Norflo Meriva alternative treatment for uveitis

[henlufa]

Just wondering if anyone has ever tried Norflo Meriva for uveitis.I am finding Norflo hard to resource but other companies have produced Meriva but the Norflo was used in clinical trials with very positive results.I cannot use oral steroids as I have a terrible reaction (psychosis !!) and am interested in alternative ways to treat this horrible affliction.

[Mike Bartolatz]

I have no information on this. I know that the active ingredient is curcumin so it is an NSAID.
if you can take NSAIDS, and if your uveitis is autoimmune in nature, not caused by a bacteria, virus etc, then a trial of oral NSAIDs might be able to help you to get your eyes quieted down. DR Foster at Harvard and MERSI uses Cellcept, Difusinol or naprosyn taken at prescription strength to get one 'off all steroids without inflammation.' this works in about 70% of patients. if this doesn't occur within a few months, then he will move on to DMARD class drugs alone or in combination with various classes of meds.
there is a list of ocular immunologists at http://www.uveitis.org in the Patient information section of the site. you might want to get a consultation with one of these highly specialized ophthalmologists to find a way to get your eyes quieted down and in durable remission.

wishing you quiet eyes,
mike

[henlufa]

Thank you very much for your swift and very helpful response. As I live in France I found it very helpful, the list of international specialists..my eye doc is kindly but a little vague, so I will make an appointment with the nearest uveitis specialist in Toulouse asap. In desperation I ordered Meriva yesterday from the UK and it arrived today.I am very interested to see how this alternative treatment pans out.It is used to treat all types of inflammation in arthritis with very favourable results. Clinical trials were held in 2010 in Italy for uveitis sufferers with very positive results (see dovepress.com and type in Meriva for clinical trial review),I guess a day's treatment is too soon to say!, but I shall keep this site posted if I see positive results.Again, many thanks and wishing everyone quiet eye time ....

[Mike Bartolatz]

you are most welcome and thanks for sharing the link to the treatment.
there is one specialist trained in the USA if I recall correctly that treats in France of asian decent if I recall correctly. you can look under the FELLOWS list at the link I provided and cross reference names to find which ones trained under DR Foster, the top ocular immunologist in the World. keep us posted too about your care. ask any questions that may come up and I'll do my best to help you get the answers, nothing is too trivial. Please know that you are not alone!

I wish my French were as good as your English. I can't recall much from my studies over 44 years ago.

take care and good luck with getting modern treatment to put your uveitis into durable remission.
Mike Bartolatz

[Mike Bartolatz]

one other comment, why are you not having regional steroid injections to stop the inflammation inside your eyes if you cannot tolerate oral steroids?
have you tried oral NSAID therapy?
do you know of a related disease or pathogen as a cause?

best wishes,
mike

[henlufa]

I am awaiting genetic tests from Paris for B27, and I guess they will be positive. While working in London 15 years ago I suffered a very severe case of reactive arthritis after salmonella food poisoning.Wow! that was one rollercoaster of a maladie, which lasted over six months, but while I had problems with all my lower body joints which I was hospitalised for several times, I never had eye trouble.My guess is that my immune system has never been the same and inflammation has always been lurking and has decided to rear it's ugly head in my right eye..well again, thank you for your time and I will keep this site updated about my experience with Meriva.

[Mike Bartolatz]

with the salmonella irradicated by your treatment, proteins on the outside of the pathogen trigger the HLA B27 gene and other genes to kick off ankylosing spondylitis or other enteropathic arthropathy and it can take some time to proceed to uveitis. the body has similar proteins through the HLA B27 gene which causes the immune system to target these cells by mistake. the goal is to downregulate the immune system so that the blood cells don't continue to make the various immune response methods that are targeting our cells. often NSAIDs can do this in early stages of the disease. Dr Foster uses Cellcept, difusinal or Naprosyn to quiet the immune response and this works in about 70% of individuals with HLA B27 (autoimmune) uveitis patients. for some this still doesn't work and then he goes to DMARD drugs as required to achieve a status of off all steroids without inflammation. this process can take a couple of years to achieve as the clock doesn't start ticking until you have achieved the right dose of meds to get you there, then he continues the patient on this dose for 2 years as it takes that long to retrain the immune system.

Good luck with your appointement,
take care,
mike