Managing Iritis-Diet and Exercise

[galactic1000]

I'm going on about five years now with recurrent episodes of Iritis. Flare-ups occur in my left eye and typically last about three to four weeks, sometimes longer, with pred and atropine eye drops working best for me at least for now. I do have access to an occular immunologis/Iritis specialist which I'm very thankful for. Over the last two years I've been on a hefty dose of diet and exercise, have lost 70 lbs. and watching my stress. I'm starting to notice that the number of flare-ups has gone from three to four a year to just one. Wondering if anyone out there has/is experiencing the same? Maybe it's just wishful thinking.

[Mike Bartolatz]

it doesn't hurt to eat healthy and to lose weight. doing so can help to lower levels of inflammatory cytokines given off by adipose tissue located in you midsection. the IL17 cytokine is indirectly affected by adipokines in metabolic syndrome and this is found in some cases of uveitis. one recent study used drugs to block one of the IL17 subtypes and it was effective in this study. hopefully one day this type of therapy will be available for all of us. inflammation anywhere in your body can cause renewed inflammation inside the eye.

I am concerned about the frequency of your bouts of iritis. has your doctor mentioned a corticosteroid sparing approach to treatment? have you tried NSAID therapy yet?

wishing you the very best,
Mike

[galactic1000]

Thanks for the response Mike. It was quite a relief to have only one flare-up last year. I do recall my eye doc mentioning that, at least for now, I can stay with the eye drops as opposed to oral. Indeed, I was a bit concerned with the frequency of the flare-ups and when I first got referred to my opthomologist/occular immunologist I had a lot of blood draws done. He was able to identify a genetic marker for it, I forget which one, and I'm learning that most of the men in my family have or had some kind of inflammatory response going on (ulcerative colitis). Besides the iritis I haven't been this fit and healthy in a long time so, I'm keeping my fingers crossed it's just the periodic bouts of iritis and nothing else.

[Mike Bartolatz]

probably the HLA B27 gene linked to iritis and to things like ankylosing spondylitis, reactive arthritis, psoriasis/psoriatic arthritis, ulcerative colitis and crohn's disease.
surprisingly if you can tolerate NSAIDS, they can often break the recurrent cycle of this type of autoimmune uveitis. Celebrex, dolobid and naproxen taken at prescription strength for six months might stop this. then if it works, you taper off the steroid eye drops and take the NSAID for another two years.



take care,
Mike