Kickas.org Forums Ankylosing Spondylitis General Discussion #1 AS Web Support Group iritis & migraine correlation?

I was wondering if those of you who have/had iritis, if you got migraines? I ask because my niece gets them all the time, is frequently tired, and misses school (she's 16) about 3 days a week. This has been going on for years.

Could this be a sign of pre-AS? I don't know how it looks in teens... and I don't know much about how AS affects the eyes.

Trace

Hi Trace,
That seems way too many and too often to be having at such a young age.I presume tired from the pain.How awful for her.
My experience with iritis didnt cause migraines but blurred vision the first time.I think ,then it was more of a behind the eyeball ache.Since,i have caught it before it got to that stage.
I hope that she's seeing a doctor about this .
Allthe best ,jude2

Hi Jude - thanks for quick response -
Yes, she's been to many docs and no one knows what is causing it. She's seeing a specialist this week at UCSF who is the "headache doc". Hmmmm. I remember her describing her migraines as blurry vision with jabbing pain in the eyes--which is how you described iritis. How is a migraine pain different from iritis pain other than the cause of it?

Oh, and t's difficult for her to sleep because of the pain. She is always exhausted.
Trace

Hi Jude - thanks for quick response -
Yes, she's been to many docs and no one knows what is causing it. She's seeing a specialist this week at UCSF who is the "headache doc". Hmmmm. I remember her describing her migraines as blurry vision with jabbing pain in the eyes--which is how you described iritis. How is migraine pain different from iritis pain other than the cause of it?

Trace

oops double posted there - sorry bout that!

Hi Trace,

I remember with my first ever iritis attack thinking to myself 'this must be a migraine' though I had never experienced one before, as the headache pain was so extreme. As the pain grew worse over just a few short hours it became more obvious that it was coming from my eyes.

Since it's been going on for years and your niece has it so frequently, I would think she'd be blind by now if iritis was the cause. That said, it certainly wouldn't hurt to rule it out with a simple exam by an Ophthalmologist (not an Optomitrist). If she has an atypical case of smouldering iritis then they'd likely find evidence of scar tissue.

Iritis symptoms often (but not always) include blurred vision, photophobia (light sensitivity), redness, PAIN, a constricted pupil (when at it's worst), and is usually (but not always) asymmetrical in affecting only one eye at a time (though pain can be felt in both). Iritis is strongly associated with B27.

I really hope that the specialist 'headache doc' will be able to figure out how to help her. What a nightmare to be suffering with so many migraines.

Hugs,
mig

Have they checked her eye pressure? When I had acute glaucoma I had intense stabbing pain in my eye. It can also extend over the whole side of my face or head.

Hi, yes, I've had both iritis, or uveitis as my doctors refer to it, and migraines. The two came along at roughly the same time. I believe inflammation was showing up in a lot of places and my immune system was really struggling. www.uveitis.org is a great source of support and information.I believe that many people who have uveitis also suffer from migraines, but, many people with migraines have no history of uveitis whatsoever. What helped me so much is giving up gluten entirely. Doctors usually don't seem to be aware of this but a big symptom of gluten intolerance is headaches/migraines. My doctor told me to give up red wine and chocolate...but on my own I learned about the gluten connection. Wow--I am so much better now. I hope this may help and I hope she at least tries it for a month to see if it helps. Please check back in and let us know how it is going for her.
Jan

My daughter had a lot of trouble with her eyes and migranes around the age of 14 to 16. After having MRIs and brain scans the doctors never found the exact problem, but the drug celexa seems to help. A long with hers she also experienced pow back pain. She seems to be doing fine now except for the low back and hip pain she has on and off.

I remember going through similar stuff as a teen when the iritis atacks first started. My vision went from 20/10 in the right eye 20/20 in the left to needing to wear glasses to read by the time I was 21. I had headaches prior to iritis and noticed a change but the migrane pain was mostly to the front of the head near the temples with a lot of sharp pains and pressure.

If her's is iritis is should not be lasting over long periods of time as in months without showing other symptoms with it, red and teary eyes.

Does anyone in the family severe from glaucoma? The symptoms you discribed sounds just like some of my family members talked about before they were diagnosed with it. The pressure in the eyes builds causing blurry vision and severe headaches. An eye pressure test during an episode can find it. If not detected it will get more frequent until it gets to be full blown.

Brent

hi trace,

i've had two migraines before, and two bouts of iritis in both eyes, but the migraines and iritis came at different times in my life, before i ever developed the chronic back pain.

in my experience, my migraines seemed to be caused by eating something with too much MSG. they would begin with weird visual hallucinations, where words in a book or on the computer screen would seemingly just not be there. that would go on for about 20 minutes, and then all of a sudden, SLAM!! one side of my forehead felt just awful, pulsating pain. but it'd only last for a short while after taking some ibuprofen.

the iritis i had, at first they treated it as if it was conjunctivitis (pink eye). then they realized it was iritis. it felt like what others described above: everything had a sort of "aura" or "halo" of light around it, and my eyes just felt really red and inflammed, and like there was a sharp speck of something stabbing them from inside. but i didn't feel like it was a "headachy" kind of feeling at all.

hope this helps...that must be awful for your niece. i hope they can figure out what's going on with her soon.