Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group What are the first symptoms of iritis?

I mention in another post that I have a pain im my rigth eye, and some of you alerted me to the possibility of iritis.
I have this pain since Friday, and its still here. I had one just like this last month - just a little more painfull - , went to my GP and she told me I had a trigeminal neuralgia. I took some anti-inflams, pain-killers, and it went a way after 3 days.
Besides the pain, I don't have light sensitivity, and the white part of my eye seems normal. I can see there some blood vessels, but I think no more than usual.
The pain is kind of anoying. It hurts more when I turn my head, either left or rigt. Doesn't hurt when moving up or down. I have a swelled eyelid, specially in the morning.
And the pain seems to come from inside my head, somewhere between the nose and the eye.
Never had an Iritis, but would like to know of those who are familiar with it, if they had any kind of pain like this before starting developping iritis.

Thanks in advance

Zélia

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

Thank you Jeanna.
I'll go first thing tomorrow to the doctor (can't go today, since I have no one to take care of my baby). But I really don't rely much in doctors of my hospital.
The first time I had this pain, last month, I went to the emergency, and the doctor put me in pain-killers and sent me home telling me I had an headache (migraine), even after I told him that I had AS and insisted on the possibility of having an iritis.
But doctors change a lot in the emergencies, so maybe I'll catch another more sensitive, and that doens't make me look foolish for going to the hospital because of a migraine.

Oh... plus on my symptons... I'm having glimpses of blurred vision. They come and go all the time. I have to close my eyes, and the vision comes clearer when I open them again. I've been feeling like this since the end of September, just a few days before I had my first eye pain.

Zélia

I went to the eye doctor for an exam the other day. I asked the doc about the symptoms. I told him it is normal for my eyes to hurt and for them to be sensitive to light. He said that if I got it, I would definately know it. He said it would really hurt when I went out in the sun. I don't know how true this is especially after Jeanna's post, but then she caught it early. I imagine if she went longer she would have really started feeling pain in her eye and not just her brow, but like she said, everyone is different. I'm just hoping I will know if and when the time comes.

It's interesting that you said you feel the pain when you turn your head. Is it because your eyes are moving side to side? I often feel pain where you described when I move my eyes but I would describe it more like a headache or eye strain from being on the computer too long or getting over-tired. In fact I feel that way now because my neck is hurting and I have a headache.

My eyes are too dry normally so I have to wear daily disposable contacts. Glasses always seem to give me a headache (worse than usual). I have had some unusual things happen to my eye, like an ulcer several times. It looks like a tiny blister in my eye. I think almost every time it occured, I had raked the oak leaves in my yard. It might just be an allergy or something getting into my eye. I use eye protection now and it hasn't happened since. I also developed a floater in my eye which the doctor said is normal. I was told it is a bubble of fluid in my eye and I am seeing the shadow of it when I'm out in the sun. I haven't noticed it lately. I either got used to it or it went away. It was sure annoying when it first showed up.

Sharon

Hello Zelia,
My name is Zoa. I was first diagnosed with iritis six years before I found out the I had AS. My eye doctor was a bit bothered when he found that I had iritis, he treated me with multiple drops and made me come back the next day to make sure that my eyes looked better.

My first flare up of iritis was the worst; I wasn’t able to let any light hit my eyes. It was very painful. The second flare up came earlier this year, not as painful and sensitivity to light wasn’t as bad, but my eyes where tried and painful. Driving day or night made it worst, I believe because of the movement of things going by. My doctor advised my to wear sunglasses as much as possible even when my eyes feels fine.

To best describe it;
My eyes were sensitive (to all light), the pain was located in the eyes (eye balls *this caused headaches), my eyes were very tried and felt very worn (all I wanted to do is close my eyes)

Hi Zelia:

Believe yesterday was the day you were going to venture to the docs... just wondering how things went for you?

Hugs,
Jeanna

Went to the doctor, and he didn't found any symptoms of iritis. He told me it was probably anoter episode of trigeminal neuralgia and that it would go away in a few days. The possible cause for the TN is tired vision, from being many ours at the computer, doing repetitive movements. The episodes of blurred vision seems to have origin in excess of time looking at the computer, and the ophtalmologist just advice me to to breaks of a couple of minutes every half hour.
In fact, today I feel fine. My eye doens't hurt anymore, but I still check often the mirror to see if it has turned red. I'm still a little scared. Have any of you experienced eye pains (with no light sensitivity) before your first flare of iritis? Cos I feel this TN is kind of a threat warning me to prepare myself for a future iritis.
I'm wainting for some blood tests tomorrow, to see if there is something else wrong.

Thanks for your care
Zélia

Zelia, this is for you and others who may wonder what iritis feels like-this was my first encounter with it...

For me it always results in light sensitivity, especially as the condition progresses. When my eye hurts and I wonder if I'm flaring, I'll gaze right into a light to see if the eye has become light sensitive-there is pain associated with doing this if I'm flaring. If I'm not light sensitive, I do not consider that I have it until it does. That is my final test to know whether to get to the ophthalmologist, or not.

The first time I had this, I noticed my eye tearing excessively when I tried to open it in a lighted area (no pus-just tears), the whites of my eyes became extremely bloodshot, I had pain when going into a well lit room, and as the day wore on (remember, I had no idea there was such a thing as iritis-I wondered if I had what we call Pink Eye, or Conjunctivitis which is the proper name-the only thing was, I didn't have a pus-y discharge that would normally glue your eye shut like with pink eye), I noticed that my pupil had become "fixed." What I mean by that, is that the iris would no longer function by letting the pupil become larger in a darkened room, or smaller in a bright room. Iritis is inflammation, or swelling, of the iris, and when it is swollen, it does not respond to light any longer, and that is why the light hurts so much, and you try to squint against it to reduce the amount of light getting into your eye. The eye becomes bloodshot/red as a result of this swelling, because the blood can no longer flow through it, so it backs up in the vessles around it. Another symptom, was intense pain like a severe bruise when touching my eye with my eyelid closed. A fixed pupil is another clue that I've got iritis again.

What the eye doctor sees when they look into the eye are many white blood cells in the chamber of the eye-they don't belong there-this is the body's way of attacking what it thinks are invading cells, resulting in inflammation of the iris as the body attacks it's own tissue. This is why it is considered an autoimmune disease, and that is why steroids are used to treat it.

This is an excellent website to learn from: http://www.iritis.org/

After my 4th episode with iritis in the space of a year, the Ophthalmologist suggested I be referred to a Rheumatologist, and that was how I ultimately became diagnosed with AS. (I had been suffering with low back pain for many years by then and was clueless-I mostly sucked up the pain and took lots of Advil during my flares, I changed my mattress several times to deal with the pain during sleeping, but my symptoms improved immensely when I started exercising at a gym).

I pray you never develop this nasty condition-it can cause blindness if not treated. Hopefully this info has helped you...

Hi Sigrid

Thanks for all that info. I was having problems with my eye this past week (seem better today) and was wondering it was the start od Irits . My eye dr did tell me when I had my last exam that I would know if I got it. But I too did not know what the symptoms are you helped clear it up. I am still going to get the Dr look at the eye when I see him on Wed.
Thanks again for the info