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

Hi Brent-
Yes, there is a strong family history of glaucoma on my side. My dad has it and my mom developed it in the last few years of her life (but hers may have been from all the meds she took -- she had idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis).
And, thanks for passing on the info.
Trace

Mig-
Thanks for explaining it to me. Well done with your description of it. And gosh, sorry you know it so well that you can write the description so clearly.
Trace

Tim -
I don't know if they have checked into that. Looks like you and Brent both mentioned glaucoma. I'll ask my brother about that.
Thanks!
Trace

Jan,
Thanks for the gluten tip. I'll pass it on.
Trace

deanne-
love the way you describe things - sorry you've experienced it
Trace

Thanks everyone for the time and tips - i'll let you know - my brother doesn't have much faith in the docs anymore and is rather frustrated - so hopefully this'll help.
Trace

Hmmmm. I've never made the connection before.

When I was 18, I became severely photophobic. Walking from the library to the caf at school, or going from interior to exterior light would cause blinding pain to lance through my eye. My parents assumed it was because I had photogrey lenses on my glasses, that would darken in the sunlight and they'd made my eye sensitive to light. Of course, in retrospect, I suspect it may have been a very early and undiagnosed case of iritis. It went on for months (most of my grade 13 year) before it eased.

That same year, I experienced my first optical (or atypical) migraine. No pain, but the vision obscured by whirling prisms that started in the centre of my vision and expanded until they left my field of vision altogether. I've been experiencing these periodically ever since. Often months or sometimes years apart, always in a cluster of events (several over a period of weeks). They always leave me feeling somewhat disoriented and weak.

Your question now has me wondering if there might be a connection. My left eye has always been the most impacted by iritis and also by my optical migraines. Must remember to ask my opthie this.

Thanks!

Hugs,

Kat - thanks for the info. and for your willing to ask your opthie
Trace

Kat,

I know well how you used to feel walking from one building to another. The sunglasses probably helped it from being worse than if you were not wearing any. Everyone would always ask me what was wrong when I would stop after going into a building from being in the sunlight. I would have to wait on my eyes to adjust so I could see to go any further.

Do you get the clouds when you close your eyes after being outside in the sunlight? I still get a cloud that starts off looking like a backward C if I close my eyes. It will slowly close into a full circle then fill before fading away.

I wear dark Raybans when I an outside for very long anymore to keep the sun from blinding me and making my eyes water.

Brent

I do get the after burn effect after being in the sun. Doesn't bother me so much (beyond not being able to see anything). And like you, I often have to stop when I walk into a building after being in bright sunlight.

As for sunglasses, because I wear glasses 99% of the time, most sunglasses just don't work for me (two pairs of glasses on at once kind of thing and the clip-ons don't fit my glasses right and I can't afford custom-made). I'm now at the point where I just won't wear them unless it's one of those white hot kinds of days. And when I have to due to iritis.

Many hugs,