Systemic sclerosis, ILD, Sorgren's, and eye inflammation

feeds@yuku.com (Webmaster) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 22:11:46 GMT

Hello Dr. Foster,

I am a member of Sclero.org. and was checking out eye inflammation. I have been diagnosed with Sjogren's, along with sine systemic sclerosis and ILD. I am wondering if my eye inflammation is a sign that the scleroderma is progressing or just good ole Sjogren's doing it's thing. Grrr my eyes hurt and are always red despite Restasis and drops.

Cystoid macula edema/panuveitis

feeds@yuku.com (Lupo) — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 16:53:28 GMT

My wife is 59...just diagnosed with CME. She's on pred forte drops. She's relatively well in the morning but by about late afternoon she starts getting fatigued, chills, fever that breaks with 2 ibuprofen. This pattern has gone on for about 5 days. Her opthamologist suggests the flu. Could the fever etc. be a symptom of the diagnosis instead? We were able to secure a friday morning appt. at the Univ. of Mich. Kellogg Eye Center with a specialist in retineal uviieitis/ocular oncology.

iritis and bi-polar disorder

feeds@yuku.com (tazfamgn) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 16:48:07 GMT

My son, who is now17 was diagnosed with iritis at 6 and jra at 8. He is currently on methotrexate (injection of 4.5cc weekly), His right eye has already lost vision, had surgery for glaucoma and has some peripheral vision loss. His left eye still has flare-ups and he is on pred forte quite often. He also has a diagnosis of bi-polar disorder and takes a cocktail of meds for that. He tried Humira, but it made him manic. He will be going away to college next year, and Iam very concerned...

pars planitis

feeds@yuku.com (sister) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 19:03:06 GMT

My sister was diagnosed on Tuesday with pars planitis and was prescribed steroid eye drops. She lives in Stockbridge, MI which is 1 hour from Ann Arbor. After reading your web site, it seems these drops are not effective for her condition. Is that the case? She returns to her ophthalmologist on Tuesday, 11/3. Do you think her local doctor can effectively treat her? Is it important that she see an uveitis specialist? I saw on your web site that there is one in Ann Arbor.
Another...

Pars Planitis

feeds@yuku.com (Lupo) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 16:09:57 GMT

My wife of 59 years was diagnosed with pars planitis 3 days ago by an opthamologist. His course of action was to prescribe Pred Forte corticosteroid drops, one in each eye, per hour while awake. After 1 week he would reevaluate her eyes to see if a more aggressive regimen was necessary...steroid eye injections. Is his course of action aggressive enough or should we seek out a more specialized opthamologist with expertise in uveitis infections? Thank you.

No Steriods?

feeds@yuku.com (vincent) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 05:48:37 GMT

Hello, you run a great website with a lot of information for people who suffer from iritis. Thanks, its helped me a lot. I didn't know you ran a forum aswell. Well I had suffered from iritis chronically for ~ 7 months before remission. steriod drops never cured me so I was put on methotrexate and low dose oral prednisone (5mg) within 4 weeks of starting mtx inflammation had disappeared. Ive read on your website that the goal is off of steriods and no inflammation. My case is possibly...

Undiagnosed with eye issues

feeds@yuku.com (Sampsoke) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 19:35:40 GMT

Dear Dr. Foster,

My husband and I currently live in Ontario, Canada. For the past 14 months, my husband has been very unwell. What began as fatigue, weakness, sore bones, stomach issues and a racing heart beat, quickly evolved into numerous eye issues. The "body" symptoms have been very severe at times, and lighter at others, however the eye issues continue to be of primary concern. My husband has sensitivity to light, numerous floaters, dry eye and some pain. We have...

MRI results..

feeds@yuku.com (blondienbrunnette) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 15:03:30 GMT

We finally got his mri results back in today. The brain mri came back negative and his spinal mri came back negative. But, they only did the spinal mri of his lumbar region and not the WHOLE spine...I made an appointment with the same doctor to keep complaining as my husband is not doing any better. He is still have spasticity in his legs where it is very painful for him to walk some days. If not that its a burning pain. This is week 5 now..

Asked for baclofen and I am suppose to go...

Swine Flu Vaccine

feeds@yuku.com (maughact) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 20:30:10 GMT

I know in a previous post you mentioned that as long as the shot was not a live virus then it would be safe for Uveitis patients to get it.
Now that the vaccine has been out for a few weeks, is that still that case? My daughter is in medicated remission on mtx and I'm scared
to stir things up but the flu has been hitting the schools pretty hard. Just triple checking that it's safe. Thanks.

Computers and Uveities

feeds@yuku.com (ranganc) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:49:08 GMT

Is there any relation between working on computers and Uveities? I am suffering from recurrent uveities for past 6 months and it flares-up every 3 to 4 weeks. I am software professional and usually spend more than 8 hours in day working on computers.

Sympathetic Ophthalmia Question

feeds@yuku.com (peel out813) — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 11:19:11 GMT

Hello Dr Foster:

Is there any new treatments or anything else you can advise for Sympathetic Ophthalmia? Recall I saw you in October 2008 and that earlier this year I was on high dose Chlorambucil for 6 months (Dr Grace Levy Clarke, St Lukes Eye, St Pete FL) and now have been off it for 4 months now. My vision is still deteriorating and I'm losing my ability to drive. I appreciate anything you can do for me.
Thank you,
Gary

Gene Therapy?

feeds@yuku.com (dyanasmolen) — Sun, 25 Oct 2009 16:31:26 GMT

Dr. Foster,

I read the article below about gene therapy and its application to degenerative retinal conditions (among others) with excitement. Can you say when this will be a successful option for those with Birdshot?

Thanks in advance.

Dyana

The Second Coming of Gene Therapy

by Jill Neimark From the September 2009 issue, published...

Ongoing Eye Pain

feeds@yuku.com (michael) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 17:04:22 GMT

Dear Dr. Foster,

I was diagnosed with Uveitis about 3 years ago. I was initially treated with Pred-Forte drops but their was no improvement so I was given Kenalog injections. Over the course of 6 months I received 6 injections in the right eye and 3 in the left. Almost every injection I received made my eye turn blood red and for 2 days after the injection I would have intense pains shoot through my eye. The pain would begin to subside after 48 hours.

The injections were...

no answer...

feeds@yuku.com (blondienbrunnette) — Fri, 23 Oct 2009 11:37:39 GMT

Well Dr. Foster, If you remember me posting about my 24 year old husband that has not been doing well. I had to tell you he went to his opthomologist on Tuesday. His opthomologist office was BUSY and it was the end of the day. I asked him why my husband had this "white out" in august (which we did go to his office in august) he stated he didnt know why and it would remain a mystery!!!

I read on his paper that his vision was 20/100 in his left eye (which is where his white...

MTX / combination Therapy / Optiquel (new clinical trials)

feeds@yuku.com (hiall) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 12:16:04 GMT

Hello Dr. Foster,

Thank you much for your time in reading/responding our questions.

My daughter has been on MTX(oral) for past 18 months for IU, started on 5mg and currently on 20mg since last 2 weeks only as it was bumped from 15mg because of 1+ inflamation in left eye. There have been periods of remission and flares(usually we see after ear infetions). Just now we came to know that Liver Test came high and we are waiting our doctors response for what would be new...

Celebrex

feeds@yuku.com (Melissa) — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 08:54:51 GMT

Hi Dr. Foster:

Just wondering if I can give blood if I'm on Celebrex?

Xibrom

feeds@yuku.com (rudyu) — Sat, 17 Oct 2009 19:43:05 GMT

I have had chronic mild iritis for about two years. For the last year I have been able to control it with Xibrom drops between 2 and 4 drops per day. My eye sight has not deteriorated. I am under a good eye specialist in Sydney. The complaint does not seem to get any worse, but no better either.
When I was on steroids there were issues with raised eye pressure. The steroid drop did not seem to work any better then Xibrom.
My question relates to long term use of Xibrom. Whist my eyes...

Ask Dr. Foster

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