Dry Eyes & Inflammation?

[Momto2girls]

We went to the eye doc this afternoon -- Gracie has been complaining of eye pain and needed her eye exam to start Kindergarten in the fall -- so I figured why not get it done and see what's going on?

Well, it turns out she has inflammation & dry eyes (or something like that?) that she said is caused by IBD. Honestly, I was like a deer in headlights. Usually I am ready and have a million question, but I was like "huh? what?" So I asked her if it could just be allergies, and she said no, she didn't have allergic eyes at all. So, I asked if a child her age without IBD would ever have this type of inflammation and she said, no, not without a systemic cause. So, I asked how inflammed? And she said moderate -- but in a not so good way -- as in "not mild but moderate." I did try to understand dry or inflammed but she made it sound like those things go hand in hand.

And then I just :ack: I didn't ask for an official name, for a written report, nothing. Gracie was crying on my lap, the drops she used with the tear pads hurt b/c she is so dry. So she gave us drops and sent us on our way.

Now I see everywhere that dry eyes/inflammation are EIM's of Crohn's.

Now what??

Does anyone else have this?? How is it treated?? I will call the GI tomorrow but I am just curious in the meantime. If her intestinal inflammation were under control would her eyes be better? Or will she always need drops (lord help me!) Does this mean her GI inflammation is getting worse? :ywow:

 

[Clash]

C has eye inflammation that appears when he is in a flare but his is just episcleritis and will usually resolve itself although he has drops if needed. There is also scleritis and uveitis which I think require medication to resolve.

 

[Farmwife]

My Grace has been checked for this and she doesn't have it YET but her doc wants her in every 6 months to get her eyes checked. I also forget the name. Did you cancel the MRE?

 

[Tesscorm]

I'm so sorry... sounds terrible for her! I don't have any advice but hope that it can be cleared up quickly! :ghug:

 

[my little penguin]

DS has eye inflammation but not associated with Ibd .
His is just mast cell related.
Hugs...
Not what you wanted to hear but hopefully this help guide the Gi to the right test to get her a dx.

 

[Momto2girls]

Thanks everyone. Gosh, I am kinda kicking myself b/c this was just an optometrist -- and while I think she's very good -- she's the neighborhood glasses gal. I didn't think anything like this would come up. I think her testing was accurate -- she had the yellow drops that turn you tears and snot yellow and collected tears and examined them with the light while the dye was in them and all of that.

But, now I am not sure she really knows what to do with the information. She said steriod drops but I wasn't sure about that b/c of her meds she's already on, so she said we could start with the regular drops and like I said I just kinda blanked. So I will have to call tomorrow to see if she has anything more for me to go on.

I wonder if we need an opthamologist?

And yes of course I cancelled the MRE TODAY! GAH! Not that it can't be rescheduled...and maybe we need a scope instead anyway?

 

[Momto2girls]

DS has eye inflammation but not associated with Ibd .
His is just mast cell related.
Hugs...
Not what you wanted to hear but hopefully this help guide the Gi to the right test to get her a dx.

How do you know it is mast cell and not IBD? Do you think this will point toward a diagnoses?

 

[my little penguin]

Yes to an opthamalogist especially a pediatric one since steriod drops
Need to be carefully monitored .
If you call ask to speak to the office's triage nurse then tell them what the optometrist said
Good asap

 

[my little penguin]

DS has limbal vernal keratoconjunctivitis which has occurs when the eosinophils accumulate in the limbal area of the eye. This happens when the mast cells are over excited per our doc.
DS has been placed on a long course of steriods for the next 6 months at least.
This type of disease is seen in atopic patients not crohn's patients.

If your eye doc saw uveitis or another eye disease only found in crohn's patient s that may help the Gi come up with a plan

 

[Momto2girls]

I wonder if the steriod drops are restasis? I didn't even get that far. OK, I do think I need a ped opthamologist. I will get this all sorted out tomorrow. I just need more info. I gotta call the GI back.

What can happen with eye inflammation?

 

[Farmwife]

Bad stuff can happen. Call the GI and pead. eye doc. Grace also sees a specialist.

 

[Clash]

It depends on the type it is, I think the eye EIMs have wiki entries to you can get some info there on uveitis and the others I believe. Oh I think another C's eye doc mentioned was iritis but I could be wrong on that one. C saw an opthalmologist that has several CD patients so he was familiar with it all and that made me feel more comfortable. I hope you get answers soon.

 

[my little penguin]

Loss of vision among other things
Get her to md ASAP.

http://www.medicinenet.com/script/main/mobileart.asp?articlekey=43327&page=8

RESTASIS® Ophthalmic Emulsion is a prescription medicine that helps increase your eyes’ natural ability to produce tears, which may be reduced by inflammation due to Chronic Dry Eye. RESTASIS® did not increase tear production in patients using anti-inflammatory eye drops or tear duct plugs.

From:
http://www.restasis.com/default.htm?x=Restasis

So not a steriod

 

[Momto2girls]

OK, ugh. Well, she's super teary tonight -- and warm. I don't know -- I think I am getting myself worked up.

 

[Sascot]

That's a shame, hope she feels better soon. Sorry I haven't really dealt with eye issues, so no advice. Definately worth seeing a paediatric opthalmologist.

 

[Momto2girls]

So I saw Gracie was up last night -- she ran downstairs to look for her teddy and then went right back to bed so I didn't get up. But this morning she said she thought she was going to throw up b/c her tummy hurt so bad.

I've got my calling list -- I'm just trying to wait until the eye doc opens to see what info I can get from them first.

 

[Catherine]

One of Sarah's friend has developed glucoma due to her eye inflammation.

Glad your seeing a specialist.

 

[Momto2girls]

So it turns out she has keratoconjunctivitis sicca. The simplest explanation I found is this:

Dry eye or keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS), is caused by a lack of vitamin A and can occur in patients with Crohn's disease. The symptoms are burning and itching eyes. It can lead to ulcers of the cornea if not treated. KCS is more serious and can lead to loss of vision as well.

The GI nurse called back and said the GI is very concerned. She made an emergency appointment with an Opthamologist at Children's Mercy on Monday afternoon.

Sooo...now we wait until Monday.

 

[CarolinAlaska]

What a nightmare. I hope the ophthalmologist can sort this all out and has a safe, effective treatment that works quickly. Hugs to both you and Gracie. Deep breaths, you're not alone and Gracie will be fine. <<<HUGS>>>>

 

[Momto2girls]

Thanks so much Carol!! I am just praying her eyes will be OK. And now I'm scared about what actually might be going on in her gut. The GI nurse said that Gracie's hasn't been diagnosed with Crohn's but if she's having this then they are going to have to get on it.

 

[CarolinAlaska]

That's right!

 

[my little penguin]

Hugs it will be ok.
They were able to fix up DS - all be it with optical steriods but they work.
Glad this is getting the Gi moving in the right direction .

 

[Momto2girls]

Thanks, MLP...I am kinda nervous about the chain reaction this might set off -- other tests, etc. But I guess I am hopeful too that we might get answers?

 

[dannysmom]

Thanks for sharing this. I hope you do get some answers and treatment!!!

Danny almost always has some sort of mild eye pain .. usually itch or burning. It has been a few years since we went to the opthamologist - and he said his eyes looked fine then. Makes me think "Hmmmm ..."

 

[Momto2girls]

Yes, I would recommend going! The thing that tipped me off was that Gracie's been complaining her eyes/head hurt every time she has to buckle her seat belt. Honestly, I was getting frustrated with have to buckle my almost 5 year old into the car every time! I thought how hard can this be!? And we needed an eye exam for kindergarten anyway, so we went. It turns out it is the extreme glances like looking all the way to the side and down to buckle while sitting in a booster that will cause the most pain with inflammation.

And seriously, who knew!? I was shocked!

 

[DanceMom]

A used to complain about her eyes hurting/burning. I finally took her to a Pediatric Opthamologist. He said she had very dry eyes and recommended I try drops for relief. I found some gel drops which were very soothing and used them several times a day for a few weeks. It helped, and we only have to use them occasionally now.

My mother and I have very dry eyes so I attributed A's problems more to genetics than GI issues. A few summers ago my eyes were so dry I tore my cornea. Ouch!