Ibuprofen?

[Lulu]

Hi, I've had bilateral iritis since early April of this year. I went to have my retina checked b.c I have a history of thinning in my left retina. The night after my exam, I had a lot of pain and redness, but figured it was from the exam. Three days later the pain was so bad I called and asked to be seen again. The receptionist reluctantly gave me an appt after telling me i was probably just suffering from allergies, and since they are retina specialist they probably couldn't do anything for me--anyway, it turned out I had a terrible case of iritis. I had just over 3 weeks of quiet in early June after almost constant flaring since April.

I've had tons of bloodwork done. 14 vials of blood later, they still can't find a cause.
I have been on pred forte since April 6 and then in late may was switched to durezol for a few weeks. It helped with the inflammation but my eye pressure started to shoot up (it had been in the low teens on pred forte).

Anyway, back on pred forte now and my opthmalogist just started me on ibuprofen 600 mg 3 times/day. He wants me on this and the drops for at least 6 weeks. I am curious if anyone has had good results with pred forte, lubricating drops, and ibuprofen.

Also, the opthamology practice I go to specializes in retina issues. I noticed a couple of weeks ago that Dr. Foster has hours in their office complex-I guess it's a satellite office or something. I am just wondering if it would be worth it to try to get an appt with Dr. Foster or someone who works out of his institute instead of continuing with my current opthamalogist who is leaving the practice in a few weeks. The retina doc I see now appears to know about the all the latest immunomodulatory treatments out there, but he is not trying those on me right now b/c I have a 5 month old baby who is nursing and most of those drugs are not ok for nursing babies. Thanks for any advice/info you can give me.

[Mike Bartolatz]

welcome to the group!
NSAIDS are often added to see if they will stop teh inflammation. you will know in a few weeks if the NSAID can be used alone to keep your eyes quiet.
usually the only thing used while lactating is steroid eyedrops because they are low dose and are not significantly absorbed systemically.
If you can see Dr Foster or Dr Hinkle at MERSI I suggest that you do so if at all possible as they are excellent ocular immunologists. I don't think Dr Foster has a Satellite facility any longer in Upstate NY if that is why you mean. I thought I had removed that link from the site.
Dr foster personally uses Celebrex, Dolobid, Indomethacin or naprosyn as choice of NSAIDs for treatment of Uveitis. he has better results with them.

Wish you the best,
Mike

[Lulu]

Thanks for the information and for this site! I think I will try to see Dr. Foster, even if i have to make a trip to Mass. (I'm in Albany).

[Mike Bartolatz]

you can go to his Ocular Immunology and Uveitis Foundations website for contact information. http://www.uveitis.org tell him I sent you.

If you have prescription insurance, you will be most likely switched to a different NSAID, possibly Celebrex which is what doctor Foster most often prescribs as he has the best results with it.

Wish you the very best,
Mike

[Lulu]

Hi, just found out that I can see Dr. Hinkle in the Albany office, but not till October. I started the ibuprofen but skipped a few drops one day and had a huge flare up in my left eye, so am back onthe drops every two hours. My dco said that if the falre isn't gone in another week, they may want to do a steroid shot in that eye, or both eyes. Do you know if that causes a lot of systemic side effects? THank you.

[Mike Bartolatz]

the shot won't be INTO the eye, it will be to tissue surrounding the eye.
there are minimal systemic effects from cortisone shots like this. they are not as bad as one would think when done by a doctor experienced in giving this type of shot. the thought of it is allot worse than reality.
I have a link to Avastin shots which also has you tube example of a sub tennons cortisone shot if you are interested. it's in a note at the beginning of this forum.

you could always travel to see DR Hinkle in Cambridge and then have the followup there in Albany in October when he is there.
Can you ask if you can take CELEBREX instead of the Ibuprophen, Ibuprophen doesn't work well for control of uveitis. even the generic for Dolobid, Difusinal works allot better than Ibuprophen.
Wish you the very best,
Mike