Hi everyone. I’ve not been on here for a while and am now currently weaning down from 5mg Pred to 4. All good so far.
Today I finally had my long awaited appointment with the ophthalmologist and all was ok apart from my eye pressure - which was pretty high! He thinks it’s steroid induced glaucoma and has given me new eye drops for two months to see if that brings the pressure down.
Has anyone else experienced high pressure while on steroids? I’m so hoping it starts to reduce.
It's a common problem and you should have been told to get pressures checked regularly while on pred. However - raised pressures are NOT the same as glaucoma- it is the raised pressure that may cause the damage that is then termed glaucoma. Did he do other tests to determine that?
Occular pressures do increase with pred - but using drops in a timely manner reduces the pressure and reduces the risk of long term damage. Usually raised pressures fall as the pred dose reduces - so it is possible that they have been higher,
I don’t recall being told about high eye pressure, PMRpro; I was just warned that if I got unusual feelings in my eyes to get to A&E.
I was in the clinic 2.5 hours all together & had every conceivable test done. The consultant was extremely thorough. Two opticians in the past have said I have mild macular degeneration but this guy yesterday said my macular area was fine, as was my vision.
Hopefully the drops will help reduce the pressure and I am on my way to just 4mg Pred now, so hope is on the horizon.
I lost my specs in the UK so had a session with a Specsavers optician who had a panic about the thickness of my retina, or rather lack of it, and she sent me out with a letter for an emergency appointment with an opthalmologist. Nothing wrong he said, other than being very shortsighted so it is usual, Of course here the waiting times for eyes are months - and in the meantime I was quite worried for nothing.
are you not based in the uk then, PMRpro?
It’s astounding how someone can panic you for nothing. I had that with a certain GP. She had an awful way of delivering information.
Mine rose slightly on higher doses (GCA) but not enough to warrant any drops, by the time I was down to around 8 or 9mg they had returned to normal.
Mine are often high when I go to my regular eye checkups. An opthamologist gave me drops for glaucoma and the next time I went I saw a different more experienced opthamologist who said it wasn’t glaucoma but ocular hypertension. He measured my cornea and said they were thick so told me to stop using the drops. Other opthamologists have done other tests than the “puff test” and agree it is not glaucoma
I’m sorry for your eye problems, DadCue. We’re in the hands of the experts and as eyes are so precious, all we can do is do as we’re told.
The body - and our immune systems- are funny old things, DadCue. I’m sorry you have all that problem with your eyes. Hope the Pred works for you.
Absolutely. My glaucoma was well controlled by my eye drops until I started Prednisone. They the eye pressure went way up. Had to go on new eye drops 2x a day that are pretty expensive. Now that my Pred. dosage is coming down, so is my eye pressure. See eye doc tomorrow to retest.
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