Dear Zelia:
I believe that Klem alerted you to my post re: first bout of iritis from July. In that post someone gave me this terrific resource:
www.iritis.org Just like everyone's AS is different, everyone's iritis presents differently. Hallmark signs are light sensitivity, red/pink eye, and pain. That being said, I didn't really have much redness when my iritis first presented. I also didn't have very much 'eye' pain per se, but my brow bone was killing me. The two things that made me go to the emergency room were (1) my pupils were different sizes, and ( 2 ) my vision was decreased in my affected eye.
Now, I should qualify a few things here. First, I recently completed medical school, so I'm quite tuned into subtle changes - like the different in pupil size. I'm not sure most others would have noticed it so early on. Secondly, I only really realised that I had changes in my vision after I noticed that my pupil was dilated, and I 'tested' for it, by covering one eye at a time. I wouldn't have noticed by just generally looking about a room either. I judged my vision by trying to read a sign in the distance, much like if I was having my eyes tested by a medical professional.
I understand your hesitation with visiting a doctor/emergency room, but you'll be hard pressed to find anyone here who will tell you that your symptoms don't sound like iritis, because none of us want to be responsible for you not getting them looked after properly by a physician. No physician will think a person with AS silly for getting their eyes checked because we're so susceptible to iritis. Iritis is an ocular emergency, and it's natural course, without treatment is blindness. So please, put your mind at ease, no matter how silly it seems to you, go get your eyes checked out. It won't seem silly in the slightest to your doctor.
Here's wishing it's a false alarm, and that you don't have a long wait time.
Jeanna
