Eye issues

[jakekell]

I'm hoping if I can get lower on pred, some of my vision issues such as blurriness and double vision will improve. Although an ophthalmologist thinks the double vision is caused by bone erosion under my eye sockets, as shown on an MRI. I'd just like to see what no pred, or only 5mg., might do for me! I'm stuck on 11mg. because I've been very conservative with tapering, in order to avoid a flare this winter. Will see the doc for results of my latest blood work tomorrow.

Annekat,

How long have you been on 11 mg of pred? I am now down to 2 mg by cutting 1mg tabs in half and then going down very slow. I hope you can get down as that isn't fun at all, hope your blood work is good.

Mary

[annekat]

Several years ago, my wife was on a short course of pred to relieve some sort of inflammation (not related to an autoimmune disease). She reported double vision. Fortunately, the double vision went away after a few weeks.

That's very interesting, Pete. I'm not even sure that most docs know enough about pred to know all of its possible side effects. I have read on older threads here about pred causing double vision, too, and believe I've read elsewhere online that it is possible. My eye doc and ENT may be right about the bone erosion under the orbits, but I still hold out hope that it could at least improve when I'm off pred, or at a lower dose. I've heard it weakens muscles, and I don't know why that couldn't include that eye muscles used for the two eyes focusing as a unit. The eye doc said those muscles don't really weaken, but then, he may not really know pred. Thanks for sharing that.

[annekat]

Annekat,

How long have you been on 11 mg of pred? I am now down to 2 mg by cutting 1mg tabs in half and then going down very slow. I hope you can get down as that isn't fun at all, hope your blood work is good.

Mary

Thanks, Mary. This time around, I've only been on 11mg. for a week and a half or so. I've been tapering from 15mg. since the end of a flare about a year ago, where I'd gone up from 7.5mg to deal with the flare. I was tapering down OK but the holidays and winter became stressful and I wanted to avoid having another winter flare, so I slowed down. I had planned to get to 10mg. by my doc's appt tomorrow, but haven't been feeling that great lately, so have stayed with 11mg. Once I find out the results of the latest blood work, which will be tomorrow, I'll know whether I should stay at that level or push harder to taper more. I'm not expecting any drastic results from the lab., but my last blood work showed a normal inflammation level and I'm suspecting it could have gone up a little by the way I feel. Not like a real flare, maybe, but just a smoldering one. We will see, and I'll let you know.

[Realpro325]

I have had uveitis and almost lost my vision in my left eye. Make an appointment with an eye dr ASAP.

[drz]

I saw an optometrist when i had scleritis shortly before any doctors figured out I had Wegs. He treated it very successfully. My ophthalmologist had just quit so he was the only option. The optometrist also speculated I might have a systemic disorder of some kind causing my Weg symptoms and was the only doctor of the dozen plus I saw while searching for some explanation of my Weg symptoms that even got close to guessing what was going on when the Wegs started attacking my body. The next best guess came from my podiatrist who said some thing else was causing my pain but no MD even came close to recognizing the symptoms of Wegs. It was finally recognized only after some severe complications (near death) and the help of a consultation with Mayo and their labwork.

An optometrist cannot do surgery but in my experience they often do a more thorough exam and can treat most eye problems. Medicare will pay for medical diagnoses but not refractions for getting glasses.

When I was told I had to find a good eye doctor that would see me quickly if I developed any vision changes or possible signs of Wegs in my eyes to prevent loss of vision it was an optometrist who promised to do so. She said she could get me into an eye surgeon immediately too if it was ever needed and I beleive that would be the case since I am sure any good ophthalmologist would respect their assessment.

[BookNut]

i have not read this whole thread, so forgive me if this is repetitive. My husband is asthmatic and, although he was not on prednisone very long, it did result in glaucoma. He used an inhaled steroid now to keep his asthma under control. fewer side effects. I wish they worked for me.

On pred right now and can not sleep. SO annoying!

[JeanMarie]

OK, I'm going to nag a little. Made that appointment yet???

Please, please, please don't wait any longer. I found this list, maybe it will help: United States | Uveitis.org | OIUF

[vdub]

You mean me, Jean? I haven't, but yes I should. It's going to have to be a referral and my PCP recently died, so I'm in a bit of quandary at the moment. I think my rheumy good do the referral. I have an appt with him in June, but I should do something before then.

[hrnn]

not necesarily the case nor trying to get you to panic, but my wife had a granuloma pushing her eyeball out of the socket (not as visible as it sounds, but it describes what was happening). she had blurry vision at first and she was temporarily blinded at one point. after an initial pred shock it all got back to normal. still her WG was acting up so when they lowered her pred dose the granuloma started pushing again and this time the manifestation was blurry vision (because the eye wern't aligning properly to form an image).

luckily she got alright but losing her eye could have been an outcome.

[vdub]

Soooo, I got the appt, but its not until mid-apr.