Hi from Asheville

[mixmeaj]

My name is Amy - I currently live in Asheville, NC. I have a history with Rocky Mtn Spotted Fever and Encephalitis (Age 16-21). I didn't get iritis until I was exposed to toxic mold in 2003. Iritis was my first symptom, it lasted 6 months, injections had no effect - after that I had liver, kidney and adrenal problems from the mold. The iritis finally went away after leaving the toxic environment and detoxing my body.
I was just re-exposed to toxic mold the end of 2009...this time iritis was the last symptom, first came the kidney problems again. I have now had iritis for 4 months. I was dilating and using pred forte every hour for about 3 weeks in the beginning and have slowly been tapering off. However about 2 weeks ago I started getting crazy high spikes in my blood pressure. I stopped the pred forte and the BP remained normal. I used the drops again, BP spiked again. So, I haven't used the drops at all in about 7 days. I went to my eye dr yesterday and now my iris is fused to my lens in my right eye and I still have cells showing in the left eye as well. I am seeing a specialist tomorrow and have no idea what to do now that I am having a reaction to the pred forte.

[Mike Bartolatz]

sorry but I have no Idea what to tell you other than to see DR Jaffe at Duke who is an expert in the diagnosis and treatment of uveitis. it might be that you could try other meds in see if they might help such as NSAIDs or DMARD drugs but usually steroids are used to quiet the eye before they are introduced in a steroid sparing approach to treatment. I'm not a doctor by the way, just a person with a very long history of uveitis. I am a steroid responder, a person who's intra ocular pressure goes sky high while using any form of corticosteroid.

please make the appointment with Dr Jaffe soon for input. his contact information can be found at http://www.uveitis.org in the patient information section of the site on the SPECIALIST list for the USA.

Wishing you the very best,
mike Bartolatz