Anyone ever been prescribed oral steroids/Prednisolone?

[faithlies]

I started taking 10mg per day Prednisolone (a steroid) yesterday for an unrelated matter to my eyes.

My eyes have been quite good for the past week and I've been wearing my lenses everyday. They have been pretty clear except for the odd display of redness usually in the morning after putting my lenses in. I have been using a distilled water spray on my eyes during the day and evenings, every half hour to hour and the odd couple of drops of saline if a lens gets a bit uncomfortable, but nothing really out of the ordinary.

The weird thing is, my eyes feel better with my lenses in, they are red right after I remove them at night and feel a bit sticky and crusty in the mornings.

But, I'm happy that they're doing well in lenses and I'm going to report back to my optician on Saturday to see if he has any more ideas.

Anyway, I started taking the Prednisolone yesterday, and I know it works quickly from taking it before.

Today my eyes have felt completely normal for the first time in three months. No saline, no sprays.

I've looked into the use of Prednisolone in dry eye cases, it seems that it is fairly widely used for people with dry eye and other eye problems.

Could I really have hit upon something here? My eyelids seem less puffy (my optician said I had some blocked meibomian glands).

I can honestly say sitting here this is the best they've felt in three months and I'm just so happy

[NYer]

It's an anti-inflammitory and a strong one at that - that's why your eyes feel better. But you can only take it for a very limited time and the effect is not permanent.

[Rojzen]

serves as a clue

faithlies - - This positive response in your eyes can serve as a useful clue to the causes of your symptoms (if not the cause of the dry eye syndrome itself). . .As NYer points out, reducing inflammation seems to be key to helping you, confirming either that some ocular-surface-regulating organ is inflamed (tear glands, meibomian glands, corneal epithelium, etc.) OR that some nerve track that affects the way your eyes feel is inflamed. . .I mention the later because in the likely event that you will have to stop the systemic steroid, at some point, you may be able to attack the eye inflammation by other means. . .As I mentioned in another post today, sometimes altering neurological response can work wonders with inflamed or overstimulated nerves. . .(I did that via a very low dose of tricyclic antidepressant for a few years). . .

In any case, direct treatment of the processes that affect corneal integrity and tear film stability may also reduce inflammation. . .At least that's worth a try. . .For me and many, strengthening both of these by using high-oncotic pressure eye drops (like Dwelle) got rid of rawness and burning pain in my eyes. . .I'm not sure I had inflammation when I started that approach, but probably there was some that has now quieted. . .

So even if inflammation is the symtom trigger, there are ways to treat that without necessarily depending on steroids. . .

[faithlies]

I completely understand that this probably won't be a permanent fix, I have two-weeks worth of the meds, though 10mg isn't a hugely high dose if I have to take it for a bit longer than that -- these steroids are sometimes a life saver to me when I get sick (this is only the third time I've ever taken them in my life).

My optician says I have some (not all) blocked Meibomian glands.

I must admit I've been lax on the hot compresses over the past week as my eyes have felt so much better over the past week (I only started taking the Pred. yesterday).

I will start doing them again religiously now, I'm also going to dig out my facial steamer which is sitting in a cupboard in my other house, which I think will also help.

Plus I've got some material and I'll be making a rice baggie on the weekend, good excuse to get the sewing machine out

[liz56]

Hi, faithlies.

I was on prednisone (20mg) for six days in October 2007, due to some kind of allergic reaction. It did not help with my eyes that I noticed. Maybe after a week, I would have noticed something. I did make it through that time without an erosion, but I think I was on a lucky streak.

Like Rojzen says that fighting inflammation seems to work for you. Maybe cold compresses will help you?

Glad to hear that it is working for you. Maybe it will have a long-term effect even if it is just being used for a short time. I hope so.

--Liz

[faithlies]

Thanks Liz.

I'm quite well up on meds and I'll be speaking to my best friend tomorrow who is a nurse who is an absolute whizz on drug therapies.

I certainly do hope that this could have a long term benefit post medication, but I can only keep my fingers crossed for that.

Cold compresses I might try, some nights after I take my lenses out I have a strange urge to put cold teaspoons on each eyelid -- I might actually do it tonight!!!!

I can't understand why my eyes are good while my lenses are in but go downhill within seconds when I take them out. They burn and go red, then in the morning they are a little crusty.

Optician says I had become allergic to my all in one solution (it makes sense, looking back I've been having probs with lenses in since January while using that solution but not in the 8 years prior to that, and switching to a peroxide solution has been the key to getting me back in lenses.)

I can only surmise that the lenses are having some sort of bandage effect while I am wearing them? However, I have no corneal staining when checked out by my optician last Saturday.

I'm stumped anyway, but it's gone from me putting my lenses in and my eyes going bloodshot immediately, to only having clear/comfortable eyes with them in.

Ho hum. Will call on optician's judgement on the weekend

[Lucy]

I've been on Prednisone for a year and half now on 5 mg daily. It has made no difference in my eyes. I'm on the pred for Sjogrens Syndrome and hate being on it this long. It's not something wants to take for a long time, but only for serious conditions that can't be controlled by other means. If you stop it after taking it for some time, it must be tapered carefully. For example, I would go from 5 mg daily to 4 mg daily for a month and see if I did ok on that dosage. If I was feeling ok, I'd lower it to 3 mg for a month, etc.

It can cause bone loss, weight gain, insomnia etc. etc. Lots of nasties.

Lucy

[skygoddess]

Hi,
I have taken prednisone in the past for allergic reactions.
Maybe your eye problems are some sort of allergic reaction?
Not necessarily to something you ingested internally, but a contact allergy. You touch something then touch your eyes.
It took me about a year to realize I was allergic to nail polish.
I have read that the nickle in keys adversely affects many also.
Could your contacts be protecting your eyes from exposure to an allergen?
I am heading to my Dermatologist tomorrow for some testing to see if there are other things I am unaware I am allergic to.

[kitty]

I took a Medrol Dose Pak for 5 days. It is a steroid. It did nothing for my eyes.