Eye tearing

[vdub]

Has anyone had any experience with eye tearing caused by either GPA or as a side-effect from one of our drugs?

I looked at a recent thread on the subject, but it didn't really answer the question. And, of course, I searched the internet already, so I'm asking if anyone personally experienced a similar condition.

The tearing started in just one eye and is now in both. I haven't had any change in drugs; either type or dosage. It could be totally unrelated to GPA.

[gilders]

I've suffered more the other way and have dry eyes, so at a guess I'd say your teary eyes might not be GPA/WG related.

[1mzorro]

Has anyone had any experience with eye tearing caused by either GPA or as a side-effect from one of our drugs?

I looked at a recent thread on the subject, but it didn't really answer the question. And, of course, I searched the internet already, so I'm asking if anyone personally experienced a similar condition.

The tearing started in just one eye and is now in both. I haven't had any change in drugs; either type or dosage. It could be totally unrelated to GPA.




I had and still kinda have this problem. It started with one eye and then eventually both. I'm sure it appeared I was always crying. My eye doctors told me the reason was the tears were not draining properly. I believe I was like that for about a year or so. Once on Rituxan, the tearning went completly away from one eye and is was reduced a great deal in the other. I am not sure if it will ever be normal again but it's only been 7 months and I'll stay optimistic. Hope you have some luck with yours.

[vdub]

Thanks! I have the normal battery of doc appts in Jan. Its out of the realm of my endo, but maybe the rheumy would know. I'll have to ask. Its a bit annoying, but I'm still in the UK, so not much could be done anyway unless I went to Addenbrooks. But its not serious enough for that. More annoying than anything.

[Rose]

I think it could be WG related. I have read on here about people suffering from blocked tear ducts resulting in tearing and in some cases having to have surgery, You will find posts in the advance search option. Hope you will get some answers there

Rose

[godgirl]

I'm with gilders on this. I started having eye pain a few months ago and went to the opthamologist thinking the scleritis was back. He said no, that my eyes were extremely dry (dry spots on my corneas). Also said the composition of my tears was off. He said he sees this with connective tissue disorders... So maybe your ducts are plugged. Not sure because I'm sure not a doc! I just know that tear production/eye issues (other than inflammation) can happen with this stuff.

Jen

[chris.wg]

I have not had any issues with this yet my eyes are a little dry from time to time not sure if its WG related. Having said that my rheumy is having me see a ophthalmologist. Was suppose to actually go yesterday but the building was without power so I rescheduled it. The fact the rheumy wants me to see a ophthalmologist and the eye drying is a fairly new event, so I haven't had a chance to mention it to him yet, would indicate possible eye issues from GPA.

[vdub]

Not really what I wanted to hear, but I was suspecting it could be wegs related. Just peachy!

Interestingly, just prior to this starting, I had an eye test. They checked out just slightly better than 20/20, but not quite 20/15. For both near and far distance. That's not bad for 63.

[me2]

I have been through this since way back when. My eye drainage was blocked on one side about 15 years ago causing tearing and infections. I had a procedure done then called an open DCR. I won't describe it because its scary and there is no reason for it to be scary now days. I recently had my other side get blocked and tear and get infected for a period of a couple of years.
I got tired of the problem and went to the eye doc. This is when I found out there had been significant advances in diagnosing and treating the blocked tear duct.
Way back when I was injected in the tear duct and given an xray to see the extent of the blockage. They don't do that anymore. Now, they just inject a little saline into the duct and see if they can force it into your nose. Its not as bad as it sounds . It doesn't hurt, it IS a little creepy just because I don't like needles around my eyes.
BUT, in fact the procedure is really not that big of a deal. It beats the whole xray thing.

So, if they determine your blockage is permanent scarring and will not open then they have a new way of opening it up that is WAY , WAY, WAY, more fun than the open DCR. It does require being put under. I had it done at the same time I had sinus surgery.

They leave a tube in through the opening that holds it open. Because my situation was WG specific they left the tube in for several months. The concern is that with WG it could close back up right away.

It is no big deal, and such a tremendous relief to have a non-infected eye again.

So , in summary I would like to accept this award on behalf of... - oh wait , that is the end of my other speach.

The proper end of this one would be to find an eye doc that does the NON open DCR procedure and also has experience with WG scarred tear ducts. I know my doc treated my situation a bit differently because my scarring was caused by WG and not something else. And now, I would like to accept this award... (Dang, I must be expecting an award)

[vdub]

I do recall hearing rumors of an award that had to be returned..... ;-)

[Ruotsi1]

I have had problems with eye tearing for about a year, started about 2 months after diagnosis. I thought it was related to prednisone. Eye doc says eyes look great, rheumy says no clue what would cause that, Dr. Villa-Forte has no clue, even asked Pulmonologist and renal doc and both are clueless as to what would be the cause. I did notice that when I was down to 10 mg of pred the tearing was a lot better...guess that's why I've always thought it may be from the prednisine?? Never had issues prior to diagnosis, so I assume it is Weg's related.

[annekat]

I've had the teary eyes on and off. I have looked it up on the forum, too, and people said it was from pred, or whatever... I definitely think is GPA related because I never had it before Wegs. The tear ducts seem a plausible explanation. I don't know that mine are totally blocked, because it comes and goes. I figure there is at least some inflammation in there that could be slowing down the drainage. I haven't pinpointed any conditions under which it happens more, although tapering pred could be one, since I've noticed it lately while tapering. I thought it was just one of those things we have to put up with. But having an awareness of tear duct function, or lack of, seems like a good place to start. i suppose there could be allergies involved, too.

[me2]

| Lacrimal Tearing | Tearduct | Tear duct system | description of blockage (http://www.eyeplastics.com/lacrimal-tear-duct-congenital-acquired-nasolacrimal-duct-blockage.html)

[Velma]

Sad to say the clogged tear ducts is probably the cause of the tearing. I had the same thing happen first in one eye and then the other. I had the surgery to fix them both and now things are good to go. No other issues have occurred with my eyes. It isn't considered a "flare" but it is common for WG sufferers to experience tear duct/sinus issues. Hang in there and keep us posted.
V.

[Yvonnea]

Have the teary eyes too even though in remission. They drive me crazy. Was told it could be the pred. Told that I could get operation for the ducts but one advised if it really affected my standard of life. Think I will skip this procedure as I am sure I will have bigger fish to fry further on down the line.

[vdub]

It does drive me crazy. I know my eye sight is really good and it annoys me when I have to keep wiping my eyes in order to see.

For those of you who had the operation.... Was it an in and out process? Wear patches for a week or anything? Have to go off mtx?

[drz]

I have had tearing from having dry eyes and it seemed related to meds. I had eyes checked out and even tried having drainage ducts plugged to keep them more moist but it was of no use. I found using a a good eye drop like Refresh helped the most to reduce tearing. It also seemed to get better with lower pred dosages.

[me2]

The 'new' eye drainage procedure (new to me) I had done along with sinus surgery. I went home that day. In spite of having both procedures done at the same time I would still say it is not a big thing. No patch on the eye (no nose packing for sinus like they used to do), no change in meds.

They gave me an adequate supply of pain meds that I really ended up not needing. I think if I had just the eye done it would have been super easy. I delayed getting my eye done because I only knew of the old procedure where they had to do surgery through an opening on my face. (called an open DCR) That one was not fun

But the new way is endoscopic and I wish I hadn't waited so long to get it done. My eye not only teared but was goopy with infection for over two years. After a certain point you can be sure it will not get better and I say the procedure to restore drainage is a good choice.

[lag713]

I had tearing problems starting about 3-4 months after I began taking methotrexate (treatment started 10/2014; diagnosed 1/2014). I never had tearing problems before diagnosis. It seemed liked the tearing would go away and return. I put off seeing an ophthalmologist due to health insurance changes until last month. My ophthalmologist did a test with iodine or some other solution that reveals eye dryness and evaluates the quality of your tears. It turned out that I produce enough tears but the quality is low so they are drying too quickly. This was causing the overproduction of tears to deal with the dryness. It may be related to issues in the lacrimal gland. It may be due to Sjogren's Syndrome which often comes with autoimmune illnesses. It includes dry eyes and mouth. My ophthalmologist recommended OTC eye drops (Systane) but said not to use Visine because it has something in it that can cause additional eye irritation. My rheumatologist recommended an OTC eye cream/gel to use at night (some people sleep with their eyes slightly open which dries the eyes too).

I wake up with seriously dry eyes and blurred vision when I don't use it. I haven't tried it very long and I'm not very good at putting the eye drops in (I blink uncontrollably). It seems that treating the symptoms if it is Sjogren's Syndrome is the only thing to do besides treating the underlying Wegener's with methotrexate as you are doing currently.

I hope you find my experience helpful. I've been offline for a while trying to focus on work and my health. I've recently had terrible migraines that I am just starting to control with medication. I also likely had a couple of simple-partial seizures but I'm trying to work with a neurologist to figure out what happened (never had a seizure before). I might try to see an ophthalmologist in NYC that specializes with weggies to get a second opinion as well. My local ophthalmologist said I had the beginning signs of glaucoma (I'm only 27) but didn't suggest doing anything besides a follow-up in one year.

[mrtmeo]

My mom had this in her right eye.
Her eye would hurt too like there was something in it.

The opthamologist said it was due to not enuf tears drying out the eye like others said.
He was going to put punctal plugs in but her tear ducts were too small.
He gave her prednisolone eye drops and cyclosporine which helped the inflammation until a few months after the rituxan and it disappeared.

[carrottop50]

vdub, I too have the tearing and the OTC drops seem to help but I also have sjogrens which does seem to cause dry eyes. I was told that dry eyes can cause tearing because your eyes are trying to keep your eyes moist.

lag713, I have had problems with glaucoma too... I don't know if you are using prednisone or not... but every time I use prednisone even a low dose like 5 mg I get the high pressures in my eyes and I have to go on drops for glaucoma and then when I am not on prednisone for a while my pressures go back down and I can get off the med. So maybe talk to your ophthalmologist about prednisone and glaucoma.

[lag713]

Thank you for your feedback, Carrottop. My intraocular pressure is fine so that isn't likely causing signs of glaucoma. I don't take and have not taken prednisone so that wouldn't be it either. I was wondering if the ophthalmologist misidentified something related to wegs as being early signs of glaucoma. I guess the wegs specialized ophthalmologist will figure it out?

[miracleshappen08]

I have been having this problem too. It is in my right eye, but it also swells up and hurts really bad. So if I push on the area that hurts and swollen it will drain through my nose. I will be getting checked out next week.


Miracles do happen!!