# Update: We can't get rid of pink eye



## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

I think that's what it is anyway. My dh and I and our two girls seem to keep getting pink eye from each other. I thought at first it was allergies but not sure. It never gets that bad. We wake up with some crust and pink eyes. I treat us with a homeopathic pink eye remedy that has boric acid and some herbal stuff in it. It clears up for the day, sometimes requires a few treatments but never gets that bad. Just a little bit itchy. Then after 2 days or so it will totally clear up, and then it will return. I'm so sick of it! I can't figure out if it's allergies, virus, or bacteria. We all have some sort of mild cold and cough right now. I had a 48 hour flu with severe body aches and fever last weekend.

My 5yo had it bad one of the times with greenish pus out of the corners of her eyes but that only lasted a day. Now we just have the milder symptoms. I am making sure we wash hands, and I change and wash the pillow cases and towels daily. How the heck can I get rid of this once and for all?







: Open to suggestions.

BTW I have noticed several other children with it in our community, such as at the PO and the YMCA. Today I took dd2 in for a weight check and mentioned it and the ped said it didn't look that bad and was probably allergies. He saw the tiny bit of crust on dd1's eye in the corner. He's a fairly hands-off ped and only treats severe things so I was reassured. But it's still very annoying. We are on our second bottle of eye drops.


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## BurgundyElephant (Feb 17, 2006)

When my immune system gets down I'll start to get it... as do the kids. I have some cyloban in the house (prescription) but I haven't had to use it since I've been nursing. Works just as well and stings a lot less. No lie. I just express some into a teaspoon and pour it in my eye.

So I think the thing for me is to keep my immune system strong. I can tell when I'm getting sick because my eyes start to water at night.


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## Bartock (Feb 2, 2006)

My DS just had it too, the doc percribed Erythomycin Ophthalmic Ointment, ds had to close his eyes and i had to rub it along his bottom eye lid, did that 4 times a day for 5 day's, it is now gone. You arn't touching the dropper on the eye are you, that would cause the bottle to get contaminated and pass it back, I just got enough cream on my 1 fingure(which doc told me to clip my nail as short as possible to prevent re-infection)to do both eyes.


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## firstkid4me (Nov 11, 2005)

I don't know if you're still breastfeeding, but try a little breastmilk in the eye. I had pink eye in March and it was awful to try to get rid of. I carried around a bottle of antibacterial hand gel for when I touched my eye and used my eye drops, but it wasn't doing anything, so I rubbed some breastmilk in, and it was gone the next morning. (The hand gel came in handy because dd also had rotavirus at the same time, and we didn't spread it to anyone, yay!)


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

Alright, you all have convinced me that if this doesn't go away I might ask a friend to donate some milk to us. I have tried to be careful with the droppers touching our eyes and even disinfected them a couple of times with alcohol wipes (allowed it to dry before using of course).

That makes sense about our immune systems being down. We just made it through a horrible awful allergy season. The pollens are stating to go down now, thank goodness, as the weather gets hot and thing are dying. I felt so drained and tired and my asthma was bad. I currently have a cold sore in one nostril, recovering from that flu over the weekend. So my next plan is to up our immune system boosters.


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## merrybee (May 18, 2002)

Also if you use eye make up (or any make up that touched your eyes-- like powder, too) you may need to get rid of it and buy new when this infection passes, as well as wash any brushes or applicators.


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## mmace (Feb 12, 2002)

I live in a pink eye household too. In fact, my kids will probably get pink eye just because I read this thread!









The biggest thing for us is that you need to keep treating it even though it's better. So often I'm great about putting the drops in for the first day or two, then when it clears up I forget to do it. Make sure you keep treating it for as long as you're supposed to (I think the drops we use are supposed to be used for a week) or it will come back.


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## EBG (May 3, 2006)

Chamomile tea has been working for our family since I was a child. Boil water, put chamomile in it (I just get the tea bags), cover, let it cool to tolerable and moisten cotton balls, place them on eyes for several minutes, repeat as long as kids allow and the tea is warm enough. 2-3 times a day.


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## nichole (Feb 9, 2004)

good luck. i am not sure if we had allergies or what. we did use the antibiotic eye drops but after the first drop my ds wouldnt let us do any more. that one drop did wonders though.


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## marsupial*mama (May 13, 2006)

I second the breastmilk suggestion. Have used camomile tea but did not find it effective. Best natural remedy ever was eyebright tea. You can get the herb in leaf tea form from naturopaths and practitioners of traditional chinese medicine. Eyebright got rid of the infection in our whole family in a matter of days.

Wash pillow cases, towels etc with mild disinfectant (we use tea-tree oil - a few drops in the rinse load) and take care, as someone mentioned, that cosmetics and face creams etc are not contaminated.

I was tempted to get the prescription ointments but found eyebright so much better!


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

Just wanted to post a follow up. We still have it.







I took the girls to the ped 2 days ago and I went to my doctor today. They both feel that it's bad allergies, not viral or bacterial. So that is good! We are supposed to use antihistamine eye drops and saline washes and see if it gets better. If not I have a referral to an eye doctor.


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## Kleine Hexe (Dec 2, 2001)

Get some breastmilk from your friend. It works wonders on allergies and pink eye. Anytime someone here has an eye thing I squirt them and the next day it's all better. Even treated my dog's crusty eye that way!


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## ozzyemm (Apr 15, 2005)

Be careful with the antihistimine eyedrops. They can scratch your eyes







.


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## USAmma (Nov 29, 2001)

The doctor prescribed some saline drops that she wants me to put in my eyes every hour to prevent too much dryness. I hope this goes away soon!!

My friend lives 30 minutes away but I migh ask her the next time I see her.


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## marsupial*mama (May 13, 2006)

http://www.alternative-medicine-info...Eyebright.html

I still think this will help! Here's the search place for where to buy it.

http://search.yahoo.com/search?ei=UT...b+where+to+buy

Hope you beat it soon. I feel for you!


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