new member w idiopathic recurrent acute iritis

[vancouver]

A few questions from newly diagnosed iritis sufferer:

1. I sought help after 16 days of very feisty iritis.
Could not see anything in right eye. Dr prescribed
Cyclopentolate twice daily and maxidex hourly.
My synechae only improved slightly. Was he aggressive enough w synechiae? It is now permanent.

2. Vision is 20/20 if i touch eyeball gently. Vision is 20/50 from 20/40. Off meds.

3. Dr never gave me any info. Reluctant to even admit i have iritis. Info i have came from internet or interrogating him

4. This is second episode. Previous was 4 yrs ago.
Should i buy tonometer and slit lamp? No
Iop problem that i know of.

5. Will my posterior synechiae increase risk of glaucoma in next episode? My eye does not seem to dilate as wide as normal eye. No more than 4 times diameter of constricted pupil.

6. I have chronic anxiety at record breaking level all my life w sleep deprivstion headaches in iritis eye very frequently. Ie real stress that threatens health. Not first world stress where people have slack in the system. First epusode happened at 20yr peak of stress/sleep deprivation.

7. Surgeon weaned me off the drugs and passed me to his optometrist colleague in same office.
Optometrist put me back on drugs. Pred forte one drop per day. So i was only off drugs for 5 days.
Optimetrist said eye was pretty quiet but research indicated one drop per day would reduce chance o
Recurrence.

8. Surgeon told me not to get blood tests.
Optometrist said to check out rhumatoid arthritis.
This is unilateral per surgeon.

9. I gained some empathy for victims of eye disease. Scary stuff.

[vancouver]

Also, i was working in the crawl space under house when symptoms developed. Top soil was disturbed and was thick in the air. After 4 days of classic iritis , i felt ok except redness and no vision. After one day of remission, i experienced very painful sinuitis which stayed for about 10 days. I was still blind but photophobia etc was not that bad. I think the eye fluid with white blood cells etc drain into sinus.

Off topic , noticed that mila kunis has chronic iritis
And cataract surgery.

[Hudsongrl]

Did not know this sbout Mila Kunis. I was wondering if sinus fluid could be pushed into eye with Ocean Aerosol Sinus rinse. I used this right before my first and only flare. I so wish i could have a redo on many things. It took 5 dilated eye exams befire they diagnosed me. 2 weeks. I had pain, floaters, photophobia, but no red eye or vision loss for 2 weeks.

[Mike Bartolatz]

you indicate you are in Vancouver, is this Washington or Canada?
in Canada, get to DR Wade

in Washington go to Dr Rosenbaum at casey eye institute in Portland, Oregon.

there are over 85 different cause of iritis. some are pathogens, some are inflammatory disease processes and some are autoimmune in nature or caused by trauma to the eye. you need an expert to figure this out. usually testing is done on RECURRENT uveitis not just a couple of bouts or for CHRONIC uveitis, it sounds like you have recurrent/chronic uveitis. in only one eye, do you have COLD SORES on your lips, nose or in your mouth? this is caused by the herpes Sx or Herpes Zoster virus which can cause uveitis in ONE eye and with a lot of synechia which can cause glaucoma to occur. antiviral meds and a drop of predforte would be needed to keep this type of uveitis at bay.

if it is a mold, then steroid would be needed.

if it is from autoimmune of inflammatory disease then there are a lot of different treatments available to get you off all steroid without inflammation.

[vancouver]

Thanks for sharing your expertise, mike. I live in vancouver, bc. My first episode was at 52 and was nongranulominous so i assume ideopathic.
Ive had a few cold sores in my life but not recently.
I have had a long history of migraines in the iritis eye. My first iritis episode was 4 yrs ago and the second was sept2015. I came to doc only after second episode was finishing up. I was told my eye was "pretty quiet" after 30 days of steroids(hourly maxidex) but was put on 1 drop per day of 1% pred forte because research shows this lowers chance of recurrence. Ill get my records and find out the precise cell count that i had at last visit. Going
So long without treatment may have made the condition chronic. If i dont get to zero count soon i will seek out dr ward in vancouver. I was told by eye doctor not to get blood tests becsuse it will not change the optimal treatment. You have given me food for thought. Thank you for your kindness.