eye damage from RA.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone experienced any eye irrations when changing treatment protocols. I started antibiotic treatment recently and stopped all my previous meds. As a result I ended up with a corneal inflamation. My opthamalogist said it is caused by RA.

My antibiotic Doc did not tell me about this as a possible consequence of abruptly stopping my previous treatment.

Anyone have a similar experience?

mtm6122@comcast.net

[linda]

 I have not had that experience myself, but I had a friend with RA who lost one eye and was legally blind in the other; BUT she had very, very severe RA tho, and was living in a nursing home at the age of 35, and was also in a whellchair. She died at the age of 42. I'm not sure what the treatment is, but I think there are steroid eye drops. I normally tell people to run as fast as they can away from steroids, but if I had to choose between my sight and steroids, I'd choose my sight. But you should also know that prednisone can cause catarcts over long term use. Hopefully this is something that can be treated with a temporary med, I'm sorry to hear that you have to deal with this problem.

linda

[A Friend]

Hello mtm6122 (did I get that right?),

How long have you had this eye inflammation?  What medications were you on before you stopped?  What medication did you begin?  And what days and what dosage are you on? 

In order to comment on this condition, I feel I need more information. 

I, too, had a serious eye condition (uveitis) develop suddenly, but the Minocin I was on was not the culprit.  My onset was sudden and quite serious.  Luckily, because what the local two ophthalmoliogists were recommending were contrary to my own beliefs, my holistic AP physician worked with me to get an appointment with a knowledgeable AP ophthalmologist in another state.  I went to him, and he wanted me off what they'd insisted I be on.  Bottom line was that my uveitis resolved rather quickly under his care — and remote treatment by him, with a new local ophthalmologist following my case, worked well for me. 

Good luck to you.  Joints are very important, but I learned first hand that eyes are a whole other category.   

AF

[Anonymous]

for Linda and AF who responded to my ? about eye damage. Thanks for the input. My Opthamologist was quite certain  that my keratitis was as a direct result of the RA. It was not an allergic reaction to any medicine.

I am inclined to agree about the allergy stuff. I restarted my medicines to include the antibiotics just to keep the vision problem from recurring. Thanks for your help. mtm6122

[Author]

Posts