Iritis anyone?

[hellsbells76]

Having suffered from 3 outbreaks in the last month of what I was calling manky-eye-itis (bloodshot eye, blurred vision, extreme light sensitivity, generally feeling like someone was stabbing me in the eye with a fork) I've finally been diagnosed with iritis (not conjunctivitis as the first doctor thought, or corneal ulcers which the second one came up with!)

It's really nasty. Hourly steroid drops and twice-daily dilating drops seem to have done the trick this time but I'm a bit worried about how frequently it's likely to recur as it puts me out of action for the best part of a week every time. Any other sufferers out there who'd like to compare notes?

Ow! No. Sorry. Tend to be prone to conjunctivtis though which is bad enough.

But I have to say that I did read the thread title and briefly think it was another name thread.

Nasty isn't it? My mum suffered from it, described it as like arthritis of the eye. She gets checked every so often and if she thinks it's flared up she's to get to the eye clinic at the hospital tout de suite.

The good news is, after getting it under control initially (2 years ago? Maybe 3) she's not been troubled with it too much since.

Good luck.

at least you have found out.

I have had it at least twice, but as each time I was on other types of medication I figured it was a side effect (why I now realise was insane as eye issues were not stated as side effects.

I now have to wear glasses all the time as I have a permanantly damaged iris.

I do however have strict instructions for signs to be scared of in the future.

one thing, when my optomotrist discovered it, he sent me to docs for bloods as it can (rarely, but possibley) be inicative (sp?) of underlying issues.

It is an auto immune condition and flares when you are run down i think.I had a couple of really bad episodes when i was having my steroid dose reduced resulting in having to increase them to get over it.You have my sympathy its awful.Have had a orneal ulcer too which is quite painful;

I used to get it - you do tend to get it with auto-immune diseases (I have crohn's)
Yes is bloody painful I agree. Steroid eyedrops give me the willies too.

No advice really, I just used to take the steroids and hope for the best. I havent had it for yonks (fingers crossed)
Hope you are better soon

I'm a chronic suffering. I have regular attacks of varying intensity.

Have to dash out for a while but will bookmark thread and be back later.

DH went through a phase of having this fairly frequently a couple of years back. I think he had 6 or 7 attacks in a row then all of a sudden they stopped and he hasn't ad it since. We think his was triggered by a bout of viral arthritis followed by the death of his brother and finals at Uni so he was quite run down and stressed which seemed to be the cause.

Once they'd worked out what it was - we lived near an eye hospital so he was referred there as an OOH emergency one weekend - having the proper treatment meant each attack cleared up much quicker.

It's horrible though, DH was in agony with it so you have lots of sympathy from me!

Wow - so many responses so quickly!

Ophthalmologist did grill me about my general health and asked if I was run down (I replied I was a single mum with two kids and a full time job so run down pretty much describes my daily existence!) but seemed happy to rule out likelihood of it having an underlying cause. It's more likely to be 'one of those things' I think.

Psychomum - really sorry to hear you've been permanently damaged by it - it's something I worry about as the first two attacks were incorrectly diagnosed and treated with antibiotics which won't have touched it.

I've got a follow up appointment at the eye clinic on Thurs and will ask about that. I'm also going to ask if they'll give me steroid drops to keep at home in case it comes back as I understand immediate treatment is very important. Am also hoping I'll get 'fast tracked' to the eye clinic if it comes back, as normally you have to get referred there by your GP which takes a couple of days.

NoBiggy - good to hear your mum hasn't been troubled since, I'm hoping for the same!

(and yes, I'm sure there are dozens of little Iritises running around Muswell Hill or similar!)

hells - I have had a serious problem with my eyes for months now, and the only thing that keeps them in check is predisolone eye drops, which they gave me thousands little things of at eye casualty. I wonder if I have Iritis? If so, you have my sympathy, its blardy painful.

Agonising isn't it. Thankfully I'm not getting it as much as I used to, but I had 18m when I practically lived at the eye clinic! I can laugh about it a bit now, but it is horrible. And you spend hours sitting about at the Eye Clinic waiting to be seen, because almost everyone else is more urgent than you, and then the drops can only be dispensed by the hospital pharmacy but they've just closed for lunch or they've got to check the prescription with the doctor who has just gone off to lunch...

It's about 3 years since I last had it badly. I have had the odd painful stab since then, but nothing bad enough to take me off to hospital again, though I think there might be one coming - my eyes are rather red atm. I look like I've been smoking dope non-stop for a few days

My GP now prescribes my steroids & atropine for me.

He wouldn't at first because iritis apparently has similar symptoms to another condition which can be made a lot worse with steroids.

Whenever I open a bottle, I get a repeat prescription so that I always have a new supply on hand.

I don't bother with the eye clinic anymore for routine attacks. If I do have an exceptionally bad attack that needs stronger treatment, I go to A & E to get fast tracked to the clinic immediately.

It has damaged my sight, but I have worn glasses for 30+ years anyway so it didn't make a lot of difference to me.

Unfortunately it does mean I can't wear contacts and laser treatment would be a waste of money.

I feel for you, when I had it, it was the worst pain ever!

I had about 10 attacks over 2 years and had tests for underlying causes which didn't show anything.

However, I have been told by other sufferers that sometimes something materialises later on in life!

A few of the attacks I had were so bad that the steroid drops didn't work and I had to have an injection into the eyeball!!! and the second time I had to have an injection into the muscle in the skin underneath the eye so it would reach the back of eye! Not to be recommended.

I just cross my fingers I never get it again, it's been about 8 years since i had my last attack.

Hope you don't get any more attacks.

My MIL has it and it is now under good control. It was nasty when she first had it. Now she knows the symptoms she gets herself along to the eye hospital PDQ when she gets a flare up

injections INTO your eyeball????

Oh. My. God...

Oh yeah.

I didn't mention those, didn't want to scare you.

The nurse had to put her hand on the back of my head to stop me backing out of that big frame thing they have you resting your chin in.

They don't hurt but blardy hell, that needle don't half look big when it is all you can see coming at you.

had 4 episodes in a year - but that was 4 years ago now.

Seems to have settled but I can no longer wear contact lenses

I wish you the best of luck - take care of yourself