Iritis.org

Uveitis and Menstrual Cycle
C Shanghvi et al, Eye(2004) 18, 451-454
Summary Report of Article

An increase in inflammation in women with asthma, rheumatoid arthritis, psoriatic arthritis, and appendicitis has been noted during late phase of menstrual cycle. In this study of 76 regularly menstruating (28 day cycle) adult women (mean age 31.5) with uveitis, an increase in incidence of acute anterior uveitis was noted during late stage of menstrual cycle. Late stage of menstrual cycle was defined as postovulatory, starting on day 17 of menstrual cycle. Some attacks were also noted on day 9-12 and days 13-16, but the greatest number of attacks occurred on days 25-29. 17 % were on oral contraception, but contraception therapy has same decrease in hormones on day 22 of pill pack as during the late stage of menstrual cycle. The authors postulated that the rapid withdrawal of the anti-inflammatory effects of estrogen and/or progesterone in the late luteal phase may explain the increase in inflammatory attacks during late menstrual cycle.

OK, so this may be true..... always midcycle for me so maybe drop in oestrogen.

So what are the implications???

Do iritis sufferes get less flares after the menopause or more????

Which variables can be tested furthur????? continued usage of pill perhaps, or maybe changes in diet with say, higher soya content for oestrogen...?????

Are there any regional variations in rates of ititis world wide???

Apparently chinese ladies have less menopausal symtoms due to the higher soya contnt of their diet.... is there a variation of the rate of itiris in chinese women??

Just waffling.....and pondering...

Great questions but I don't have answers.
Wish I did for you Lisa Marie.
I just find stuff and post it here for others to read in order to educate themsleves about the complexity of diagnosis and treatment.

wish you the best,
mike

I knew it ,I knew it I am hla b27 positive and have found to get sick like a cold or fly or get iritis in the second half of the cycle! I just feel more tired and bloaty etc, Maybe the immune system is all built up in the 1st half of the menstrual cycle getting ready for pregnancy and drops everything in the 2nd half. I really believe this theory! A day after my daughter was born i got Iritis! My eye doctor had to visit me in hospital it was that bad! BUT I never had it all months of pregnancy! I do believe immune system and hormones are related ... in my case anyway

How interesting! This last bout arrived during the late stages of my cycle!

i had a horrible worsening of my iritis during my last period and i am worried about this coming month. is there anything i can do to help? someone mentioned diet changes? any other suggestions?

This all very interesting.My flareups are usually near the end of my cycle.I am 49 and my flareups have been more frequent in the last 4 years than in the previous 23 years.. Some have been very severe involving oral steroids and others- like just now- fairly mild but not cleared up completely in the last 5 months.New hospital and new Drs don't seem to know what to do with me.It goes from 1 eye to the other and back again. This is the 1st time it has behaved like this.All tests have been clear/normal..I see yet another new Dr on Wednesday.Anyone else had a similar experience?

John V. Forrester, M.D.
University of Aberdeen, Medical School
Department of Ophthalmology
Foresterhill, Polwarth Building
Aberdeen AB25 2ZD
UNITED KINGDOM
Tel: 44 122 4681818 FAX: 44-122 4685158
E-mail: j.forrester@abdn.ac.uk

Above is contact information for an excellent ocular immunologist who may be able to get this under control for you.

Wish you the very best,
Mike

Thanks for the details Mike. I will go to my appointment tomorrow with the latest consultant and take it from there.I know something needs to change in my treatment. I'll let you know what happens.Take care. Fiona.

http://www.endotext.org/adrenal/adrenal29/adrenal29.htm

here is a pretty detailed article on the immune system and the endocrine system.
it goes into female hormones as well as other hormones and how they interact with inflammation and disease,

mike

pub med articles on the effect of hormones on inflammation during the mestrual cycle:

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/sites/entre ... d=15131672

These postings are extremely interesting. Has any of you had your first iritis episode after having a child?
In my case it was last October (3 months ago) in my right eye. During my son's first year I got rid of any cow's products from my diet, since he happened to be allergic to the cow's protein and I was breastfeeding him. After he turned 1, I started drinking cow's milk and eating beef again and about 4-5 days later I got the iritis. It has been 3 months since then. In the frist 3 weeks the iritis went from grade 3 to 0-1 with just 1to 2 cells floating around. I have scheduled an appointment with an Specialist here in OR (OHSU) for next week, but I was wondering if any of you has seen something similar after having a child and/or a drastic nutritional change.

Thanks!

impact of woman's cycle on cytokine production

http://www.liebertonline.com/doi/abs/10 ... alCode=jir

Rose4710,

I also had my first flare up after having my first child. He was about 6 months old when it occurred. I haven't noticed it with nutritional changes, but think it is definitely affected by hormones. I never new I had this until then. My father has ankylosing spondylitis so they tested me to see if I had the HLA-B27 gene and it was positive. The flare up was under control after several months of using steriod drops. I then had another flare up in my second pregnancy toward the end of my first trimester. I realized what it was this time and didn't have the severe symptoms and all inflamation was gone after a month or so of the drops. My daughter is now 8 months old and I have just started my mentral cycle and I think I'm having another flare up. I am going to call the Duke eye center and schedule an appt to confirm. I have drops and started using it today. As I'm writing this it occurs to me that the first flare up after my son was born may have also coincided with my mensies.