Pink Eye

One of the children has come down with pink eye or conjunctivitis twice. Contagious, you say, but that's not always true. Only some people get pink eye, and in the same breath, only some people respond to the usual cure.

Sulfa drugs are wonderful from a parents' perspective, but they don't always work. Sometimes they cover the symptoms, and that's all. Then the complaint comes back with a vengeance.

My family is allergic to sulfa, and it manifests itself in a large rash, but it also manifests itself in half finished business.

One of my daughters was treated for a bladder infection at age two with a sulfa drug many years ago. She had the same infection several times and finally had to have a kidney ex-ray. It was a horribly traumatic experience because the child was so shy, she fainted at the sight of a stranger. That horrible hospital experience was a double nightmare.

When the tests came out, the medication became the suspect, and she was placed on another drug, and there was no recurrence of the infection ever.

It was said at the time that the drug masked the symptoms and didn't really cure the infection. Of course I was furious; I'm still furious. Putting a child through that ordeal because better care wasn't taken is a shame.

It's something to think about.