pretty confused/ scared

[teddy]

doc just told me he's pretty sure i have iritis, i cant see an optomahlmagist (sp?) till tommorow mornin, and im gettin pretty scared reading all this stuff.

im wondering what the chances are that my iritis is caused by something else as opposed to JUST being iritis.

thanks.

[Mike Bartolatz]

Welcome to the group! most people only get a bout or two of iritis, it is often triggered by a virus, the immune system stops it, you recover and it doesn't return. for others it can be recurrent or chronic and require systemic medications to stop. Hopefully you will only have this initial bout of iritis. If you have been sick recently or if you have an atuoimmune disease or autoimmune disease processes run in your family, make sure you tell your primary care physician and your opthalmologist as that might indicate what tests to run if this returns,

I hope this helps,
Mike

[teddy]

thanks a lot man, youve made be able to breathe a little easier.

this site was the best thing i could find earlier when i was going crazy.

nice work here.

[Mike Bartolatz]

Get a good pair of polarized wrap around sunglasses and wear them inside and out while our eyes are inflammed and you have to put the dilating drops in.

we are here to help you when andif you need us. just know at you are NOT ALONE.

Wish you the very best,
Mike

[GLITTLE]

I was recently sick, runny nose, burning watery eyes, run down. A few days later I noticed my eye was really red. I went to my General Practicioner and he said it was pink eye (conjunctivitis). The pain increased to the point that I went to the Emergency Room. They prescribed Vicadin and an eye salve. I went to an ophthmalogist and she immediately diagnosed iritis and gave me some Prednisolone and some drops that would dilate my eye, the pain continued and I went back to the office and saw a different doctor, he prescribed Trifluridine, and atropine and continue with the Prednislone. He seemed very concerned that my eye was not dilalating and said the lens could be sticking to the iris. My vision has not improved over the last few weeks, my questions are:
Will my vision improve? How much? and How soon?
What are the treatments for the "sticky" situation?

I honestly am very apprehensive ( fancy word for scared to death).

[Mike Bartolatz]

it is impossi ble to tell you how long your iritis will take to become quiet. it can take a few weeks or much longer depending on the cause. sometimes the iris remains stuck to the lens and it can only be broken loose at time of cataract extraction later on. if the iris is open because the ciliary body has been paralyzed by a virus such as the Herpes
Sx virus then it will always remain open. If your iris is stuck in the open position from whatever cause, a contact made to look like a closed iris can be made. this is frequently done. it is painted to look like your iris.
one thing, if you are taking prednisilone ( a generic form of Pred forte eyedrops) SHAKE THE BOTTLE FOR THREE MINUTES before instilling them. when you go to put the pred in, tilt your head back, put in a drop, blink and then close your eye and press in on the inside corner of your eye for about 2 MINUTES. this will keep the eyedrop from going down your sinuses, it will stay on the surface of the eye and be absorbed.
then wait 15 minutes before putting in the atropine and repeat the pressing in on the inside corner of your eye. this is CRITICAL to getting the most out of the drugs and not washing the corticosteroid away before it is absorbed by the second eyedrop.
there is a link in our ANNOUNCEMENT forum to full instructions with pictures on HOW TO INSTIL EYEDROPS. this might sound funny to you but there is the right way to do this and NO ONE seems to teach the patient this way. they just say 'put them in your eye'.

your vision should improve dramatically once the inflammation is gone, off of the eyedrops for about 3 weeks or so. of course this is IF there is no permanent damage to other structures within the eye such as to the retina, optic nerve or peripheral retina from the inflammation or from elevated pressure (glaucoma) which can occur from the uveitis or from the corticosteroids in some individuals ( my pressures go up with corticosteroids and I have peripheral retina damage due to steroid induced glaucoma).

Hang in there. Know we are here to help if we can. ask any questions you may have and we will try to help.

wishing you the very best,
Mike

[GLITTLE]

Mike,
Thanks for your response, I am really learning alot about Iritis and the eye. I visited my Eye doctor yesterday (6th) and he seems to think I am moving in the right direction from my last visit on Monday the 4th. My vision went from 20/200 to 20/50. I can make out most of the keys on my keyboard now!
I looked into the article about instilling the drops, and yes I was doing it wrong and I could sense the meds were finding their way to my throat. And, I was not shaking the Prednisolone for more than 15 seconds. Oops. I'm thinking the meds might do a better job now.

How will I be able to determine if the inflamation is lessening? Less redness, less pain, vision improvement, or the iris getting smaller( it is not much bigger than the other iris)?

My puplil is dilated about twice the size of the other eye, is that normal?

Is my blurry vision a product of the dilating of the pupil or because the iris is enlarged?

My pressure was 14 or 17 is that good or bad?

Thanks for the answers, the advice, and most of all the positive words, they mean alot.

[Mike Bartolatz]

The dilating drops are causing your blur of vision as well as the enlarged pupil. I assume when you say one 'iris is larger than the other' you mean that one eye is dilated as ones' irides are usually the same size from eye to eye.
if it is stuck in an open position it won't return to normal size.
depending on the type of dilating drop it can take a few hours to a couple of days for the medically dilated pupil to return to normal size.
normal eye pressure is from about an 8 to 24. so your pressure is normal.
anything below or above is of concern as this can damage the optic nerve (glaucoma).

many of us with a history of uveitis develop cataracts from uveitis both from the disease as well as from long term corticosteroid use. the steroids can cause glaucoma to occur in some of us as well..

the redness, photophobia and vision should get better once the inflammation is gone. in some people the preservatives in the eyedrops can cause redness so it might remain even though your inflammation is down and will go away once the eyedrops are stopped.

hope this helps,
Mike

[GLITTLE]

Mike,
Thanks for your help, I seem to be making some progess with the pain and the redness. My vision is still cloudy, but what you say about it taking time for the medicines to clear my system makes sence.

I will let you know of my future progress.

Thanks!!

[Mike Bartolatz]

please do keep us posted,
Mike

[specedteacher]

Glittle,

I hope the recovery is continuing. Mike's information is dead on and has been very helpful to me. I too was very concerned during my first bout but Mike and my Doctor taught me a lot about what is taking place and how to work with it.

The blurry vision and such should (hopefully) be gone shortly after you stop dilating your eye. It takes me about 2.5 or 3 days for the eye to be doing what it should be correctly. Also the steroid drops I am using are milky white and things tend to be a bit cloudy for a short time after I put them in.

Also I now recognize the symptoms and start the meds as sure as I am certain that it's back. Then I call the doctor and get in as soon as she can see me. With this occurrence, starting the meds as quickly as I did, and catching it early made a big difference in the severity of the iritis I am facing this time (according to my eye doctor). Now that you've been through this once, you are aware of what it feels like. If (and hopefully it won't) it starts up again, you will recognize it right off and can hopefully act to get it under control much more quickly.

My first case (when I didn't know what it was) was horrible, my 2nd case shouldn't have been, but I was in Cyprus and didn't bring my meds (won't do that again) and had to live with it for 3 days before I was back in the states. By then it was worse than my first case. This last time I knew what I had and what to do, and it's clearing up much more quickly.

Let us know how you progress and I'll keep my fingers, and toes, crossed for you.

[GLITTLE]

Thanks for the comments! I went to the doctor yesterday and he said we had made big steps but we still had small steps yet. He said the adhesions had broken, and I had some flares. I am not sure what that means. He lowered my drops of the steroids and the antiviral and discontinued the atropine. I don't have any pain but there is some redness still, but my kids aren't afraid to look at me any longer, so there is progress! I have these strange lines on the edge of my vision that occur at night and when I wake up. They are kinda psyhcadelic, which is cool, but I don't think they should be there. They seem to go away during the day.

Is having some atropine and Prednisolone a good idea in case of future "incidents"?

[Mike Bartolatz]

There are two signs of inflammation, Cells which are floaters and measured on a scale of 1 to 4 and 'flare' which is protein that causes a haze in the fluid inside your eye and can only be seen through a slit lamp by the doctor and it isalso measured on a scale of 1 to 4. you can read about this in our GLOSSARY available at http://www.uveitis.org in the patient information section of the site.
if at all possible, always call and be seen by your opthalmologist before starting your corticosteroids and atropine if you suspect a flare up. redness of the conjunctiva can be caused by pathogens as well as by uveitis or it could be episcleritis or scleritis or infection of the conjunctiva in which case it might not be appropriate for you to use these drugs. with your history of viral uveitis, the steroids and the antiviral medications would be needed and the oral antiviral meds are used prophylactically not just during times of inflammation.

Wish you the best,
Mike

[GLITTLE]

Do the steriod drops make your eye blurry, or is it just my pupil is still dilated? Also, my good eye started feeling strange and is slightly red, could this be a problem or am I just being paranoid?

[Mike Bartolatz]

usually it is the dilating drop that causes the eye to be blurry as it effects the muscles which allow the lens to be reshaped to focus. the steroid can effect it a little too but all of this should go away within a few days once you are no longer on them.
get the other eye examined to see if you now have bilateral uveitis. no you aren't being paranoid, just vigilant as you should be. only the opthalmologist can see the cells and flare present when uveitis is active through the Slit Lamp microscope.

Wish you the best,
MIke