Re: Visual Disturbances due to RA??

December 9, 2008

I am one who has had some major visual disturbances due to RA. I see a general

ophthalmologist every 4 months and a retina specialist every 6 months. (They are

in the same practice.) My diagnosis of RA started with a case of nodular

scleritis. http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1228324-overview

I notice that I have sharp pains in my eye when I am experiencing alot of

inflammation in my body. I had my daughter to the ophthamologist last week due

to a contact lens issue and was telling my ophth about recent pain and before I

had a chance to tell him the whole story, *I* was in the chair.... I have now

been instructed to call IMMEDIATELY when I feel pain in my eye.... I hate

doctors offices but his is my favorite because there isn't a scale!

Also.... certain meds can cause preoblems: extended use of Prednisone can cause

cataracts, Plaquenil can cause problems....

Best of luck to you tomorrow.

w] ~]ss Kami ss] ~]w

[ ] Visual Disturbances due to RA??

I don't post very often...I'm more of a lurker.

I have been having a horrible time with my vision. I had my last eye

exam 10 months ago and was found to be hyperobic (?). This basically

means I am both near and farsighted in each eye! over the last couple

of months however, my vision has gotten increasingly worse. I spoke

with the tech at my Opthalmologists office (who ironically has a

practice that is largely those of people with RA...he is also a cornea

specialist, which I heard today is important to have when you have

RA...the things we learn!), who in turn spoke with my Dr. I am going

in tomorrow for another exam, but he thinks I may need to change my

Rx!!! He said it is very common with patients that have RA to have

visual changes. In fact, the tech told me she also has RA and is on

Enbrel (I take Humira) and has five different prescriptions that she

wears and alternates!

Further, the tech told me some patients due to the dry eyes that we

can get from having RA, end up needing cornea transplants!!!

Can anyone shed light on this for me? Any help you can give is

greatly appreciated!!! I am pretty scared right now! My glasses are

not even helping me at this point. I wanted to try contacts again,

but he won't put his patients with RA in contacts. When I wore them

last, I had not been diagnosed with RA nor did I show any symptoms of

this disease to my knowledge.

I apologize for the rambling...I am just frustrated and confused. I

initially blamed it on being on Lyrica for Neuropathic Pain from nerve

damage to due to an injury, however, while it can occur in about 1% of

the people on Lyrica, they do not feel that is the case at this point.

Robin

December 9, 2008

Thank you, Kami!!!!

I had a sharp pain in my eye earlier this year and was told to get to

the Opthalmologist immediately, which I did and that is when I found

out RA can affect the eyes!!! I too have been told if that happens

again to call immediately.

This is some scary stuff!! My sister has PA (Psoriatic Arthritis). I

wonder if the same things can happen. I will ask the Doc tomorrow

when I see him.

To think, last week, this could have been solved. One of his techs

told me, " Stop the Lyrica! " I asked her when she became an MD!!! The

office manager knew about it immediately. She said she was going to

handle that and would ensure that she never gave out medical advice

like that without speaking to the MD first!

Thank you again, Kami.

I hope you and your daughter are okay!!

Robin

>

> I am one who has had some major visual disturbances due to RA. I see

a general ophthalmologist every 4 months and a retina specialist every

6 months. (They are in the same practice.) My diagnosis of RA started

with a case of nodular scleritis.

http://emedicine.medscape.com/article/1228324-overview

>

> I notice that I have sharp pains in my eye when I am experiencing

alot of inflammation in my body. I had my daughter to the

ophthamologist last week due to a contact lens issue and was telling

my ophth about recent pain and before I had a chance to tell him the

whole story, *I* was in the chair.... I have now been instructed to

call IMMEDIATELY when I feel pain in my eye.... I hate doctors offices

but his is my favorite because there isn't a scale!

>

> Also.... certain meds can cause preoblems: extended use of

Prednisone can cause cataracts, Plaquenil can cause problems....

>

> Best of luck to you tomorrow.

>

> w] ~]ss Kami ss] ~]w

>

> [ ] Visual Disturbances due to RA??

>

> I don't post very often...I'm more of a lurker.

>

> I have been having a horrible time with my vision. I had my last eye

> exam 10 months ago and was found to be hyperobic (?). This basically

> means I am both near and farsighted in each eye! over the last couple

> of months however, my vision has gotten increasingly worse. I spoke

> with the tech at my Opthalmologists office (who ironically has a

> practice that is largely those of people with RA...he is also a cornea

> specialist, which I heard today is important to have when you have

> RA...the things we learn!), who in turn spoke with my Dr. I am going

> in tomorrow for another exam, but he thinks I may need to change my

> Rx!!! He said it is very common with patients that have RA to have

> visual changes. In fact, the tech told me she also has RA and is on

> Enbrel (I take Humira) and has five different prescriptions that she

> wears and alternates!

>

> Further, the tech told me some patients due to the dry eyes that we

> can get from having RA, end up needing cornea transplants!!!

>

> Can anyone shed light on this for me? Any help you can give is

> greatly appreciated!!! I am pretty scared right now! My glasses are

> not even helping me at this point. I wanted to try contacts again,

> but he won't put his patients with RA in contacts. When I wore them

> last, I had not been diagnosed with RA nor did I show any symptoms of

> this disease to my knowledge.

>

> I apologize for the rambling...I am just frustrated and confused. I

> initially blamed it on being on Lyrica for Neuropathic Pain from nerve

> damage to due to an injury, however, while it can occur in about 1% of

> the people on Lyrica, they do not feel that is the case at this point.

>

> Robin

>

December 10, 2008

Robin,

I'm sorry about your problems with your eyes.

It is common for RA to affect the eye. It's good that you are seeing

an ophthalmologist.

Don't worry about needing a corneal transplant. That wouldn't be a

common result, especially if you are under the regular care of an

ophthalmologist.

Not an MD

On Tue, Dec 9, 2008 at 7:47 PM, robinmk02 <robinmk02@...> wrote: