My husband and I went to Vegas a couple of weeks ago, and he developed a cold after we got back. Usual stuff - coughing, sneezing, runny nose, etc. I was sort of waiting for the other shoe to drop because he very rarely gets sick, while I catch everything.
A few nights ago I woke up with an itchy eye and rubbed it a bit before falling asleep. Not a good idea. At first I thought there was just some pollen in the air but it kept getting worse and worse. By Thursday I knew I needed to see my doctor, as the lymph node on the right side below my jaw was swollen and painful.
Did you know that there are also lymph nodes right next to your ear, just above your jaw? MY doctor said “I wonder if your ocular lymph node is involved?” and pressed on it. YEOOOWCH! It’s sticking out like a little marble. They sent me to the optometrist. My temp. was a low grade 99.4 and I was starting to get achy.
Anyhow, the optometrist said that sometimes a typical cold virus can get introduced into the eye. They gave me a prescription for something called erythromycin and suggested I get some liquid “tears” to help with the irritation. I was told to stay away from people at least through this weekend, as I’m very contagious.
Has anyone heard of this before? My lymph nodes on that side are lumpy and painful, the fever always stays in the 99’s, and my face on that side is starting to swell. The eye is horrible. The lids are swollen and the white part is red. The surface is getting bumpy looking. I thought it was pink eye, but both docs said this is definitely a virus.
It’s really painful and looks UGLY. They told me yesterday that I had probably “hit my peak” and would get better from then on, but it’s getting worse.
I want my mother.
Anyhow, if there are any optometrists or docs around, have you heard of this? How long does it last? Can you send some drugs? :dubious:
That sounds awful. Never had the ocular lymph node thing, but as a kid I had three or so go rounds with a fever where a great number of my lymph nodes, including in my neck, became extremely tender and hurt with every movement.
If it’s a virus, what did he give you erythromycin for? Antibiotics do nothing against viruses, but they do help antibiotic resistant bacteria strains to proliferate when prescribed unnecessarily. Get a clue, optometrist guy! (Unless of course there’s a secondary bacterial infection – then just forget I said all this.)
Sounds feasible, but I am not an expert.
[Long anecdote]
My only knowledge comes from the following joyous experience:
A mild cold caused by spending a british winter in a big building full of students. Nothing unusual there.
Suddenly, several days of severe dizziness and complete loss of balance. To the point where I had to walk down corridors holding on to the wall to stay upright. WTF???
Which then segued smoothly into…
Double vision, which started off very annoying and then got so bad I had to walk around with one eye closed because I had two images separated by about 45 degrees.
At this point I hobbled off to see the university GP, whose response was basically “huh?” and told me to head down the road to Moorfields Eye Hospital. The first doctor I saw there also went “Huh?” and fetched a consultant who peered in my eye, listened to my symptoms and then asked me if I had had a cold recently :dubious:
This is apparently not common, but happens enough that specialists are well aware of it - cold virus had made its way into my middle ear, inflaming it and messing up my sense of balance, and had then spread to the sixth cranial nerve which controls the lateral tracking of the eye, inflaming it and causing my eyes to track slightly off-beam. Cure was to wear a fresnel lens glued to one lens of my specs for six weeks while the inflammation went down.
[/Long Anecdote]
So if a common cold virus can provide me with all the symptoms of a brain tumor, I’m sure it can give you a sore eye. Best of luck, and try applying some warmth to the lymph node, it might help soften/deflate it.
I guess you don’t have kids. Kids are constantly sneezing on their hands and wiping their eyes - vector for infection.
Big deal during the SARS crisis. Disinfect your hands before wiping your eyes. Sneeze into your shoulder rather than hands. Don’t shake hands and wipe your eyes. etc.
Yeah it’s possible. It’s also possible to have a “cold” in your ear too. At least, that’s what the doctor told me was probable, that whatever had made me ill had spread to my ear as well. (Ye-owch!) I’ve had sinus infections spread to my ear, and ear infections that spread out to my sinuses. Your eyes (when not rapidly overflowing) drain down your throat, so do your ears.
I can’t speak to your particular situation, but what I had—and continue to deal with 49 years later—is called “metaherpetic keratitis.” In layman’s terms, it’s a cold sore on the cornea. And it’s a pain in more than one sense of the word.
Nowadays, there are non-traumatic treatment options; but in 1956 the standard approach was to (spoilered for the faint-hearted) . . .
. . . cauterize the infected area with iodine.
I don’t remember the infection itself, but I do remember spending several days lying on the couch with one eye bandaged and not willing to open the other because it hurt so much. And the aftermath is a scarred cornea that not only ruined the vision in that eye, but is a source for recurring flareups.
Sorry, I guess I rambled a bit. The point (if any) to the above was not to elicit sympathy (as if that would work—this is the SDMB), but to let you know that it is indeed possible, but it’s not exactly earthshaking. IF you get it taken care of.
