I've been diagnosed with CNV and macular degeneration – I'm not sure which has caused the other.
I had my first Eylea injection three days ago. At the injection, I just felt a little pressure – as described. Walking home, it just felt as If the eye had had a little scratch – as described. When I got home, the soreness was such that I decided I would take painkillers if the soreness kept nagging at me. Not so very much later, I was sitting with a clean hankie gently holding my eyelid closed trying not to move my eye for a couple of hours with my nose running filling up about five male-sized hankies having taken two paracetamols and two ibuprofens..
I'm wondering how to deal with this. I've read the Macular Society's information about pain in the eye. Mine was of course a soreness from the injection. How best to deal with this soreness? I should ask for chlorhexidine? They should provide some means of bathing/flushing the eye after injection? I got given drops to put in at home – I should use about half of it to flush my eye when I get home? I should get myself an eye bath and rinse with Optrex as soon as I get home? I should take painkillers immediately after the injection? I should ask for prescription painkillers – Targinact perhaps? I've got a number of gabapentin 300mg capsules left over from trying to treat my RLS with it – are they likely to afford any help?
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ironbrain
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Hi ironbrain. First thing, call your clinic so they can check pain is nothing serious. Unlikely to be but best be on safe side.
It sounds like the usual sensitivity to iodine/ dry eye. You can buy ( must be sterile ) eye wash / soothing drops to flush eye well. I don't know what drops clinic gave you? I've heard some still give antibiotic drops out which are to protect against infection not for flushing the eye so you need to check.( we usually get the antibiotic drops given in clinic now after they flush eye ).
Gp can also prescribe soothing drops for you. Don't think optrex is sterile after first use ( ie once opened) so never keep to use again.
After rinsing eye I suggest you continue to use sterile soothing drops ( I use Hylotear 4 x a day) for at least a day or two.
Tell clinic at next inj and ask for more thorough rinsing. It should be better then but yes, Chlorhexidine is an alternative. I would see how you get on with better rinsing first though as iodine is a better cleansing agent and we need to avoid infection.
I always stay up late day before so I'm tired & take 2 paracetamol an hour or so before inj and then regularly for the rest of the day ( up to max 8 in 24 hrs). Don't think stronger painkillers will necessarily help, you just need to get enough of the paracetamol into your system.
Other than that I use distractions - hot bag on other side of face / eat nice things / fave film on tv etc.
Sun/ overspecs with side pieces also help keep dust and wind out of eye - I wear mine on inj day and for 5 days after.
The drops I was given are Lumecare hypromellose. "Lubricating eye drops", "soothes dry eye sensations", it says on the box.
There's almost no soreness now – I mean really it's all just been like the aftermath of someone having jabbed a needle in my eye! But I couldn't possibly think of doing anything that evening, the soreness was so intense. I could literally only sit and try to suffer it.
You say your clinic flushed the eye. What exactly did they do? I just got mine wiped over with a swab.
If it was just the one treatment, I could put it behind me, but thinking of two more and then possibly even more, it's really far more than I want to let myself in for.
Eyesright has given all the advice needed but I just wanted to say I have had several eyelet injections where there's been no discomfort at all- I think she is correct about iodine and flushing which they will do if you mention it
Hi ironbrain, yes the hypromellose drops are good to flush and soothing. My clinic use them.
I also use drops to make sure my eye isnt dry before the inj.
Rosyg is right to point out this discomfort isn't a given. I've had times I didn't know what to do with myself but more where there was no problem. Keeping eye moist and clinic flushing well makes all the difference. Once you've had a good experience you'll feel better about it all.
From how you describe your soreness after the eyela injection sounded very similar to my first injection experience. The iodine was the problem and lack of flushing after the injection.
I was informed by my clinician on my second injection that chlorhexidine is not as efficient as iodine for cleaning the eyelids etc so she carried out a "double dilution" iodine solution application prior to injecting. I had no problems afterwards apart from the gritty sensation. I did adminster hycosan drops once an hour to help with the dry eye and gritty feeling. You will have to ask your team to carry out a double dilution at your next injection.
The injection experience is quite harrowing to start with and you have to write off the day of the injection and try to relax. Easier said than done when you have the soreness for so many hours. I have not taken any painkillers as I am not sure that they would have much effect on the gritty eye experience. After a good nights sleep the following morning your eye should be well.
We are fortunate in that we have an intervention injection to hopefully prevent further eyesight loss.
Try some CBD Oil- it helped me relax and took the edge off prior and during the injection. I've been climbing the wall after my injections for about 8 hours and this last time I tried some. Although it didn't eliminate the pain I didn't have the usual anxieties and climb the walls for hours afterwards. It helped me sleep most of the time post injection which was something I couldn't do before because of the pain. Also make sure and tell your Dr. prior that you want extra numbing and how painful it was so they will tell the technician to give an extra wash to help remove the beta-dine. Sorry for you pain. Life....darn if you do and darn if you don't.
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