Eye problems

[Paul9]

Hi, I have had PsA for a few years now, and have progressed through a number of treatments such as Mtx (oral and injection), sulfalazine, Enbrel, symponi and now Stelera. I have had bad reactions to these, and I seem to be allergic to most of them.

Over the last 6 months I have developed painful eyes, with eye lids which are swollen, lack of peripheral vision and sensitivity to light.

I have seen an ophthalmologist who has says I either have iritis or euvitis. I have had an MRI today on my eyes, and will see the specialist again soon..

When I saw the ophthalmologist he informed me that a number of people with auto immune diseases, including PsA are prone to these problems.

I was wondering if any other forum members have had similar problems, and how the symptoms have progressed.

Paul

[Caroline]

Hi Paul,

No I don't have similar problems, nor do I know that someone has.

But I know that there are a lot of comorbidities connected to auto immune diseases like psoriasis. That is, that there are much other things you become vulnerable of when you have psoriasis.
E.g. Since short I now know that the Achilles problems I had long ago, probably were the first sign of my PSA.

Why?
My simple brain says that it must be because we as psoriasis sufferers always have a higher inflammation rate in our bodies than others. This subseptability to inflammations is likely to be the cause of other problems. For instance if it also would work on your muscles, and I think it is, than it also may have a link to your heart. And I once read somewhere that psoriasis patients have a higher change on heart fibrillation.

So, concluding it may well be that your eye problems do have a relation to your psoriasis.

On the other side, if you fight the inflammations, by means of biologicals and/or DMF (had to mention it ) than this comorbidity should go down again. It is even said that by using this drugs your chance of getting cancer is going down.

Hope someone will come back with more relevant information for you.

Cheers,
Caroline.

[Paul9]

Hi Paul,

No I don't have similar problems, nor do I know that someone has.

But I know that there are a lot of comorbidities connected to auto immune diseases like psoriasis. That is, that there are much other things you become vulnerable of when you have psoriasis.
E.g. Since short I now know that the Achilles problems I had long ago, probably were the first sign of my PSA.

Why?
My simple brain says that it must be because we as psoriasis sufferers always have a higher inflammation rate in our bodies than others. This subseptability to inflammations is likely to be the cause of other problems. For instance if it also would work on your muscles, and I think it is, than it also may have a link to your heart.  And I once read somewhere that psoriasis patients have a higher change on heart fibrillation.

So, concluding it may well be that your eye problems do have a relation to your psoriasis.

On the other side, if you fight the inflammations, by means of biologicals and/or DMF (had to mention it   ) than this comorbidity should go down again. It is even said that by using this drugs your chance of getting cancer is going down.

Hope someone will come back with more relevant information for you.

Cheers,
Caroline.

Hi Caroline,
Thanks for the feedback. In my naivety I used to think of PsA as a stand alone illness, but the longer I have had it the more I too have found that there are many related conditions that one is more suscepable to suffering from.

Regards,

Paul

[Fred]

Hello Paul, good to see you again.

Sorry but I have never experienced what you are describing. Like Caroline said, there are lot of comorbidities linked to psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, but I don't recall anything.

I'll move this from introductions to Psoriasis And Psoriatic Arthritis Topics as it may get more answers there and you have been with us for two years now, so we know who you are.  

I hope your get some answers, and please do keep us updated as it could help for future reference.

Regards.

Fred.

[jiml]

It's not something I have heard of before Paul but it sounds very worrying for you I hope you can get some answers and there is a treatment available that that can treat it for you,

Maybe someone here has had the problem and found an answer but i don't recall reading about it

Good luck and I hope the scans will have some answers for you, so you can begin to look for treatments

[Connor93]

I've had very similar  problems with my eyes due to psoriasis. The only thing that worked for me was treating it a few times daily with jojoba oil. I spray some on a face wipe and gently wipe it around my eyes being careful to not get any in them because it'll make your vision blurry for awhile. You can find in at most health food stores and online.

[OneBigItch]

I have suffered with iritis for over 20 years and apparently there is a small link with psoriasis and iritis.

However if you do keep getting iritis I would ask for a blood test to check if you are positive for the hla-b27 gene. Being positive for this gene means you are more susceptible to recurrent iritis.

I hope this helps.

---

EDIT By Fred: As mentioned in the post below.

[OneBigItch]

Sort it won't let me edit my last post. The gene should be hla-b27

[jiml]

Sort it won't let me edit my last post. The gene should be hla-b27

No it's unfortunate but there is just 5 minutes to edit posts ...but as it's important I'm sure Fred will do an edit for you

[Fred]

Sort it won't let me edit my last post. The gene should be hla-b27

I have made an edit to the post for you. Please let me know if it is not what you wanted.

Sorry for the edit time limit, but it's to stop spammers coming back later and changing old posts. You can always ask for edits if you have gone past the time limit.

Fred.