cold meds and dry eye

[Julie1]

Hi all,

I've just landed an awful cold complete with a sore throat and congestion. I feel horrible, any my eyes don't really feel any better (although I have read accounts of people's eyes feeling better when they have colds). I may have a sinus infection or strep throat and am very, very afraid to take any more meds since my dry eye was triggered by meds. What if I take another med and have another trigger and lose more tears? The symptoms just started yesterday, so it is not time to run to the doctor yet. I would appreciate any opinions that you might have.

Thanks so much,
Julie

[neil0502]

Wow, Julie.

Tough spot ... and I can wholly sympathize since I've basically been sick for a month (since returning from BFS. Starting to look like a possible mold problem in the home, btw).

This is going to have to be a really personal decision about how much risk you're willing to take and for what reward. My first advice might be to see a doctor and request a throat/sinus culture. That's the only way that I know of to definitely diagnose strep or other infection, INCLUDING to determine if it's viral, fungal, or bacterial.

Once you know who the enemy is, then you can make smarter choices about what scale of warfare to mount. If it's viral, then you may do really, really well with things like chicken soup, gallons of green tea (I add lemon and honey), Gatorade, garlic, vitamin C, aspirin, long hot baths, and hours and hours of sleep.

Antibiotics won't help virus issues.

If it's bacterial, you could still try the above and see if you get better or worse, or you could try to get an Rx for the most narrow-spectrum antibiotic that's proven effective against your particular breed of bug.

If it's fungal (less likely), then the same applies: could try home remedies and rest, then switch to the most narrowly-focused drug available to treat the bug.

Much will depend on whether you can take some time off to fight this, or whether you "have to make it through the day." If you have to, then maybe Sudafed (pseudoephedrine version) and zinc/vitamin c/echinacea type throat lozenges. You probably want to avoid the antihistamines as much as possible.

But you need to rest as much as you can, no matter which way you go.

All the best,
Neil

[Cindy]

Hi Julie. I don't often get colds and when I do, I usually tough it out without cold medications because I worry about how my eyes will react. At the beginning of the year, I had a doozy and simply had to do something to reduce the symptoms. My eyes and I did very well with Maximum Strength Non-Drowsy CONTAC Cold & Flu. It was a big, big welcome surprise.

I happened to be with Lucy at the time and as luck would have it she had a cold as well. She tried the above mentioned CONTAC and had no bad eye side effects either. I promptly went out and bought her her own stash .

[Julie1]

Thanks, Neil and Cindy! I took the day off from work so that I could rest and try to recover. My throat feels much better, so I hope this means that I am showing improvement. I agree with both of you -- that's it's best to wait and see what happens before taking meds. I will definitely keep your comments in mind and will hope that my cold runs its course without turning into a sinus infection or something else.

Thanks again!
Julie

[Julie1]

The cold has gone straight to my chest, and I now have tightness and a bad cough. I've also completely lost my voice. This is only day 3 of the cold. Should I go to the doctor yet? How long should I wait? I am really scared to take more meds since I started having dry eye at the time that I started two new meds. Does anyone know if the antibiotics that are used to treat sinus infections, etc. are associated with dry eye? I usually get congestion in my chest and usually have to get some meds to recover from my colds so I may have to just bite the bullet and go the doctor at some point. I am really nervous though.

[YGB]

Julie - I think you should go the doctor. The MD may give you piece of mind that you do not need to take medication. He/she may also feel a need to prescribe medication. You are not obligated to take the medication. You can ask questions to the MD, do research of the pros/cons of the medicine, and make an informed decision.

I don't view going to the MD as being the difficult decision. It's making sure that the MD's plan for treatment is appropriate based on your dry eye condition (assuming medication is needed). Best. YGB

[Julie1]

Thanks, YGB. I just called the doctor because I was having some trouble breathing. The doctor I spoke to said that my cold still sounded like it was viral and that I should wait it out before taking any meds. For now, I am going to run my humidifier at full blast and am going to take a hot bath before I go to bed so that my chest can feel some relief from the steam. No antibiotics for me at this point. The doctor said that if I do not feel better by Monday morning, then I should come in for an exam. I wish that my eyes felt better (as many of you have said happens with a cold) but they do not. My eyes are just as dry as before. Thanks again, YGB, for your advice.

[Rebecca Petris]

Julie,

Don't let it go too long. If you get worse on the weekend... please go in and be seen by a doctor. I've had a thing like that escalate to pneumonia in no time flat and I'll take my worst dry eye symptoms over that any day of the week. I sympathize with the general issue... I've been battling a bug for a week and a half, I think it's bronchitis now and I started getting that chest tightness today. I never take antibiotics unless absolutely necessary (not because of dry eye... I just don't like them) but I'm about ready now too.

[YGB]

While your cold is further along, I think one thing that I will do when a cold starts coming on is I'll start taking cold-eeze ... http://www.coldeeze.com/.

Cold-eeze is basically just zinc (which based on my web research can also be helpful for dry eyes). I may just start taking some cold-eeze even if I don't have a cold to see if they help my dry eye symptoms. Also, it could be a great preventative care method to avoid the common cold.

I recommend the cherry flavor although it doesn't compare to those addictive Luden's throat lozengers that I used to use as candy in my very early years.

[Julie1]

Thanks, Rebecca and YGB. I will take your advice, Rebecca, and go see a doctor if my symptoms get worse.

YGB -- I wish cold-eeze would work for me, but it's way past that point. I will keep that in mind for future colds and maybe will even try it to see if it improves my dry eye symptoms.

It's bedtime now for me. I've got to fight this nasty thing. I don't know how I am going to sleep as I have such productive coughs every minute or so.

Rebecca -- I hope you feel better soon!!! It's no fun being sick!!

[Rebecca Petris]

It's bedtime now for me. I've got to fight this nasty thing. I don't know how I am going to sleep as I have such productive coughs every minute or so.

If you've got a recliner... that might be an idea. I've been sleeping in mine for several days - sleeping flat does not work for me at all when I've got something like this because the chest stuff just builds up too fast.

[Julie1]

Thanks for the great tip, Rebecca. I actually went to bed before I could read your post. I ended up sleeping with pillows behind my back so that I was actually sitting up. I had way too much congestion to sleep laying down.

I went to the doctor today because I was really coughing a great deal, and it turns out that my cold is still viral. That's good news because I don't want to take an antibiotic if I don't have to. The doctor said to take a cough syrup w/ codeine, Mucinex, and Advil for pain. I also checked with the pharmacist and both the doctor and the pharmacist assured me that I would not have any worsening of dry eye. The pharmacist said that I would definitely want to stay away from Sudafed because that would worsen dry eye symptoms. I just took the Mucinex and Advil about an hour ago, and I do feel some relief. My dry eyes are not any worse!

I really appreciate everyone's advice!!

Julie

[neil0502]

Good luck, Julie!

Incidentally, the Sudafed I mentioned is the decongestant-only pseudoephedrine.

While nobody can say for sure that somebody WON'T get aggravation from DES from something ... even from a glass of water ... pseudoephedrine is not classically known to aggravate dry eye. Antihistamines, however, are.

Some versions of Sudafed DO CONTAIN antihistamines (I think it's chlorpheniramine). You WOULD WANT TO AVOID those.

Hope you feel better fast.

Neil