Iritis/Uveitis help the pain!! | Arthritis Information

Anyone here ever deal with this. I have RA and am considered possible MS
and last week I woke up with a terrible headache and both eyes so red
you would have thought I was beat up. Anyway I went to my
opthomologist and he said it was iritis and put me on steriod drops four
times a day until I see him Nov. 2. He said then he would do a field of
vision test. The eyes were doing ok until last night I had the worst pain
ever behind my left eye. I tried 2 motron, my migraine meds, and the
drops and nothing would take the pain away! it was awful. Thankfully this
morning the pain is gone but that really scared me. I was ready to call
him this morning if it was still there. Do any of you have any experience
with this. I know from what I have read it can reaccur and cause
blindness. I am on MTX for the RA but man is that enough now. I can't do
TNF's because of the possible MS and Orencia was like water. Any advice
would be welcome. Thanks you all. Terry

Terry~

I had never heard of arthritis affecting the eyes until you posted. So I went out and Googled some things. Here are a couple of things I found.

http://www.arthritis.org/resources/arthritistoday/1999_archi ves/1999_05_06arthritis101.asp

http://www.innvista.com/health/ailments/arthritis/arteyes.ht m

I hope you feel soon!

Terry, I am so sorry. That sounds so scary. I hope you get good news soon. Pain anywhere in the head seems to be the worse and fear of going blind would put me in a frenzy. I hope all of this goes away for you soon. You have way too much to deal with. You are a brave woman. Sending you prayers.

This is considered an emergency situation, especially if the eye drops are not reducing the inflammation and you are having a severe headache.

Call your eye doctor immediately. If he doesn't see you, then go the ER.

Your eyesight is at risk. I've had this problem several times but not as severe. You may even need a CT scan.

Don't fool around with this one.

Hope you've taken Deanna's advice and gotten back to your doctor!! I had uveitis once, it wasn't as painful as yours has been, but it was scary nonetheless. They told me to get back to them quickly if it didn't improve or got more painful. It's not something to mess with. See the doctor asap. Let us know how you make out!I went to my primary care doc who checked my eyes today. I
have had very dry eyes that burn and it feels like my eyelids
scrape my eyes when I blink. My eyes also have a dull ache.
She checked for corneal abrasions and I had none, and she
said my eyes were very inflamed and she didn't think it was
allergies because my eyes weren't tearing up. She referred me
to an opthamologist but that won't go through until next week.
She also gave me prescription antibiotic eye drops for any
possible infection. I am to call back in 2 days if there is no
improvement for an emergency referral. Does this sound right,
or should I have tried to see an opthamologist sooner? I just
don't want my eyes to get damaged while I wait.

Call your health insurance and try to get the referral moved up sooner. Primary Care doctors are not that familar with these problems.

Be sure to emphasize that you have RA and that there are a lot of complications with eyes with RA and that waiting even a week could be risking your eyesight. It could be a number of things from Sjogren's, uvetis, etc. And, they require different treatments. For Sjogren's (which sounds more like what you are describing), you want to keep the eyes moist. Until you get into the eye doctor, get the sterile eye drops from the pharmacy. This is plain water without any germs. This should give you relief.

However, RA itself can cause inflammation. In that case, they need to try steroid eye drops to bring the inflammation down. Other problems can be glaucoma, etc. See, it takes a specialist.

My primary couldn't even recognize the eye inflammation when it first hit.

Really push to get that appointment right away. If you can find out which opthalmologist you are going to be seeing, call their office and see if they can push it as well.

I think you need to be seen. My eye doctor insists I come in right away when I have symptoms like these.

Good news is that is treatable and manageable.

Oh, it might also help to call your Rheumy and explain the situation to them. If your RA is not under good control, inflammation in the eyes does occur. They might help you get something done right away. Thanks Deanna. I got some preservative free eye drops at the
pharmacy. I am going to call my insurance to get it pushed up
faster. I had thought about Sjogrens, since my eyes are just
really dry. My primary hadn't even heard of that.

See, that's what I mean. Also, look for the preservative free GenTeal ointment. You can use warm washcloths on your eyes in the morning and evening. This helps you tear ducts work better.

For the immediate inflammation, try an ice cold wash cloth.

Sara, Hope you can get in to see the opthamologist soon. Frustrating that your gp hadn't even heard of sjogren's! All of this is very treatable, you just have to get the right meds for it and the sooner the better. I have sjogren's and use lots of eye drops in addition to restasis eye drops. If it is sjogren's - the sjogrens foundation has lots of good info on it.

Uveitis was actually one of my first signs of RA that I was treated for!! Last September I started getting chronic uveities. I use the pred forte steroid drops. They can make your eye pressure go up so it has to be monitored. Long term use can also cause early cataracts and problems with your cornea. I used them on and off for about 10 months or so. Since starting the humira, I haven't needed the steroid eye drops but a few times.

Dry eyes are a big problem in ai people. Systane is an over the counter moisture drop that works very well. You can also ask your opth about Restatis, its a prescription for dry eyes. I also use an anti biotic ointment every night at bed to help keep my eyes clear.

Dry Eyes don't have to be Sjogren's and still be related to RA. I have had that problem and had tear duct plugs put in (Punctal plugs). They keep the tears from draining into your sinuses and build up on the eyes. They are called permanent but can be removed it they don't help and you need to go to Restasis or something else.

Definitely need to get to the Opthamalogist ASAP. I went through months of dry eye lids causing small abrasions that finally went into Recurrent Corneal Erosion. That is where the outer layer of the cornea basically gets ripped off repeatedly (yes, just as painful as it sounds, it is actually my new high water mark for pain). I went through all the drops but it kept occurring until finally they had to scrape off the outer layer of the cornea and let it all heal back over (which takes about 4 to 6 days).

The good news is that it has not reoccured since the plugs were put in.

I was diagnosed with RA after that, the opthamologist agrees it is probably related and has checked for Sjogren's.