Have your DCs had conjunctivitis? Yes? Then your opinion please

[fluffacloud]

DD2 10m had a bloodshot, tearey eye with a bit of gunk on Monday evening. The other eye was a bit pink but otherwise ok. She also has a cold and had a stomach bug at the weekend - joy!

We took her to the Doctors and we were given drops, 4 times a day for 7 days.

I know that it's only been 2 days of treatment but it's got much worse. Both eyes are red, sore, full of gunk (every 5 mins) and she has red circles under her eyes.

Is this normal? Should the drops have kicked in by now?

My worry is that she may be allergic to the drops and that I'm making her worse.

I know I'm probably worrying over nothing but either reassurance or a firm 'get a grip' is needed please!

TIA

Were you given antibiotic drops or the over the counter drops?

If you have applied them four times a day for two days now, I would definitely not expect it to get worse. Given how important our eyes are, I would make an appointment with your GP first thing tomorrow morning. I would also call NHS direct or OOH to ask whether until seeing the GP you should continue with the drops or stop.

Dd is on drops just now and on the leaflet it says contact your doctor if symptoms worsen

Yes, go back the the GP, or ring your nearest eye clinic direct in the morning (go through hospital switchboard) and see if they accept walk in/self referrals.

Eye drop allergy does happen.

Should be looking better in 2 days. It could be that the drops aren't working for that infection. Last time I had conjunctivitis I was given chlor something which did nothing, then fusidic acid which worked very quickly.

Go back ASAP, the drops should have worked really quickly. I'd take pictures and stop using them personally.

The drops worked immediately for ds1 so I'd go back to the gp. Don't use them in the meantime just in case.

They are antibiotic drops, which I was a bit confused by as I'm assuming, due to the cold symptoms, that it's viral.

I think I'll call the GP first thing and not give her the drops again until we've seen a doctor.

DP thinks I'm paranoid because I'm allergic to almost every antibiotic - he's right of course, but that doesn't mean that I'm wrong!

Feel much better now I have a plan, thanks all!

What sort of drops are they? Her gunky eyes could be caused by the cold, and antibiotic drops will do nothing against a cold. In which case, it could just be that the cold has got worse and so have her eyes, but they'll start to get better soon. We had this happen last month, took a few days for it all to clear but eyes got worse before they got better. We were told to just clean with water and the doctor refused to prescribe anything.

But, eyes are important so maybe check with the doctor again if you think it's needed.

DT1 had a gooey eye and the nurse pratitioner diagnosed conjuntivitis. We were given(sounds like) the same drops to use in both eyes. He said it stung and made the good eye red. A day later I removed a fibre ( a bit like a mohair fibre) from the gooey eye. I don't think he ever had conjuctivitis but the foreign object had made him scratch and rub both eyes. Worth having a re-check?

She could be allergic to the medication - this happened to our DD - we'd been given drops but had to change to an ointment.

It may have been caused by a virus but the gunk is bacterial infection, antibiotic drops are the right med but it sounds very likely she's reacting to them.

When I told our gp I can't have augmentin she didn't prescribe it for ds1 as she said it was too much of a risk.

Def go back, dp had a really nasty reaction to some eye drops after an eye injury and he'd used them a few times before. His eyes were better within a couple of days of different drops.