Wednesday, June 27, 2012

The Blepharitis is Back

Photo Source
Well, it actually never really left.  But I had a period since mid April where the symptoms seemed to have partially subsided.  My eyelids were not visibly red or puffy and the symptoms were not particularly bothersome.  So I got a little lazy and gradually stopped doing my daily morning and evening hot eye soaks and cleansing routine regularly (earlier post on Sjogren's and Belpharitis).  I know I know -- just because there is some improvement does not mean to stop the routine that helps keep it under control.  What a bad patient I can be.  Subconsciously, I was hoping that the previous 8 months of pretty continuous uncomfortable blepharitis might have vanished.  And I do get frustrated with how long my going to bed eye and medicine routines take so I guess that I just started to slack a little bit.

Yesterday, my right eye was feeling more light sensitive than usual and my eyelid also felt numb (this is often an indication for me).  And this morning when I woke up the lower and upper lids were back to being red, swollen, and achy.  So starting today I am back on my blepharitis control routine.

When I went the eye doctor in May, she gave me a new medication regimen to try for when the blepharitis was particularly symptomatic.  At the time, she saw more inflammation in my left eye than my right, but I wasn't experiencing symptoms so we decided to wait before using it.  Now, I am going to need to start the treatment.

I was prescribed Lotemax steroid opthalmic drops for 10 weeks -- 4 x a day for 2 weeks, 3 x a day for 2 weeks, 2 x a day for 2 weeks, and 1 x a day for 4 weeks.  I had used Lotemax ointment in the past for blepharitis, but only for 2 weeks at a time and each time the symptoms came back almost immediately once I stopped taking it.  With this new routine, I will be tapering the drops similar to what is done with oral steroids to prevent rebound.  I will also have to get my eye pressure checked because steroid drops can cause an increase in intraocular pressure, which can lead to super serious eye complications.

Lesson learned for today.  When something improves, don't stop the routine that helped!
at 2:57 PM
Labels: ,

2 comments:

  1. SuzyJuly 10, 2012 at 11:45 AM

    Doesn't sound to me like you are a bad patient. Don't call yourself that. Sounds to me like your tired having to take so many meds and I can relate to that. No I don't have prescription eye drops (yet, I have over the counter ones and we aren't counting those are we. NO). But I have enough other stuff to make up for them. I have Mixed Connective Tissue Disease and a Host of Other things. I hope you feel better soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AutoimmuneGalJuly 11, 2012 at 12:24 AM

      Suzy,

      Thanks for your comment. I appreciate your support and I promise that I was being a bit playful in calling myself a "bad patient". Yes, it is definitely a challenge to have many medications to manage just as it is to manage doctors appointments and all that comes with having an autoimmune disease. I see that you have a blog too and I look forward to reading it.

      Delete

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)