Iritis - recurred or never went away?

[Sue_VA]

Hi All,

In August I was diagnosed with a relatively mild case of iritis in my right eye. I have been in great health and have no autoimmune issues that I'm aware of. The only thing unusal was a horrifically stressful summer in which 2 family members passed away. I initially thought the red eye was from all the crying but it never went away so I finally went to the optometrist and got the diagnosis.

After 2 months of Pred Forte (several drops the first couple weeks and then a slow tapering) I was "cleared." At that supposed last check up my right eye was just very slightly pink - almost off-white. A week after that it started to get slightly more pink but still pretty mild.

I went back again (now 2 weeks after the last check up) and the doctor could see my eye was pink but it showed no signs of inflammation/iritis - though he couldn't rule it out. He gave me antibiotic drops to try on the off chance it was a bacterial infection. A week later (this past Thursday) with no noticeable change one way or the other, he spotted the inflammation. So light that I'm on the Pred Forte 4 times a day and no dilating drop (yea!). He said it is very minimal but he plans to keep me on the steroid drops much longer this time to get rid of it.

So with all of that, obviously my eye was showing redness, ever so slightly before the doctor could even make out the inflammation. Could it be I never truly got rid of it the first time? Was it reduced enough to just be hiding? Or is this a true recurrance? (If it matters, I had been off the steroid drops for about 4 weeks)

He did mention if it comes back again after this, he is sending me to my GP for testing. I know it can be autoimmune in nature and this is where he was going with it - though didn't say directly.

I'm still taking my normal vitamins - should I stop? I don't understand why vitamins would be bad to take. My diet never contains all the right food groups - so I consider them a must.

If the iritis doesn't have a specific cause (such as a trauma) is it always autoimmune? Does that mean there will also be other autoimmune issues as well?

Sorry - still very much a newbie. I never heard of this before August.

Thanks!
Sue

[jessrms]

Hi, and welcome to the group. I can't answer if the iritis could have not gone away since I am not a doctor. I can tell often before my doctor when i am flaring up. It is possible for the inflammation not to show up for several days after you notice it.

Certain vitamins can affect iritis negatively. A normal multi is fine, i would stay away from excessive vitamin C and other vitamins that can stimulate your immune system. When you have an autoimmune illness, your immune system is already working in overdrive, we need to make our immune systems less responsive. Things like echinacea also stimulate the immune system and are not good for us either.

Jess

[Sue_VA]

Thanks Jess!

So can you start the steroid drops when you realize you are flaring or do you have to wait it out for the doctor to be able to see it before starting the treatment? Seems like the latter would waste precious time, cost more in office visits, and prolong treatment.

Also I know that one must be weaned slowly off of steroids but I don't understand why (other than cutting cold turkey often causes a relapse that could be worse) Can anyone explain this in relative laymans terms or is it here somewhere on this site?

Thanks!
sue

[Mike Bartolatz]

you can call your opthalmologist and ask if he/she wants you to go ahead and treat until you can get in. this is usually not advised since the steroid eye drops make you eye more likely to get infected by a pathogen and the doctor normally wants to make sure this is not what is happening. your GP cannot tell if you are having a flare up of uveitis only someone trained to use a slit lamp microscope can see this.

pathogens can cause uveitis as well as autoiimmune disease processes. Sexually transmitted disease processes are linked to uveitsi as are ther herpes family of viruses. Lyme disease, leptospirosis, toxoplasmosis, toxocardia, cat scratch disease, Valley fever, Rocky mountain spotted fever, presumed histoplasmosis syndrome, tuberculosis, leprosy and other third world diseases can cause this. Multiple Sclerosis. Lupus, Sarcooidosis, Behcet's diseae, VKH, Wegener's granulomatosus, HLA B27 related disease processes such as Ankylosing spondylitis, Psoriatic arthritis, Juvenile Ideopathic ARthritis, Reiter's syndrome, Irritable Bowel disease, Crohn's disease etc aall are related ( other things too). So, Family history of autoimmune disease can give clues as well as where you have traveled etc.

Wish you the best,
Mike