I have uveitis... who knew!!

[GeorgiaB]

I was recently diagnosed with anterior uveitis in my right eye, after visiting the eye A&E at Moorfields Eye Hospital in London. I went there after about a month of severe pain in my eye, severe swelling around the eye and constant headaches and migraines and also a thick clear gel like substance in the eye. I am 31 and have suffered from migraines since I was a teenager, so thought this was a variation of this.

I saw three GPs before I was referred to the eye clinic of my local hospital, where I was seen by two ophthalmologists who concluded that I was most likely suffering from an allergic reaction and should take cetirizine for the allergic reaction and ibuprofen for the pain. Obviously neither of these medications helped and I continued to have a very painful eye, which was also very red.

When I visited Moorfields two weeks later, I was almost immediately diagnosed by the triage nurse and had this confirmed by the doctor. The doctor explained the auto immune nature of the disease, that it is more than likely isolated, and also said that if I have three episodes in quick succession they will run some tests to see if my immune system is looking to identify something else which is wrong in my body.

I took dilating drops for a week and am still on a course of steroid drops, which I was using once every hour for the first week, but I'm now down to twice per day and am due to return to the hospital for a follow up appointment in a couple of weeks.

I've read a lot of information now on the condition and other people's accounts on this site, a lot of which seem to be really similar to mine, so although a lot of what I read scares me, I'm also heartened to know that there are others going through the same and that there are lots of sources of information.

Thanks very much

Georgia

[Mike Bartolatz]

Welcome to the group Georgia!
if this continues or if it returns I suggest that you ask to see a specialist. there are a couple of specialsits in london. If it were me, I'd ask to see Professor William Ayliffe who is perhaps the best ocular immunologist there in London. his contact information can be found at http://www.uveitis.org in the patient information section of the site.
I'll help you through this so post questions etc at the general discussion forum. start a new topic.
you can't respond to this thread as it is 'locked' except to moderator response.

Wishing you the very best,
mike