Eye pain

[patsy53]

Seasons greetings..I hope you all had a lovely Christmas day.

For a couple of days now I have had as pain in my left eye. Can someone tell me if it's only our eyesight we should be worrying about or should I b concerned about eye pain

[cjatthesea]

patsy53, you didn't leave much information about your condition. I have GCA and PMR and have just joined this group. I know how frustrating it is to have a A lot of the pain comes and goes.

[olive2709]

If in doubt check it out .I had this first port of call was vision express ,then GP if needed or if can't do that A&E

[Bailybiscuit]

I had eye pain as a deep pain in the centre, it was glaucoma which is an emergency.

[Maxine-59]

Agree with all of the above - no eye should be ignored and there can be multiple reasons for it . GP A and E or an optician can advise. Either way get it checked out.

[PMRpro Ambassador]

Really - if in doubt, check it out!

I don't think that the GCA side is generally thought of as painful in the eye itself - headache, pain over the eye and so on, but eye pain isn't usually mentioned in the lists of symptoms. However - in a superb article from the American Academy of Ophthalmologists called EyeWiki it does mention eye pain in some patients so for any of us it is something to keep in mind and if you have ANY other visual symptoms or any other possible GCA symptoms to go to a doctor immediately. That is something that comes under the "definitely needs A&E" by the way, in view of the NHS plea for people not to go to A&E at present unless it is an emergency. Possible GCA is a medical emergency - just as much as a heart attack or a stroke.

It's an article aimed at medical professionals working with eyes so some of it is quite complex but has nice pictures of the giant cells that give the disease its name. And most important of all this statement: "Although extremely rare, GCA has been reported in patients younger than 50 years old." with the reference! This is a reference to keep handy.

eyewiki.aao.org/Giant_Cell_...

The other thing that is important - if you aren't aware - is thatyou should have your eye pressures checked, preferably every year, the same as if you were at risk of glaucoma because of family history. This is because on some people steroids can lead to raised eye pressures which, if left untreated can progress to glaucoma. Eye drops will manage it well and once the pred dose reduces usually so does the pressure.

[alfredbrian]

I was warned when I went on Steriods that they could affect the eyesight and so I went to my optician and had an thorough eye check when I started them. I do get tired eyes now and believe my sight is affected but not yet bad enough to go back to the Optician. that's a priority for the New Year.

[cjatthesea]

Sorry Patsy53....,part of my message disappeared when sent. After just weeks of being on prednisone, I was found to have cataracts and glaucoma. Now being treated with eye drops. Not an emergency situation but certainly something I needed to know about. Like alfredbrian mentioned, I have tired eyes. Mine are sometimes achy, as well.

[judam9]

@hi patsu53, well pain is for the purpose of letting us know something is wrong. i have been trouble with my left eye. i used to get migraines in my left eye also. now my eye doctor did some checking, and he said when it starts waving i should come see him. what they mean by waving , i'm not sure. i know when i look at verticle and horizontal lines, even curtains , they seem to pinch tog. and move around. and when i really got stressed out from Christmas my letters would jump between lines. but then my feet were getting mixed up. and i didn't know which direction i was going in. but it also could have been from the dye they injected in me for a cat scan. that i got that reaction too. those darn tests , no matter wgat kind seem to take some kind of lasting toll on me. surgeries i can handle, it's the tests that do the damage. and i'm not getting any younger.

darn.

[Car00b]

I was diagnosed with PMR November 2014 . Throughout and befor have had pains in left side of head including eye , scalp on that side sore to touch jaw pain , but have been assure by GP I do not have GCA .

So do Ask your GP . Hit head ( on that that side ) on car boot door Christmas Day . Head down trying to avoid rain (didn't know husband had opened it ) it is still sore and now a huge lump . The lore of sod .

But it is important to get your eye pain sorted . I have just been diagnosed with glucocoma , they think due to taking prednisalone , so have been put on drops . Hoping that when meds are lowered it will get better .