conjunctivitis

[patsyann]

Hello mums can anyone help. my 15 daughter has had conjunctivitis with no known cause (all tests come back negative for bacterial infection) for nearly a year been to eye hospitals the lot. much better than it was but still there. don't like conventional medicine but nothing alternative worked so have tried antibiotics and steroid eye drops and not worked either. now eye docs suggest a one off 1000mg dose of azithromycin a drug normally used to treat STD's. She is completely sexually inactive and no i'm not being naive. i really don't want to give a systemic antibiotic like this but perhaps i should if it will work. list of side effects are terrifying. has anyone else used it or found any other cures? would love some advice

I've always found salt water more effective than any eye drops or antibiotics. Dissolve a teaspoon of salt to a pint of water.

There is a really brilliant herbal remedy called Eyebright (also known as Euphrasia tincture). It can be taken internally diluted in water but we have found on both children it works brilliantly, again diluted in water, as an eye wash. I make it pretty dilute (for a new born about 8-10 drops in 200ml) and for my toddler (21 months) now the same in about 100/150 ml and just sweep once over eye on a piece of cotton wool.

My son had horrible recurrent sticky eye / conjunctivitis when he was a baby and when we discovered this it was sorted.

I appreciate your girl is a lot older but my husband and I have also used it for eye problems and it has sorted us out too!

You can get it from health food shops and some pharmacies.

thanks we use salt as a cure all here but no luck with it or eye bright which has always worked previous to this infection. but thanks for answering anyway!

Your poor dd. How mysterious, to have conjunctivitis with no known cause. So they really have no idea whether it's allergic, dry-eye related, some kind of immune system disorder, bacterial, viral, fungal etc, etc??? Or even a reaction to all the attempted remedies over the last year? Is it really serious conjunctivitis, or just low-grade, constant soreness?

As for the antibiotic, I wouldn't worry too much about the listed side effects on the leaflet - all antibiotics sound that alarming, because they have to list every possible reaction, even the most unbelievably unlikely. See if you can ask the doctors what the most likely side effects are and for more detail on why they think this might work and how risky it really is in their opinion - eg when they've tried it before - then speak to your dd about it and see how keen she is to try it, then respect her decision. I wouldn't have thought this drug is only used for STIs - if they're hoping it will work on your dd's eyes, then I expect it will work on a broad range of bacteria, or have other properties that might help (eg I've taken a 3-month low-dose course of doxycycline recently for meibomian gland dysfunction, largely not because of its anti-bacterial properties, but because it has an effect on the viscosity of the mucous produced by the meibomian glands in the eyelids, resulting in them becoming less prone to become blocked up, which can cause dry, sore eyes). It's worked for me - wonderful not to have sore eyes any more!

its not blepharitis is it as that can look similar . My mum had it and all she used was a diluted solution of johnson baby shampoo to clean her eyes 2 or 3 times a day.

Has she had sofradex eye drops.predsol N
Genticin HC.

I would be wary of having alot of steroid eye drops as they can cause fungal growths in the eyes which is difficult to eradicate

thank you alypaly and rabbitstew. this is my first time on mumsnet and god i picked a boring name - i sound like is should be wearing laura ashley and carrying a hand woven basket. the conjunctivitis was very serious - 6 months ago she had an ulcer on her eye and really i have never seen anything so awful. now its just low grade pain and redness but according to docs her enlarged follicles can cause scarring. if they could find a reason for her condition i would be much happier to give the tablets but they can't she has so far been diagnosed as bacterial, viral, allergic and now back to bacterial. will carry on thinking for now but thanks everyone.

Im wondering if all the treatmnet for the ulcer(presuming it was steroids and antibiotics) has un balanced the natural flora in the eye. Long term steroids and AB do cause problems in ears and eyes thats why they are normally short term use.Can you remember what she was give for the ulcer.

you sound as if you should be on country and western patsyann

yeah at least they'll be a few cow boys that way! think was predsol or something like that

Hi, patsyann,

It's interesting you say she has enlarged follicles, as it does imply a problem with her eyelids - eg blepharitis of one type or another. And this could be a problem subsequent to the intial conjunctivitis, rather than the initial cause, as I'm sure all the treatments have messed up the normal equilibrium of her eyes and eyelids.

Have they given advice on warm eye compresses, eyelid cleaning and eyelid massage? It's just that it is very difficult to get at the bacteria that harbour themselves up inside the glands and follicles of the eyelids, so people that have a problem with this tend to have to get used to a strict regime of warm eye compresses (to melt the oils in the eyelids so that they can be released, rather than grow bacteria and get stuck in the eyelid), massaging the oils out of the swollen glands before they can grow too much bacteria or form a solid plug preventing more oils getting out to lubricate the eye surface, and keeping their eyelid margins, around the eyelashes, extremely clean and free of dead skin. And avoidance of any eye make up is, obviously, an extremely good idea until the problem has cleared up or been brought under control. Perhaps it's worth asking for some advice on this and whether it could help, and how to go about it safely, given the severe problems she's had in the past?

Hi, patsyann,

It's interesting you say she has enlarged follicles, as it does imply a problem with her eyelids - eg blepharitis of one type or another. And this could be a problem subsequent to the intial conjunctivitis, rather than the initial cause, as I'm sure all the treatments have messed up the normal equilibrium of her eyes and eyelids.

Have they given advice on warm eye compresses, eyelid cleaning and eyelid massage? It's just that it is very difficult to get at the bacteria that harbour themselves up inside the glands and follicles of the eyelids, so people that have a problem with this tend to have to get used to a strict regime of warm eye compresses (to melt the oils in the eyelids so that they can be released, rather than grow bacteria and get stuck in the eyelid), massaging the oils out of the swollen glands before they can grow too much bacteria or form a solid plug preventing more oils getting out to lubricate the eye surface, and keeping their eyelid margins, around the eyelashes, extremely clean and free of dead skin. And avoidance of any eye make up is, obviously, an extremely good idea until the problem has cleared up or been brought under control. Perhaps it's worth asking for some advice on this and whether it could help, and how to go about it safely, given the severe problems she's had in the past?

thanks rabbitstew, i'll ask about blepharitis next time i go. have to tread very carefully on suggesting no make up for teenager is greeted with a very stony glare! spending a small fortune on replacting it frequently instead.

patsy...did she suffer from cradle cap as a baby or does she have excema by any chance. I till think it is blepharitis.
Predsol used for a long time can cause other problems too. Has she had genticin eye drops in the past. If they arent culturing anything it does lead down the path of blepharitis.

no, no excema and not much cradle cap am def going to follow up the blepharitis thanks alypaly x