've no way of knowing. Their A&E is open 24 hours for sight threatening conditions but there's also a number. Why not give them a ring?

Corneal erosion isn't usually sight threatening btw. But you don't know if that's what it is yet.

Thanks @EnormousBulkhead. Really appreciate your help.

I just don’t think I can stay up any longer!

No problem. And all the best! Hope you get it sorted.

I don’t want to derail, but this is really interesting. I have started to think I have dry eyes. Yesterday on a few occasions I thought my eyelid was stuck to my eye and wouldn’t open properly. There was no pain, more like it was catching on something. I better make an emergency appointment

I asked on here about pain my son was having in his eye back in July. I was advised to go to an optician which I did, and they had me at the hospital that afternoon with a periorbital infection - basically an infection of the eye socket. It was treated easily with antibiotics but it can be very serious (to sight and even life) if left.
So after that I’ll never leave an eye thing thinking it’ll get better! Specsavers were awesome and referred me up to hospital straight away.

Also recommend going to Moorfields as they’re amazing.