A Bad Batch of Antibiotics?

Tom had Memorial Day off, so he took TJ to the park to give me some time to get a little bit of work done. When they came home, TJ complained that his eye was itchy. I assumed that he’d gotten some sunscreen in his eye, so I helped him flush his eye out with cold water a few times. But it didn’t get better – it got worse.

The next morning, TJ woke up at 5:30 and couldn’t open his left eye. He had leaked so much discharge (i.e. “gunk”) that when it dried, it glued his eyelids shut. I couldn’t even scrub it away with a washcloth. We convinced him to go back to sleep – in our bed – and we got the gunk off with a nice warm shower around 9:00. After I had called the preschool to tell them he wasn’t coming, canceled his OT/PT for the afternoon, called the pediatrician, and let my MIL know he wasn’t going to school.

I had a doctor’s appointment of my own, so Kitty came over to pick TJ up after her hair appointment. My appointment ended in just enough time to pick TJ up and take him to the pediatrician. We had to enter through the side door. Quarantined because of the eye gunk.

Diagnosis: Pink Eye

I wish I could remember the adjective the doctor said the nurse used to describe TJ’s pink eye… it was something like “glaringly obvious.” But it was one word. A nasty, bacterial infection. The poor boy’s eyes were now both red, and his left eye was so swollen that you could barely see his long eyelashes when his eyes were closed. His skin was red halfway down his cheek, too. The gunk flowed freely. And apparently he was developing a slight ear infection in his left ear, but the doctor decided that we’d just knock it out with the antibiotic that he needed for his eyes.

By the time we got home, TJ had been given a routine involving Augmentin, Vigamox eye drops, and Benadryl for the swelling and itching. The gunk dried up fairly quickly, with little to wipe away by bedtime. The next morning, I washed the gunk off when he woke up, and that was the end of it.

But the eye drops stung, and TJ threw a major fit every time he needed them – three times a day. I had to call Tom and ask him to come home at lunch time to help me with the drops. (His office is 5 minutes from home, so it wasn’t an unreasonable request.)

Gross

The diarrhea was a big problem. I ended up having to do three loads of laundry yesterday – and I could’ve done a fourth one. Every time I threw more of his underwear in the washer, he would mess another pair. Or three. He couldn’t hold it at all. It was disgusting.

And the diarrhea continued today. Same deal with the underwear. But this time he was at Kitty’s house for most of the day so I could work again now that he was no longer contagious. If it hadn’t been for the diarrhea, he could’ve gone back to preschool and therapy.

So I called the pediatrician for advice about his diarrhea. After she’d told me the standard BRAT diet and clear fluids bit, the nurse told me that they’d gotten a number of calls about the Augmentin. “Maybe it was a bad batch.”

I’m sorry, a bad batch? Of the Augmentin prescribed for my son to make him better?

Is there anything for a mom to do in this situation? They called in a new prescription for him; he’ll start Zithromax tomorrow. But that’s another copay we had to make… because there was potentially a bad batch of antibiotics. I guess I should be happy it only messed with his digestive tract and didn’t do any more serious damage.

I still can’t get over it. A bad batch of antibiotics. The way she said it – so offhand – made it sound like it wasn’t really an uncommon thing. That’s just… not cool. Have you ever heard of such a thing?

Christina Gleason (976 Posts)

That’s me: Christina Gleason. I’m a writer, editor, and disability advocate. I'm a multiply disabled autistic lady doing my best in this world built for abled people. I’m a geek for grammar, fantasy, and casual gaming. I hate vegetables. I cannot reliably speak, so I’ll happily conduct business over email or messaging instead.