Gca n eye sight lose
Posted , 11 users are following.
Has anyone with gca lost their eye sight gradually or all at once? Curious cauae my eyesight has been lost a little on the side im having gca symptoms.
0 likes, 13 replies
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Notes on Gca n eye sight lose
margaret22251 david34720
Posted
from what you have said you need to go the hospital asap.
david34720 margaret22251
Posted
was at emerg last night, doc tried saying it was tmj but i didnt have this vien but i had the swollen temper and all other symptoms. i had a bad virus and this is left overs i guess. did you get eye sight back?
david34720 margaret22251
Posted
i am 42 so they keep pawning off i am to young garbble, did you have vien like that and lump, and did tension start whenever your active like walking n stuff?
stanley36717 david34720
Posted
At the age of 71 I was having severe leg pain and could not even roll over in bed. I had a very high sed rate, had night sweats and was low on iron. When I was finally diagnosed me with PMR they put me on 20 mg of prednisone and the pain was completely gone overnight. Then the question of GCA came up and the Dr sent me in for a temporal bioposy. It came back negative for GCA which was huge because it can cause blindness I was told. It turned out to be a false negative. A couple months later I had some clouding in my left eye. I went to the eye Dr and he couldn't see anything wrong but he sent me to another eye Dr that looked at the optic nerve and could see inflamation. He put me on a 4-5 day doseage of 100 mg of prednisone which stopped the advance of the disease. I lost the inner vision in my left eye and never got it back. The dr said I when I was diagnosed with PMR I should have been put on a high dose of prednisone right then. Who knows.
david34720 stanley36717
Posted
thanks for the reply, sorry for your eyesight loss but you are blessed at least your ok . did you have head pressure anything you tried to be active? my blood tests have back normal, but i read thats normal in alot to cases especially if youre under 50..i had seen one young doc who told me sounds like this but was afraid to give me such a high dose. the vein freaked me out cause out of nowhere goes from top of head down in front of my temple on an angle behind my ear, and this on the side thats swollen. I am extremely fatigued to do anything, and do have some jaw discomfort, cracking and and pressure around that eye. what type of eye doctor did you see by chance and what type of side effects have you had from such high dose of pred? kind of intimidated of what that will do to me
stanley36717 david34720
Posted
Both the Doctors were Ophthalmologist's but one had the equipment to check the retina and optic nerve. I don't understand the risks of prednisone. It's just an anti-inflamatory. In my case, being a long time user, I've gained around 20 lbs. and have the round face it causes. But, except for losing some vision (I still have good peripheral vision) I can still see. At my age it's a good trade off.
EileenH david34720
Posted
The high doses are only used for GCA for the pure and simple reason that it can cause loss of sight. No side effect of pred is worse than that and since it is the only option at the start there is no choice.
As Stanley says - the benefits greatly outweigh the disadvantages IMHO.
rich38490 stanley36717
Posted
Best wishes to you both.
stanley36717 david34720
Posted
Yes, you need high doses of prednisone. Maybe 100 mg for 4-5 days. That's what they did for me after I lost some eyesight.
david34720 stanley36717
Posted
did you get your eye sight back, mine has been this way for a couple weeks and tension headaches have started 2 months ago only happening when active to finally everyday now with other lovely symptoms
kathy61958 david34720
Posted
hi, David
I have GCA and PMR. The vision in my left eye dimmed dramatically so I called my Rheumatologist. He instructed me to go to the emergency room immediately where they have me an IV dose of steroid. From there, I was sent to see an opthamologist.
He looked at my optic nerve and found it was being pressed on by the inflamed temporal artery. Within a short period of time, the IV steroid I'd received calmed the inflammation and my vision was restored to normal.
The key to GCA, is being pro active. if you notice any vision change, call your doctor immediately. it's dangerous and life threatening.
good luck to you!
Kathy
david34720 kathy61958
Posted
no blood tests? they just gave you they meds?
EileenH david34720
Posted
That would be standard practice in the presence of appropriate symptoms including noticeable visual loss. High dose pred is given to reduce the risk of total loss of sight IF there is reasonable suspicion of GCA and then investigations are undertaken to rule other potential causes in or out. That includes MRIs etc.
But this WON'T be done without evidence of loss of vision.