December: I was still pregnant and slightly freaked out so I called telehealth (nurse hotline) to ask what I should do. They ran through the 101 questions needed to assess my situation and came to the conclusion that I was fine and it wasn't pink eye. They told me to go to my doctor in 7 days if it hadn't cleared. It's important to note that "the nurses" are complete alarmists and in my experience offer little advice other than "Go to the emergency room".
January: Woke up to another "Pink Eye". We figured it was just lack of sleep and still relying on the nurses advice figured it was nothing to be concerned about. UNTIL it turned scary looking and D started to freak out that I needed to go and see someone. Since going to the doctor for pink eye is like going for a scraped knee I decided to go to my optometrist (I was overdue anyway). Optometrist: Pink Eye and sent me to my doctor. Doctor: an inconclusive "I don't think it is pink eye" but gave me a prescription to fill if it got worse. It didn't.
February: Now I'm pissed off. It's back AGAIN. This time I went and filled the previous months prescription but my doctor had said she was certain (if it was pink eye) that it was viral which antibiotics would not help. I'm aware I'm using antibiotics when I potentially shouldn't be but I'm at my wits end at this point. I'm so worried I'm going to give this to Sadie and I'm suffering another week of obsessive hand washing and distance from my daughters face.
So, WTH? Do I have Pink Eye or not?
- redness of the eyes - YES
- eye pain - NO
- blurred vision - NO
- sensitivity to light - NO
- burning or itching of the eye - NO
- a scratchy feeling in the eye - NO
- a discharge that may be watery or may contain pus - 3rd time only and just a little bit of watery discharge
As a constant sufferer of pink eye, I'd say no. But there are a lot of other things that can cause that kind of redness and irritation... good luck. I hope it doesn't come back next month!
ReplyDeleteOMG, Kim has had pink eye repeatedly the last month or so, even with antibiotic drops. She's heading back to the doctor too. I keep thinking it must be something else because she gets a sore throat at the same time. Crazy.
ReplyDeleteIt's not pink eye. It sounds to me like eye strain and so drops of hydrocortizone would help.
ReplyDeleteI'd use tea bags as warm compresses on your eye. They really help. I had the same thing on this mat leave and never used antibiotics although I did use some eye drops a couple times--which my wife administered while holding me down because I'm a baby when it comes to my eyes. I kept getting a stye too.
ReplyDeleteI've never had pink eye myself, so I couldn't say. It does look like a good excuse to buy some cute new sunglasses though.
ReplyDeleteNot sure what it is, but I'm hoping it goes away and NEVER returns!
ReplyDeleteOn a side note...Sadie...too cute for words! :)
Correction...goes away and stays away cuz it bothers you!! It's strange that it has come back each month. Plus, you have to love that even medical professionals can't give you an answer.
ReplyDeleteThe one time I had pink eye I had to wear sun glasses and my eyes oozed all kind of shit. I agree with the pps - it's not pink eye -but something else which I hope someone can get to the bottom of. Sorry - it is a bummer!
ReplyDeleteI agree... NOT Pink eye. My eye is better now and I did stop taking the eye drops because I felt they were making it worse.
ReplyDeleteStill... WTF?
I bet it comes back again!