Site for Sore Eyes

[cpohl]

Greetings from Alaska,
Thanks to all for participating in this site. It is helpful to have the info source and the company with this thing.
I'm in my second bout of iritis at age 54. The first started in April. I saw Dr. Foster in May. He found that I have HLA B27... My vision eventually returned to near normal, but I wasn't able to get off the drops until August. Fortunately my vision cleared just in time for an alpine bird survey contract -- no nasty flareups while at remote sites. Phew!

But the same eye flared up while I was traveling across the country this past week. I was really fortunate to find a Dr. to see me on a long layover in Seattle; he confirmed it as iritis in the "brushfire" stage, dilated my eye to prevent adhesions and ramped up the drops to once/hr. It gets much worse overnight, then moderates a bit during the day-- trend still not good. So, I am digesting that it is recurrent/chronic... ouch. (Interesting that another said her flare-ups were mostly in the spring and fall. Mine were both near the equinox. They also occurred after stressful times when I didn't get as much exercise as usual.) On the bright side (?), this is our rainiest season, so I don't have to worry too much about sunlight.

While on the east coast this past month I saw a rheumatologist who said I do not have AS symptoms; he didn't suggest any treatment. Dr. Foster had mentioned Celebrex. I have some concerns about that (risk factors) but after reading posts on this site I am getting really interested in starting NSAIDs RIGHT AWAY and will talk with my GP about that again as soon as I can. I have some questions about the risks/side effects of the various treatments for another post...

Thanks again. And best wishes to all!

[Mike Bartolatz]

Welcome to the group!
I look forward to your questions in the General discussion forum of the site.

wish you quiet eyes,
mike