Hi,
My name is Marci, I'm from Toronto, Ontario, Canada. I've had iritis for the past 7 years, I've lurked on this forum before (great wealth of information here!) and have decided to join after a recent flare up after a three year break.
For the first four years I had flare ups every 6-8 months, sometimes in my right eye, sometimes in my left. I took pred forte drops and saw my regular opthamologist. After a few flare ups he sent me to an uveitis specialist, Dr. Rabinovitch in Toronto. He sent me for blood work and a chest x ray. Nothing was ever found. Three years ago I had another flare up that also involved inflammation in my optic nerve. My regular eye doctor (who just saw something pressing against my retina and wanted it checked out) sent me again to Dr. Rabinovitch, as well as a retina specialist. It was diagnosed, I was sent for a whole bunch of tests, including a CT scan, put on oral prednisone, but again, no cause was found. For the past three years my eyes have been fine, no iritis, nothing wrong besides my astigmatism getting worse, but I chalk that up to poor hereditary vision.
A few weeks ago my right eye gets red and painful. It doesn't go away, so I make an appointment to see my eye doctor. He confirms that it is iritis and writes me a new prescription. My left eye has a splotch of red in it, but no other symptoms. He tells me to start taking the drops in it if it gets worse. At my follow up appointment (for my right eye) he confirms that I also have iritis in my left eye. He tells me to take the pred forte 4x a day for a few more days then taper. I have another follow up appointment next week.
What's frustrating is that I was fine for three years and I thought I was done with iritis. Obivously not. I would also love to know what causes it, but I know that most of the time there is no cause.
This forum is a huge help, and it's such a great source of information!
Hi!
Moderators: Mike Bartolatz, kwork
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Mike Bartolatz
- Posts: 6595
- Joined: Fri Feb 06, 2004 9:58 pm
Re: Hi!
Marci,
welcome to the group!
you could ask to have a trial of NSAID orally such as Celebrex, Dolobid, Naprosyn etc in an attempt to quiet the eyes down so that you can slowly taper off of the eyedrops.
FYI, when you put the pred forte in, shake the bottle for about a minute, then with your head tilted back, put the eyedrop in, close the eye and then press in over the INSIDE corner of the eye where the drain is located called the Punctum. this will keep the eyedrop on the surface of the eye. hold this for about a minute and the drop won't go down your sinuses in to your throat. your condition is 'ideopathic' which basically means autoimmune in nature. it can take a couple of decades before serum markers for autoimmune disease presents in some individuals so tests need to repeated periodically.
if you get rashes, GI problems or joint or muscle pain, those things need to be looked into. mouth sores or genital sores can indicate autoimmune disease as well as yeast infections etc linked to uveitis.
if tinnitus occurs, that can indicate possible connection too.
I am surprised that specialists haven't suggested NSAID therapy to you as it works in about 70% of autoimmune uveitis cases. should it fail, then DMARD drugs would be indicated as the next step in a stepladder approach to treatment.
please join us in our general discussion forum for further comment.
wishing you the very best,
Mike Bartolatz
welcome to the group!
you could ask to have a trial of NSAID orally such as Celebrex, Dolobid, Naprosyn etc in an attempt to quiet the eyes down so that you can slowly taper off of the eyedrops.
FYI, when you put the pred forte in, shake the bottle for about a minute, then with your head tilted back, put the eyedrop in, close the eye and then press in over the INSIDE corner of the eye where the drain is located called the Punctum. this will keep the eyedrop on the surface of the eye. hold this for about a minute and the drop won't go down your sinuses in to your throat. your condition is 'ideopathic' which basically means autoimmune in nature. it can take a couple of decades before serum markers for autoimmune disease presents in some individuals so tests need to repeated periodically.
if you get rashes, GI problems or joint or muscle pain, those things need to be looked into. mouth sores or genital sores can indicate autoimmune disease as well as yeast infections etc linked to uveitis.
if tinnitus occurs, that can indicate possible connection too.
I am surprised that specialists haven't suggested NSAID therapy to you as it works in about 70% of autoimmune uveitis cases. should it fail, then DMARD drugs would be indicated as the next step in a stepladder approach to treatment.
please join us in our general discussion forum for further comment.
wishing you the very best,
Mike Bartolatz
Mike Bartolatz
Moderator
Moderator