I am shocked that I have iritis. I have only a mild blurring in right eye . But the doctor now says -go back up to 40 and drop 10 mg every week . Any narratives , opinions desperately needed. TIA
At 3.5 mg Pred, tapering from 60 mg for GCA - I n... - PMRGCAuk
At 3.5 mg Pred, tapering from 60 mg for GCA - I now have iritis in right eye.Please narrate how you went up on pred - dosage and tapers.
I went up to 50 Dropping slowly. After 2 months at 42.5.
So sorry to hear your diagnosis. I don't know much about iritis except that it's a type of uveitis. It's good that you got treated so soon. Hopefully others will pitch in with their knowledge/experience of the condition. Did the eye doc say it was linked to GCA in some way?
As pinks33 has said, it is a form of uveitis but I don't think it is particulalry associated with GCA, except very rarely and there are other causes, including reactive arthritis and the spondyloarthropathies where there is a genetic link.
hindawi.com/journals/crim/2...
says "GCA with uveitis has been rarely noted"
mayoclinic.org/diseases-con...
You need to listen to the doctor - this is a different matter from GCA/PMR with regard to tapering. The only person I know of on the forum with a history of uveitis is Hidden - who I think can be classed as a real expert there - he has had it for many years. So if he doesn't see this post - send him a private message.
However - being on the recommended short course of high dose pred for uveitis is no different whether you are already on pred or not. Being on pred just raises the baseline: you will take the course, reducing 10mg per week as instructed until you are back to 3.5mg instead of zero at the end, i.e. 40/30/20/10/3.5. You may need a bit more than 3.5mg to start with, maybe 5mg, because your adrenal function MIGHT be thrown a bit after 4 weeks above 10mg but equally, it may be fine, it is a borderline duration.
This is just perfect feedback for me.
It has reassured me a lot since you HAVE gone though this often - since it is a rare condition - there are not too many narratives about this . but thank God , I now know you have dealt with it successfully . Incidentally I also have Polycythemia Vera - so now I am beginning to wonder if it is connected with PV and not GCA .