iritis and Americans with Disabilities Act

[northwest]

I have an employer that has disapproved my doctor's appointment in the past when we were short handed, and I had to cancel my appointment. This REALLY upsets my ophthalmology doctor when I have to cancel within 24 hours! I am currently being evaluated for glaucoma, because the iritis causes the pressure to build up in my eye. I have had laser iridotomy on one of my eyes to relieve the pressure, but the ophthalmologist has not diagnosed me with glaucoma. I have asked my doctor this directly. My ophthalmologist is VERY hesitant to get involved in writing letters to my employer (I get the impression that he may have had to testify in a court case one time and doesn't want to get pulled into something like that). I know that glaucoma is covered under the ADA, but have never read any cases where iritis is covered. Does anyone have some references I can review online? My employer doesn't think that iritis is anything serious, but when the pressure builds up, I start seeing halos and I get a bad headache behind my eye, and I don't know how to convince my employer that I am in pain. I end up re-scheduling the appointment and by then it has become much worse. That is why I think the doctor did the iridotomy on the one eye, in order to prevent it from happening again. To give you an idea of the pressure, the last time I had the problem, the pressure in the eye was 54 (I'm not sure how bad that is, the doctor only said it was "sky high") before having the iridotomy.

[Mike Bartolatz]

you need to get a better employer I am sorry to say. your iritis is getting to the point where it will BLIND YOU. glaucoma can be from cells blocking the drains of the eyes. it can be from adhesion between the iris and the lens blocking outflow from the ciliary body where fluid is made. STEROIDS will cause glaucoma and cataracts to form. you need to find out WHY you have iritis. how much damage it has done to the inside of your eyes is important too as changes take place over time. new blood vessels form in the back of the eye or over the ciliary body and they can bleed into the eye. they can cause retinal detachment too. fluid can build up under the retina, cystoid macular edema and cause the retina to detach and you end up with dead rods and cones so central vison is lost too as well as peripheral loss from high pressure.
contact your local Equal Employment Oportunities Commission and your State department of health regarding the American's with Disabilities Act. and get an Attorney as if you go blind you will need one familiar with your case to help get your Social Security Disability filed and approved. If you can document where the employer denied your ability to see a doctor and can prove it, he may be liable too but talk to an attorney about this. Allsup is a major disability group of attorneys that you can google and then contact for assistance.

my concern is the need to get better care for you before you go blind from this nonsense, there is a list of specialists who can get yoru eyes to DURABLE REMISSION from your recurrent and chonic uveitis that is presently being under treated or not treated at all. it takes a lot of effort to keep from going blind though with this stuff so you will have to go out of your way to get care. the specialist list is at http://www.uveitis.org in the PATIENT information section of the site.

wish you the best,
mike

[northwest]

I contacted the EEOC office for my employer, and will go through that system. Hopefully, I can get reimbursed for my out of pocket expenses for what I believe was caused by my employer. Thanks for the advice. I never knew that iritis was considered a disability, and never thought that I would need a government regulation in order to protect me from an employer.

[Mike Bartolatz]

good luck with getting better care, I am serious when I say to you that you MUST get to a steroid sparing approach to treatment before iritis causes significant vision loss.

let us know if the EEOC is able to help you with your employer.
print out that booklet at http://www.uveitis.org in the PATIENT information section of the site. it talks about much of what I have told you and it also has coping strategies mentioned as well. do you wear glasses? if yes, did you buy some 'fit over' sunglasses to cut down on photophobia related to uveitis? you can buy them at any walmart store for about 20 dollars.
I wear dark green ones that are polarized. I also use the brown tinted ones for overcast days and while on the computer. I also have yellow tinted clip ons to cut headlight glare at night ( I don't drive at night) while a passenger.

take care,
mike

[Mike Bartolatz]

BTW you do have glaucoma. that is why they did the iridotomy. it can return so be vigilant especially when on steroids of any kind for anything.
you may also require a valve to be implanted into your eye to lower pressure. Read About the AHMED valve which works well for glaucoma in uveitis patients. there is another valve in a head to head study with teh Ahmed valve at the moment. DR Foster in Cambridge, MA USA is part of the study. usually all study stuff is paid for by the manufacturer when studies are ongoing. DR Foster could also get you to DURABLE REMISSION with the iritis using a steroid sparing approach to treatment. I am truly saddened that your local doctors have not given you options to treatment. you wouldn't need the glaucoma surgery if you had been given MODERN treatment of the iritis when it became recurrent.

wish you the very best,
Mike

[northwest]

I am not currently using the pred forte. The ophthalmologist had me use it for about 2 weeks, until the next visit when the pressure was back down to 21. I haven't explored going all the way to Portland. I am still dealing with a lot of out-of-pocket medical costs that my employer will not pay. Portland is quite a distance from where I live, and I don't want to have to pay for a hotel. But, I am considering it. The last visit I had a scan done to check for optic nerve damage, the right eye did have more red areas on the graph (damage? Dunno, the ophthalmologist is very reluctant to explain the results) he kinda stated that the affected eye was one to look at for caution. It's very frustrating!