I know many of you are aware that I've been trying to get a handle on this GCA . Re cap: diagnosed a year ago. Incompetent care thus far:Tapered off prednisone too quickly and now back at 19 mg waiting for appointment with a specialist match 19.
My eyes get very tired, and if I read too long, say 45 minutes, at a stretch my vision gets extremely blurry, and I have to stop. Glasses don't help. So I'm trying to sort out " what's from what " again. Do I get blurry because of gcas on going party in my arteries? Obviously, we aren't happy about this but, should I be alarmed? Is this flare? This isn't new. I've experienced this phenomenon for the duration. Eyes have checked out ok as far as blood flow.
Thoughts and experiences please. I'm going to rest my eyes now so, I can read all the fantastic responses this afternoon.
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Blurry62
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Pred itself can cause vision problems. So can GCA/PMR - I moved my specs up and down my nose for years (cheaper that way). I'm flaring and back up on the dose of pred and it is all there again. And I think the dry eyes are worse.
Try some gel eye drops. They have been a life saver as they last longer. I also got plugs put in my tear ducts. Very simple and health insurance covered.
My Optician recommended Flax Seed Oil and that increased the viscosity by 100% I have been taking it fo five years. I asked the Ophthalmologist about it when I had my cataracts done, he said if it helped to continue
I have PMR only and one of the most unpleasant sensations was a bursting, over strained sensation in both eyes. I am a bookworm and this cut me off from my best escape. Nothing showed in eye tests and it passed. I am afraid I hung it on Pred’s door.I use dry eye drops. I have had marked deterioration in eyesight -corrected by new prescription everything, varifocal. A fortune!
I'm not sure how old you are but I know my Husband is 64 and I'm 64. We both have the same problem, if either of us reads or works on the computer for over 30 minutes to an hour, our vision is very blurred. He does not have PMR or sjogrens, where as I do. I'm on eye drops, but they don't help with this. I hope this helps you.
Always had blurred vision....for the 7years I have had PMR....some days worse than others...when at it's worst can't drive....even if physically well enough...galling at times to say the least....
Hi Blurry. If it's any consolation, like the others, I also get blurry vision. I only have PMR and been on pred since July 17. Eye test showed no change in my prescription and it was blamed on pred (no surprise there then) Pressures up a bit but not enough to need treatment, just call back in a year. I've just had to resign myself to less reading for now. Hope this helps
I'm irrelevant (OH is the oe with PMR/GCA) but I've worn reactolite varifocals for years - once you get used them they're great. The Tech/clerical lady in the optician's checks precisely what I want re reading, computer etc. and because I need to see my feet clearly on steps and kerbs (sroke - balance) I have "golfers' range" in the base focal layer of the lenses.
I haven't driven since late 2017 due to blurred vision and times of seeing double, along with the severe head, jaw pain. My last optamologist visit was of concern because he saw a change & a kinked and paler appearance of the optic nerve on the right, the side my head pain started on. Then my right eyelid and eyebrow drooped and became swollen. I am not renewing my driver license until I feel safe driving again! I also love to read and really missed it. I couldn't wear my glasses because the arm of the glasses on the right side bothered my scalp sensitivity and head pain so bad. I ended up breaking the right arm of my glasses off LOL! Anyway, I have spent a lot of time listening to books on Audible
I know, it’s why I transferred my care from my last GP, the final straw I should say. He still had not called about the clinical correlation recommended by the general surgeon either. I didn’t have an appointment again with him until Feb 25 so I chose to switch and not wait. He didn’t even call me about it after he was sent the note. You know I have been griping about all the evidence for a long time I apologize if I did not post an update about my last ophthalmology appointment, I’ve had a lot to deal with
I have GCA diagnosed two and a half years ago, was very lucky in that I didn't suffer with my vision, my dose now is 7.5mg but if I get tired and overdo things my eyes get quite blurry.
Well I still feel exhausted and can only do about a third of what I used to do - I am now 73 but before I became ill I played tennis, walked my dogs, cooked a lot, friends over for supper, for the first year my husband had to do all the cooking. Now I try to walk for 30 min every day, find supermarket shopping too tiring so order online, still have to rest loads or I feel ill. Sounds very depressing but I don't get depressed, lucky I have a great husband and family and friends. The main thing is I will eventually get back to normal.
I must emphasise everyone is so different in how they find GCA, I know 2 people who after 2 years were off steroids and were fine.
I have PMR and very recent GCA My eyes don't feel right if I look at a computer screen for more than half an hour. I have some watering and a feeling like conjunctivitis but its not. Luckally no vision loss, I can pick out telephone wires on poles at more than 1/2 mile away .
When you get older there is the likelihood you have something called floaters ie bits that do no real harm that float inside your eyes this can lead you to think you have focus problems when on a computer I get this . If I didn't know it was from floaters I would become alarmed with GCA but they are OK. I do this as a test, I turn away from the computer and look at the twigs in trees about 25M away if they are focused and clear in each eye I know they are OK.
Floaters can also lead you to think you have all sorts of other vision disturbances next time you have your eyes tested I would ask if you have any so you can take this into account.
Blurry, I, too, have this vision problem after reading or spending much time on my eye pad or computer. I believe mine to be age related, and have been experiencing this problem for close to 13 years since my early 60s, long before my PMR. I know we tend to blame any new problem on our condition, or meds, but it may be unrelated. Just a thought.
I had something similar before Christmas. I decided I just had to rest them and not do the close work. It was frustrating but it seems to have paid off. Try to keep off short distance and look further afield. It seems to have worked for me. I've also bothered to wear my sunglasses when going out and that seems to have helped.
Hi. I'm pretty new here and new to PMR. I don't have GCA (so far). But I thought I might be able to help folks who are having eye problems. I have dry eye, am very sensitive to light, and also I'm a photographer and run an internet business, so I'm on the computer a lot!
So first of all, turn down the brightness on your monitor. It should be readable, but not look like a light source.
Second, make sure you have no light behind you that reflects off your monitor.
Third, and probably the thing that will help the most, warm up the colour balance of your monitor. Blue light is a killer. I'm not sure how you do it on a PC, but on a Mac it is in system preferences > display > color. You want to move it away from blue and into yellow. You can also use "night shift" which makes the color balance even warmer in the evening hours.
Fourth, my optometrist told me that for some unknown reason, we don't blink as often when we look at computer screens. I use an app called "Time Out" that is basically an interrupter - every 15 minutes it prompts me to look away for 15 seconds, and ever hour it prompts me to look away for 5 minutes. You can click a "skip" or "postpone" button if you're really in the middle of something important. When I see it fading in, I take off my glasses, look out the window at something in the distance and blink a few times.
So all this isn't really PMR/GCA specific, but it might help.
My opthamologist told me that the blood flow could also be reduced to your eye muscles which he thought contributed to a sense of "disorientation" that I was getting with GCA flare ups, along with head ache and neck pain. My eyes get tired, they don't focus well and I almost feel dizzy but not with inner ear type of dizziness. Hope this helps.
Hello, I have been diagnosed with GCA back in November and on 20mg as we speak. My left eye is not painful at all but lately it feels so dry and tight and with a little jelly substance. I went to the optician but for my appointment the jelly stuff was all gone, but he saw nothing abnormal. Then I saw the GP and she believed it was more like a conjunctivitis and the drops helped but it is not gone and although not blurry, it does not feel right. I am away at the moment but will insist on an opthalmologist appointment as it really worries me. Th eye gel helps but only for a few hours.
But you have always to remember that dry eye syndromes are long lasting - the treatment is usually symptomatic so you need repeated applications of the gel.
I did feel well until they tappered my dosage even lower to 12,5 and I had to fo back onto 20mg. At 12,5 I did feel rough but no migraine just the start of a mini flare up. Thanks to all the infos, inputs of people from this forum It helped me understand that the tappering down was far too fast. But in 20mg, yes I feel fine at every level except this “glazed” eye issue, no pain in the eye either.
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