STRABISMUS: Eye Problem | Arthritis Information

I've had sjogren's syndrone, dry eyes for years, so when one eye became painful and red, I thought it was related to the sjogren's, and my eye doc said it was. Wrong. It worsened and I went to another eye doc who diagnosed "scleritis" which is an autoimmune disease. Its clearing up w/eye drops but now my attention has "refocused" on a previous vision problem I was having, an overlapping, kind of double vision. Attempts at correcting it with prescription glasses with a prism hasn't been successful, so now I am waiting to see a specialist, I'm hoping I can avoid surgery.

Has anyone out there had any experience with adult onset strabismus?

Is strabismus considered autoimmune? Just wondering because the baby had that and had to have surgery to correct it. Her's came on so late (caught when she was 3 1/2) that she had to have an MRI so they could rule out a tumor.

Not trying to be a downer, just wondering as this was all pre- my diagnosis and I never researched stuff back then other than finding out about the tumor possibility and making them do the MRI because I thought that if it were something important, fixing her 'looks' was a lot less necessary than saving her life.

Pip

I've been sort of overwhelmed by the eye problems I've been having -- sjogrens, scleritis and strabismus -- so haven't researched strabismus that much, too depressing, but I don't "think" strabismus is autoimmune related. It has to to do with the muscles, and I'm not sure what are the causes, I'm not sure of the neurological possibility.

I've lost confidence in my regular eye doc who misdiagnosed the scleritis, an autoimmune related condition, though he knew I had RA for over 30 years. And the eyeglasses he's prescribed (three tries) haven't worked. I've been focused on treating the scleritis, so when I go for a followup on the 27th I'll see about seeing this eye doc's optometrist or a pediatric opthalmologist, who specializes in surgically correcting strabismus. I'm hoping its just muscular and nothing else.

It's been really bothersome, have to read with only one eye, tilt my head to watch tv, and it affects long distance vision -- while riding in a car, I have overlapped or double vision -- good thing I no longer drive.

my sister had this as a young one... about 3 also... my parents were told it was a lazy muscle ???my sister has that problem she does ok with the prisms in her glasses but has a lot of problems with reading or other close work esp when she is tired or in low light

Pip-strabimus is a mechanical issue not auto immune most people are born with it but it can occur secondary to things such as diabetes, thyroid disease, brain tumors, cataracts, high blood pressure or stroke

Joy -

Please see about getting an MRI. Better safe than sorry. Apparently, when it's kids something goes wrong with the wiring in the brain. The eye sort of doesn't hook up properly so when my baby's crossed so late they said we needed to verify it wasn't a tumor. We did and then she had corrective eye surgery and will wear glasses until she is a teen when she won't need to any more.

http://www.aapos.org/displaycommon.cfm?an=5

http://www.wqad.com/Global/story.asp?S=1587223 - look at that list of things that need to be ruled out. Do I think that's the case, no, much more likely you had a mild case as a child that was never treated. But we AI peeps need to be sure.

Pip

its likely the scelritis and sjogrens aggravated the situationi would lean toward what buckeye said.... if you dont' keep your eyes moist w/ tears and other meds... you can develop the scleritis.... and who knows what else is affected by lack of moisture???

good luck to you..

Don't know about it but good luck to you, too.I'm thinking (hoping) the strabismus may be related to my other eye conditions. I was diagnosed around 1990 for sjogrens syndrone. I've mentioned the strabismus to my RA doc and to this recent opthalmologist I've seen (he's with a teaching hospital and was recommended by my RA doc), they didn't seem alarmed, but I will confront, deal with this problem, now that my "red eyeball," the scleritis has cleared, that was so painful, I had to dig out some old darvocet in order to sleep. My advice to those w/RA and eyes that become red and painful, get thee to a good eye doc, if its scleritis, it can be easily treated with eye drops (I'm taking prednisolone drops) before it gets too inflamed.

Thanks everyone for the support.

I've had three strabismus surgeries. Age 2, age 3, and age 27 (around there, it's been awhile, let's say)

The last one was to correct over aggressive surgeries when I was a child. See what your new dr. has to say. If you need surgery, it might be that they would do it differently now than what I had done.

I do not have vision problems from the strabismus, I guess because I was born with it. I only use one eye at a time, so I never have double vision.

Are you on any PPIs? The only vision problem I ever had was attributed to being on Prilosec. I would be able to see fine one minute, then it would be completely blurry in the middle. The opth found "cells" that had broken loose. He said they would settle back down and they did. He said it normally happened from being hit very hard on the head, like in a car accident. Since that hadn't happened, and I was newly on Prilosec, he wrote my gastro a note saying he thought that was the cause.

Good luck!
Hi Suzanne,

No, I'm not currently on any PPIs, though I have been in the past, I've been on tons of stuff in the past, but currently on enbrel, mtx and actonel. Was over on a sjogren syndrone forum (I get around with just one eye

Some advice from an old timey RAer, get your dex scan at appropriate time, take calcium, check your vit d level, you wanna avoid these osteoporosis drugs if possible cuz they, like a lot of drugs, are not without "possible" side effects.

Hi Joie,

I have missed you here. I'm sorry your eyes are giving you such trouble

I sure hope you get to someone who can get this figured out. Did the Ophthalmologist check all of your eye movements in every direction?

Hi Joy...It's so strange that you should write about the double vision right now! You described exactly what I've been going through. I've been seeing double for some months now. It was (and still is) pretty scarey. You even described the prisms for glasses. My opthalmologist just sent me to see a neuro-opthalmologist, as he couldn't find a reason for it to be so bad, but it obviously was, and the prisms should have helped.

This past Monday, I had a MRI of my brain, with contrast. I don't have the results yet, but I just can't believe there is something wrong with my brain, too! However, I know what you mean about reading. I have always read the newspaper every night, and now I'm lucky to get through a few pages. I can't just close one eye, it doesn't work for me.

Please let me know what you find out and I will do the same. It sounds like we have identical problems.

Good luck. I'll talk to you soon, I hope.

Hugs, Nini

Wow. Well, first of all, I'm sorry Nini to hear you're going through a similar problem. Didn't you fall and sustain a fracture a while back (I may have you confused with someone else)? Who needs another health problem.

I'm pissed at my former opthalmologist and optometrist, who haven't been on top of things and have wasted my time trying to fit me with glasses that have repeatedly done nothing. And then I developed this scleritis which he failed to diagnose, saying it was just severe dry eye.

Yeah, I was aware of the possibility of needing a MRI, though, trying not to think too much about that! Was gonna wait until the 27th when I see my new eye doc for a followup on the scleritis, but I guess I'll call Monday and see what they recommend. Sorta scarey. Yes, definitely, let's stay in touch. Take care. Joy

Nini,

I was over on a sjogren syndrone forum and came across a post from a guy who has some similar issues. He was diagnosed w/insufficient eye convergence, and mentioned a fixation disparity test. Did you have that done? Don't know if his situation is relative to ours, but found it interesting. Below is a link, in case you want to take a "peek

http://sjogrensworld.org/forums/index.php?PHPSESSID=986fb2f6eef2ac4629773c1dd67360ed&topic=6707.0

Hi Joy, yes, it was me who fell. It caused me to break my pelvis for the SECOND TIME this year! The first time, in January, my doctors all thought I had osteoarthritis of the hip. As it continued to worsen, an MRI and CT scan revealed two fractures in my left pelvis. The fall in May broke the exact same places on the right side.

The neuro-opthalmalogist did say that, hopefully, it would turn out to be insufficient convergence. Small world, huh? I am also doing eye exercises (when I remember). Things have just been overwhelming for me lately, so I do forget some of the things I'm supposed to do.

I had arthritis surgery on my right hand/thumb in June, and am still in a small splint, and doing therapy for that.

Also, recently I saw a spine specialist, who specializes in complex spine disorders and scoliosis. I have degenerative scoliosis, for which I had fusion surgery on L4-S1, about 3 years ago. The new doctor said that my l. spine at L1-L4 has totally collapsed, and he's going to try to do minimally invasive surgery to put in spacers and then may have to hold up with rods and screws, like my last surgery.

So, as you can see, this eye thing is just not what I need right now! But I do need my eyes, as we all do, so this problem does have to be addressed, as well.

Do you use Restasis and artificial tears for your Sjogren's? I thought the Restasis might have caused the double vision, but I've been assured that is not the problem and that I absolutely need the Restasis to help protect my eyes from damage.

Keep in touch, okay? I promise that I won't be this "wordy" all the time.

Talk to you soon. Hugs, Nini

Joie - sorry you are going through this, and another moronic medical physician once again.

Nini - I am always thinking of you, your peace and humility is a lesson for me.

I just had eye duct closure for dry eyes, but my sjorgen's blood test two years ago was negative - maybe its time to try it again. As if I want MORE of a diagnosis.

Hang in there Joie - I am freaked about my eyes, so I can relate to this with you.

Ok, you guys are scaring me. I just had an appt. last week with opthal. because I have double vision/blurry vision, dry and burning eyes. He told me I needed new glasses and to go have my vision checked. I wasn't happy when I left his office because I feel that he misdiagnosed me. Am going to get new glasses and see if they help. If not I'll try and find a specialist when we get back to the states in May. I'd appreciate any directions you could give me. LindyNini,

No wonder you're feeling overwhelmed, that's way too many health problems to deal with in one year, hopefully everything will be fixed up so 2009 will be a better year.

Have you heard the results of your MRI yet? I wasn't able to get in sooner than the 27th, so will see what Dr. M says about my overlapping/double vision problem when he checks re the scleritis. I'm a little nervous that when I stop the prednisolone eye drops that the inflammation will return, but I'm getting ahead of myself.

I was prescribed restasis once, but until these last few months I wasn't really using anything. I don't have the dexterity in my fingers or the ROM in my shoulders to easily use some of the eye drop products, but I now use genteal gel and ointment, they come in a tube that is easy to use. I also recently found online a "squeezer" device that holds a bottle of eye drops making it easier to apply drops. I'm now more diligent about moisturizing my eyes several times a day and before I go to bed.

Your spine situation sounds scarey. Does it give you pain? I like the sound of that "minimally invasive surgery," faster healing time.

All these health issues we have can be stressful, I use music to distract myself and mellow out when I get worried, one of my favorites is Eric Satie, v- e - r- y soooooothing. Hawaiian music always puts me in a good mood too, makes me think of past vacations.

Well, hope you're doing okay, as okay as possible. Take care. Stay in touch. Hugs, Joy

Joie2008-10-21 17:07:01

Cathy,

Thanks for the support and encouragement. I know you've had your issues w/eye problems too. Dang, ain't it always something?

Lin,

Well maybe eyeglasses will help, if not, when you see a specialist ask how familiar they are with RA patients, I've had RA for yearssss, but I didn't know about scleritis or uvetis, which are auto immune eye conditions.

Do you have dry eyes, sjogrens? If so, moisturize, moisturize, moisturize, wear sunnies, take care of those peepers.

Look into omega 3s (fish oil or flaxseed oil) its suppose to be beneficial for RA and sjogrens, I "should" be taking it myself, and need to start.

I'll post after my appt, if my eye problem is a muscle thing, a convergence/divergence thang, then there may be eye exercises that might help. I'll let you know. Take care.

Hi Joy, I just got back in from the hospital. Good news this time. My daughter gave birth to our newest grandchild and first grandson at 8:30 this a.m., by c-section. Her 3 year old daughter is staying with us , she is in the hospital. My son-in-law stays at the hospital with my daughter.

The new baby is beautiful, of course! He looks just like his big sister. The prettiest little mouth! A tiny delicate little bow. His hair is blond like his daddy and it's already curly. Big sister adores him. She's been waiting patiently for him to arrive.

To answer your question, Joy, no I haven't received the MRI results. I called my PCP yesterday and they didn't have their copy yet. I'll call the neuro-opthalmalogist tomorrow, if I get time and let you know what it says. I really don't think it's in my brain, but my luck hasn't been too good lately so who knows? I just try not to worry about things til I have to.

Try to use the Restasis if you can use the dropper you found online, Joy. My docs have told me it's the only thing that really protects your eyes. The artificial tears are very good too, but the Restasis does something they cannot. You are right, though, we do need to moisturize them often during the day.

Regarding my spine, yes, it is very painful. I'm currently taking 2 Methadone, 4 times a day and 2 Dilaudid, 4 times a day, for breakthru pain. My pain specialist is changing me over to Opana (Oxymorphone) to replace the Methadone. He says that the Methadone had some very serious side effects and with my sleep apnea he just doesn't want me to risk it any longer. I've been on the Methadone for about 3 years, now, but just found out about the apnea this year.

I'm hopeful that the new spine doctor will be successful in treating my spine so the pain will be a thing of the past. That would be a miracle! I've had pain in my spine for over 20 years and it's getting worse all the time.

I try not to get stressed out, but as you know, it's kind of hard to control our stress sometimes. I love Hawaiian music, too. Many vacations have been spent on Maui, and I find it just about the most peaceful place on earth.

Good luck with your opthalmalogist. I hope the can determine what the problem is and take care of it for you very quickly. The hardest part for me is not being able to read much. Please let me know what they find out!

hugs, Nini

Nini,

Congrats on the arrival of your grandson. I bet he is a cutie, with a perfectly shaped head, since he arrived C-wise. What a happy time for all your family.

I will talk to my eye doc about the restasis, and also gonna ask about those lacrimal plugs. My eyes have changed so much in the last 6 months, I need to be more proactive about doing all I can to take care of them. I know what you mean about the frustration in not being able to read as much, I've got stacks of books but can't manage reading them right now, though I do intend to buy a new 20 inch monitor for my computer -- that should help.

Wow, you've been dealing w/the spine pain for so long. I hope that doc can fix you up and minimize the pain. I had a fractured sacrum and it was excruciating, even to just turn in bed on my side, so I can empathize with some of what you're dealing with. Thank goodness for pain meds.

Well, enjoy your 3 year old grandaughter and that newborn beautiful baby boy. Take care Nini. Hugs, Joy