You are here

Eyes

Since taking Glivec, I have had the usual swelling, a bit of redness and watering of the eyes. This week, it appears that I have conjunctivitis (or some infection).
My GP put me on chloramphenicol antibiotic drops, but it got worse and after two and a half days, I went back.
The next GP put me on Fucithalmic drops on the basis that maybe the infection was resistant the chloramphenicol.
Both eyes have it, but one is far more advanced than the other.
The worst eye is much more swollen than previously, sore, discharging and the white is almost covered in bloody deposits.
This morning, my vision in that eye was affected by a cloudiness, like a film. I tried washing it, drying it,blinking hard, but it stayed as a uniform effect.
It seems that the infection has teamed up with the Glivec and is having a field day. Has anyone else suffered similar effects and what did you do about it?

John

Hi John

Eye infections can be quite difficult to diagnose in that there can be many different infections but they kind of all look similar with red watery eyes. I would suggest that you go to casualty or even better to the casualty of your nearest eye hospital. If you are in London, either Moorfields or the Western Ophthalmic Hospital.

You may well have something slightly more complicated than conjunctivitis and may need steroid eye drops. If you can try not to leave it till Monday.

Be careful and keep the eye clean, separate cotton wool and cooled boiled water for each eye. You are probably beyond any over-the-counter remedies.

Don't think eye infections are particularly assosciated with glivec. The only eye condition that seems prevalent with glivec is sub-conjunctival haemorrhages - where the white of the eye becomes filled with bright red blood.

Hope you can get some treatment quickly

Susan

Susan

Thanks Susan. This is nothing like burst blood vessels - my eye is red and lumpy all over and painful to touch or move.
I went to the out-of-hours doctor service at the local hospital this morning. She remarked on the severity of the swelling of the conjunctiva and put some dye in the eye. She suggested steroids, but needed further checks first.
It being Saturday, there are no eye specialists here. She phoned the duty eye registrar at a nearby hospital and he said that the symptoms were classic of reaction to the preservative used in both types of eye drops. She said "We seem to have made you worse."
I am to stop everything and visit the emergency eye clinic on Monday, but I have a line to the eye man at the other hospital if I need it before then.

She seemed to have some knowledge of Glivec (the others hadn't got a clue) and made the same comment - that the condition seemed to be aggravated by Glivec.

Just my luck - a nice sunny day for a change and I don't like bright light!

Thanks again,

John.

Hi John

When I had conjunctivis recently I also reacted to the drops and it got worse, make sure you ask for preservative free eye drops - dexamethasone is preservative free I believe.
Keep some sun glasses on and good luck, let me know what happens on Monday.
Also change your towel, flannel, pillowcase daily.

Susan

Hi Susan,

Saw the eye man yesterday. Seems it's quite nasty. He took a swab and the result should be in tomorrow. In the meantime, he suggested doing nothing. I now have preservative-free chloramphenicol, but have decided to hold off until I get the test result.
There seems to be a slight improvement this morning - I can type this without stopping every few words.

John

Hi John

I hope that you get sorted out today.

Susan
www.caringbridge.org/visit/susanleigh

Hi John,
hope your eyes are better?
Sandy

Thanks all for your responses. It turned out that the infection was not bacterial, but was adenovirus.

It was treated with strong prednisolone drops at 2 hour intervals and NSAID drops. The response was very fast and they are back to normal now - normal for CML and Glivec, that is.

I think I picked it up from my son, who had a cold. My left eye particularly looked like bright red spoil heaps around a mineshaft. I am prone to very watery eyes with a cold, but the cold was mild and my eyes were like never before. My wife also got it very mildly.

The consensus amongst all 5 doctors (3 GPs, 2 eye docs) who saw it was that the virus had teamed up with the Glivec and went on the rampage.

I am on the Hammersmith side-effects study, so I'll record the details for them.

Thanks again,

John