uveitis/iritis help please

[ShrinkingViolet]

have trawled the past threads on this, but hopefully someone will have some suggestions.

DD1 had real problems earlier in the year with what eventually was diagnosed as bilateral intermediate unveitis which took 6 months to clear up and massive quantities of steroid drops (5 seperate courses, each starting with hourly drops ).

She thinks it's coming back, we have an appointment tomorrow at the eye casualty clinic (who are brilliant). She's been seen several times at the main eye clinic (but never by the same person twice, and never by a consultant - again in fairness two of the doctors have been great, the other two didn't seem especially fussed).

So, all the standard tests they did came back negative, and we don't know what's causing/triggering it. Is there anything non-standard I should be asking for them to test for, or any other treatment we could be looking at? Neither of us are especially happy about the quantity of steroid drops she needed last time, but I can't find much info online about anything else they could do. So I thought I'd try MN . Any suggestions?

DH had this for the first time in 1983 and then in 1984 he had choroiditis when the inflammation caused bleeding into the eye. In about 2002 he had another bad bout and was diagnosed with sarcoidosis.

It's an autoimmune disorder that can be diagnosed by a blood test. It's primarily a lung disease, but can affect any of the organs in the body such as the eyes. It can also cause sarcoids - these are small red oval patches of skin that feel as if there is grit underneath - they're about the size of your little finger's fingerprint.

Apparently now, in adults, if someone has had iritis, or anterior uveitis, they do a check for sarcoiditis. Might be worth asking for her to be tested.

Without knowing a little more, especially what you mean by standard tests, it's hard to say.

Certainly bilateral intermediate uveitis tends to be idiopathic (no cause can be found).
Which is obviously frustrating.

There are a list of thins which should be ruled out r: Behcet's, Juvenile Arthritis, Sarcoidosis and some infectious forms but the appearance of the eye and other factors can often do this without any extra "test" being required.

You mention unhappiness with the eyedrops.
Eye drops are the least invasive way of managing uveitis.
If they don't work injections into the eye could be used.

Bad as they are, they are the best of a bad bunch.

If a cause is found, sometimes tablets can prevent recurrence.
But without that cause there aren't a lot of other options.

Sorry I can't post anything more posistive.

If autoimmune, it can be caused by gluten sensitivity, eg here
I also happen to know someone who has been similarly affected and responded to gf diet.