only diagnosed 4 days ago

[impatientgirl]

I found myself feeling that my eyes were a little blurry sometimes in late February beginning of March. I just assumed my eyes were dry and took some tear drops a few times. I woke up Friday, March 5 with redness in my eye but not really much and during the day it wasn't too bad. Slowly over the weekend it got worse to where it was hurting during the day as well. I went to a walk in clinic on Sunday the 7th where the doctor looked for stratches or debri and found nothing. He gave me a prescription to treat it as if it were pink eye, even though there was no discharge or watering (just pain and redness). That medication seemed to make it worse, especially in the night. I woke up with extreme pain in my left eyebrow area. Went to my family doctor on the 10th who gave me an anti-inflamitory. That helped get rid of the pain almost right away and the redness slowly went down. After a week I stopped the medication and two days later woke up with the pain coming back and my eye red and sensitive to the light. My family doctor then prescribed a stronger drug and referred me to an eye doctor. I went to see Dr. Teal on the 23rd and she has diagnosed me with Iritis actually in both eyes but the left being a more severe case. I am taking dilation drops 3 times a day in the left and anti-inflamitories in both eyes right now every hour, then every 2 for 3 days, every 4 for a week, every 8 for a week, and then every 12 for a week. I see her on Tuesday again.
Previously I had never heard of Iritis but am trying to familiarize myself with it and getting concerned reading about these other people who are having such a hard time with it. My doctor said it is possible that it will go away and not come back but as soon as I notice my eyes feel blurry I need to get on the meds right away so it does not get sore. The dilation drops are making my pupil look double and that's kind of freaking me out right now but I've read that this can happen so am praying it will go back to normal.

[Mike Bartolatz]

Welcome to the group

I hope that your iritis doesn't return once it is quieted down which can take serveral weeks to achieve. are you on generic topical corticosteroid eyedrop? if so please make sure you shake the bottle for at least THREE minutes to get it properly suspended into solution. also press in over the inside corner of your eye so that the eyedrops doesn't just go down the drain and into the sinus and down the throat (terrible taste). if the iritis returns the doctor will do some preliminary tests to rule things out related to uveitis. Iritis is a form of uveitis called anterior uveitis.

Please join us for continued discussiion in our General Discussion forum by clicking on 'Board index' at the top left side of this page. we are here to help you through this, ask questions as you develop them and remember that nothing is too trivial to ask. everyone here has had questions develop that need to be answered.

wishing you the very best,
Mike