Iritis?

[Guest]

Hello all. I recently moved back to Michigan from Connecticut and am currently staying at my parents house until such time as I can find a job and a place to live of my own. So needless to say, given my lack of job and health insurance, I was fairly dismayed when I came down with what appeared to be a fairly severe case of conjunctivitis. It started in one eye, and within a day was in both eyes. My symptoms are fairly extreme pain, very bad light sensitivity, and red eyes. Even the slight rush of wind as someone walks past seems to hurt my eyes. Well, I bit the bullet and called my old family practictioner and he got me in right away. I figured it would be quick, in and out with a prescription for eyedrops. He said that due to the fact that I didn't have a lot of drainage (only tearing from the pain for the most part ) and that my other symptoms were unusual, he wasn't sure it was conjuncitivitis. He gave me a prescription for eyedrops to treat conjunctivitis and sent me on my way, telling me that if it didn't improve dramatically within a few days, he wanted to send me to an ophthalmologist right away.

I started the drops, and after a day or so, my eyes felt a little better. But a day or two later, while still taking the eyedrops, they are experiencing a fair amount of pain again. My doctor had mentioned iritis as a very distinct possibility, and now I'm worried about it. No health insurance + ophthalmologist + treatment + no money = scary!! Any idea if the treatments for iritis are expensive? Steroids seem like they would be. Of course, it's impossible to put a price on ones vision. How often do flareups occur with iritis? Does it come and go, or is it a constant?

Anyway, I was just looking for more information and reading your site here, it sounds more and more like that's what I have going on. I'm continuing the eyedrops for a few more days, doing my best to get them in every couple hours. I guess if it doesn't get better, I will call the doc again. My final question, how long without treatment before iritis can get very serious?

Thank you for this informative site, and I will keep you up to date on what I find out.

[Mike Bartolatz]

iritis can cause damage quickly that is irreversible if not treated properly.
Steroid eye drops and dilating drops can prevent this from happening.
it is impossible to say whether or not you will continue to have inflammation over time.
Some people only have one or two bouts of iritis and others have chronic or recurrent uveitis/iritis.
although there are some cases of iritis caused by a virus, bacteria or other pathogen often it is related to a systemic disease and must be controlled systemically. Remission of chronic uveitis is possible using immunmodulating drugs.
look through the various links at this site in other forums for information on how to get help with cost of drugs etc. If you have no money you might want to go to an University Medical School ER for care as that would be the best place to get help/

wish you the best,
sincerely,
Mike Bartolatz