Bad reaction to eye drops @ dr's office.

[Kimberle]

Yesterday, I had an eye exam. The dr put drops in my eyes to dialate them. I've had this done many, many times w/ no problems. But this time, oh my gawsh..... My eyeballs felt numb, took a good couple of hours to stop. It hurt to blink. I went home and went to bed. Woke up several times w/ my eyes caked with "goo". My eyelids are swollen, by eyes very bloodshot and still producing "goo". The skin under my eyes is sore.

It's been 24 hrs and they are slowly getting better. I called the office & the girl said "this just never happens" and she'd leave a note in his box for when he's back on Tuesday. She also said to call back if I'm having problems.

 

[OceanAnnie]

That's awful! I wonder if you have developed an allergy to the drops? Do you think a cold compress would help? Sorry for what you're going through!

 

[itsheresomewhere]

Yesterday, I had an eye exam. The dr put drops in my eyes to dialate them. I've had this done many, many times w/ no problems. But this time, oh my gawsh..... My eyeballs felt numb, took a good couple of hours to stop. It hurt to blink. I went home and went to bed. Woke up several times w/ my eyes caked with "goo". My eyelids are swollen, by eyes very bloodshot and still producing "goo". The skin under my eyes is sore.

It's been 24 hrs and they are slowly getting better. I called the office & the girl said "this just never happens" and she'd leave a note in his box for when he's back on Tuesday. She also said to call back if I'm having problems.

I can not have the drops as I am very allergic to the preservates in them. My eye doctor stopped using them as he was having several patients have reactions to them (he did use the same brand with everyone). Flush your eyes with eye drops for several hours, it does help.

 

[PinkRhombus]

Yesterday, I had an eye exam. The dr put drops in my eyes to dialate them. I've had this done many, many times w/ no problems. But this time, oh my gawsh..... My eyeballs felt numb, took a good couple of hours to stop. It hurt to blink. I went home and went to bed. Woke up several times w/ my eyes caked with "goo". My eyelids are swollen, by eyes very bloodshot and still producing "goo". The skin under my eyes is sore.

It's been 24 hrs and they are slowly getting better. I called the office & the girl said "this just never happens" and she'd leave a note in his box for when he's back on Tuesday. She also said to call back if I'm having problems.

Call back if you're having problems? What you described IS a problem!

There was no other doctor there that could look at you? No one they could refer you to for a quick look over?

 

[Cindyluwho]

I would definately call them back! I hate it when doctor's poo-poo a problem like that! The numbing drops make me vomit and give me awful motion type sickness. ICK!!

 

[bumbershoot]

I once insisted on reading the package insert for dilating drops. The optometrist was silly about it and made me sit in the waiting room doing it. So I read it all out loud. Dilating eyedrops work on the sympathetic and parasympathetic systems to cause your eyes to dilate, and therefore can have full body effects (probably not *likely*, but it *can* happen). I refused to have them dilated and he had to finish the exam with my eyes normal (which wasn't that difficult as my eyes are usually "open", pupil-wise, anyway).

But reading that insert was truly amazing...they aren't benign!

So call them back, ask them to fax the insert over, or at least the drug name they used, see if there's anywhere to find the lot number of what you were given...get info so perhaps even YOU could report it to the manufacturer. I mean, maybe there was something wrong with that lot and they'd like to know about it early. Or maybe there are things in it that you can't have anymore. Maybe it was new to you. etc. But they NEED to know that you ARE having a reaction, it IS bad, and that it was from the drops.

 

[chell]

Some people do have bad reactions. I even heard of one boy that the drops caused him to have seizures. They shouldn't have blown you off like that.

You may need to visit someone else who can treat you if they aren't better tomorrow.

 

[Diva of Dragons]

I had to find a Dr. that uses the newer photo technology with no dilation. The last time I had it done, my eyes were super irritated and I got a brutal migraine. I found out later that the migraine thing is a pretty common side-effect. :-(

 

[Kimberle]

Thanks, everyone. I'm feeling much better today.

 

[daisax]

Seriously, in the future? Don't take your vision so lightly. If your eye doctor won't see you, call and find one who can, or go to an emergency room.

My ophthalmologist got very angry with me once because I delayed a couple of days in seeking treatment. What I had turned out to be perfectly benign, but he said the same symptoms could have been a sign of several extremely serious vision-threatening problems where time to treatment was a major factor, and whatever I had going on that was so important that I couldn't make time to deal with my problem probably wasn't worth being blind the rest of my life.

And he was right.

 

[merekc]

My other concern would be if they could possibly have put something in your eye other than the eye drops they intended to use. Mistakes do happen.

Glad you are feeling better and I agree next time, take it to the next level.

 

[NotUrsula]

Call the office back and get the name of whatever dilating drops they use, so that you can add it to your medical records that you are allergic to them. You don't want to be exposed to them again, as the reaction could be worse next time.

A friend of mine who is an opthalmologist ended up being involved in a malpractice case with a patient who died as a result of an allergic reaction. She had almost instantaneous fatal reaction to an injected contrast dye.

 

[Kimberle]

I have to go in when my new glasses come in. I will speak to him in person then.

 

[BrightSkies44]

Hey! I'm new to this site/board. I was recently talking about this subject with a physician and a friend of mine. I know I'm replying to a very old post, but wanted to post about this. Don't let anyone tell you reactions to eye drops don't happen, making you feel upset. The truth is many do. Some people have localized reactions, like mentioned in this post, but others have systematic reactions which can be serious. I'm one who had a systematic reaction years ago (flushing/feeling red, spike in BP, and nausea). I was fortunate it went away within 48 hours. I was told I was sensitive to the dialating drops which contained a form of epinephrine. I've since had eye exams and they use a different drop and only one in each eye. I have heard of a few people who had a reaction to the yellow numbing medicine put in first before eye exams, and two of them passed out. Once I started having allergies to meds, I had a pharmacist tell me that "nothing is inert"..we can have a reaction to anything. Just wanted to post here so that no one feels alone about having reactions to the drops or other things..it happens!

 

[Bluestars]

I had to find a Dr. that uses the newer photo technology with no dilation. The last time I had it done, my eyes were super irritated and I got a brutal migraine. I found out later that the migraine thing is a pretty common side-effect. :-(

I also use a doctor who uses the newer photo technology instead of dilating the eyes. It's more accurate and better for determining eye diseases.

 

[dakcp2001]

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