Glaucoma drops making me sick or is it all in my head

Hi Andrea,

Yes I have side effects also. There are side effects to every medication we take. Sometimes, the side-effects are worse than the disease. I suffer from glaucoma and dry-eye disease. The drops cause dry eyes (a vicious circle) so I have to use Systane 3 times a day on top of my two other kinds of drops for glaucoma. The eye drops for glaucoma cause me to have post nasal drip which is a side effect, cough, at times some pain, and low energy.

Some tips: Except for the low energy, these side-effects are not as bad lately and it may be because I make sure to close my eyes as soon as possible after drop insert and then press on my tear ducts with my fingers covered with a kleenex for a second and then press there again witout the kleenex for the time required. The Duotrav requires 30 seconds and the Simbrinza requires 1.5 minutes. I'm focusing on not letting any liquid at all drain into my nose. It seems to be working. I also make sure I deposit the cover of the eye dropper on a clean surface. I use a kleenex. Also, I am very careful not to have the tip of the eye dropper touch anything. Sometimes, this is difficult especially when one is tired or sick. Anyway, I hope this helps.

oh my,I am so sorry to hear your issues.

I have been on Combgian for a year,,however I cant say I've had any issues.

I would just make sure the pain isn't a result of a other problem withi your eye.

I hope you find relief.

I also had bad side effects with all the eye drops I tried, nausea, dry itchy red eyes and the worst being a burning feeling all the way down into my stomach. I ended up with having to see a gastroenterologist who carried out a camera test down into my stomach. I had inflammation all the way down inside which had developed since using the drops.

The other issue was that despite all the severe side effects the drops did not make much difference to my eye pressure readings, down from 24/23 to 20/21 at best.

I was fortunate to be offered an alternative treatment, eye laser treatment on both eyes. This brought my pressures down to 19/20 but readings are slowly creeping up again 3 years on, my last readings being 21/22. The consultant who carried out the treatment is not especially worried about these readings and will see me again in 9-12months. Hopefully I will have the laser treatment repeated by him when needed.

I also found my readings can vary considerably when taken by an optician, up to 27/28, however the hospital has told me these readings are not as accurate as those they take at hospital.

Suggest you consult another opthalmologist. Laser is only temporary. I tried about 20 different glaucoma drops before I found the ones that agreed with me and brought my pressure way down.

https://bnf.nice.org.uk/drug/latanoprost.html

It is interesting that they say this: increased reporting of eye irritation since reformulation (July 2015)

I have been prescribed Cosopt which is preservative free. So often, the preservatives cause all the problems

Most all medications have side effects, it's a process of elimination to find what works for you.

Combigan has been good for me taking it over a year, right eye only, it's just very costly, I have dry eyes too, I use a preservative free drop over the counter as needed.

As for the pain in your eye, I would look into this to make sure there isn't an underling problem.