Hi, New here -- my story/symptoms

[AliAnderson]

Hi everyone,

I've been reading this site for a few weeks and decided to join. Looking for advice, support, similar stories.

I'm a 33yo female with recurring Iritis. It all started in 2010 after I had my first child. My body sort of went crazy that year. I had my first Iritis flare in my left eye in July of that year. It was pretty bad since I had no clue what was going on I didn't get into the eye doctor till it was excruciating. Was put on Prednisolone drops immediately and the inflammation went down slowly. The whole episode took about 6 weeks.

Then in November 2010 I noticed symptoms again in my left eye. Went right back to the doc and it was a mild flare up. Treated with Pred drops and it lasted a few weeks.

After that they ran a lot of blood work. Came back HLA B27 positive but no other issues or conditions. The only other thing that had been going on that same year was a very awful UTI infection shortly after I gave birth to my son and symptoms never subsided. Ended up with chronic bladder inflammation and irritation for almost a year. Those symptoms subsided but do flare every once and a while, mostly because of diet reasons.

So after the second flare of Iritis things calmed down and were good for about 5 years, even through the pregnancy and birth of my second child. Fast-forward to 2015 and out of nowhere I got an awful Iritis flare in my right eye this time. This started end of January and I'm still tapering down drops. It was mild when I first went in, was put on Pred drops 4x daily but it went from mild to absolutely awful in about three days after starting drops. Went back in and was put on Pred drops every hour and dilating drops. Was on that for 9 days with no change. No worse, no better. Was then switched to Durezol and was on that every 2 hours for four days until I saw a Uveitis specialist. At my next appt all inflammation was gone -- seriously amazed at what Durezol can do!!! Then started tapering drops and now two weeks later I'm at Durezol 2x a day though I have major blurry vision in my right eye still. I'm very concerned about that. I'm guessing it's from the Durezol but it's pretty bad so I'm a bit worried.

And now just this week I'm noticing some issues with my left eye. Having dull aching pain and light sensitivity. Going into triage at my eye center today to figure out what's going on. Also being referred to a rheumatologist for further testing though I have no symptoms of other related conditions. No other family with similar issues but my sister has Type 1 Diabetes.

So that's me and what I'm dealing with. Luckily I am now seeing the top Uveitis specialists in my state at an eye speciality center so I am confident in their care. I'm just ready to get my eyes back to normal. Thanks for reading!

-Alison

[Mike Bartolatz]

Alison, Welcome to the group!

HLA B27 uveitis may not end up with one of the seronegative spondyloarthropathies or the enteropathic arthropathies, you may just have recurrent iritis that ping pongs between eyes. this can be difficult to control for some individuals. sometimes adding an NSAID such as Celebrex, Dolobid or naproxen at prescription strength supervised by your doctor can break the recurrent cycle of the autoimmune uveitis. it takes about six months before you will know if it is working or not. should it flare during this period, you could then switch to DMARD drugs such as methotrexate therapy.

any infection or inflammation anywhere in your body can trigger renewed inflammation. often you will know that a bout of iritis is coming on before the ophthalmologist can see it going on in your eyes and then a week or so later it will show up. I assume you are on a dilating drop along with the pred forte which helps with the pain as it relaxes the muscle that opens and closes the iris when the iris is trying to stick to the lens from inflammation. Durezol and predforte can increase pressure inside your eyes so make sure you are under the care of an ophthalmologist whenever taking a steroid eyedrop. Durezol also has a much higher risk of increasing pressure. this can damage the retina from glaucoma.

please join us in the general discussion forum of this site as you cannot respond to my post in this forum.

looking forward to helping you through this journey,
Mike Bartolatz