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DiscussionStill Struggling with that last mile on the path to 0 mg
Polymyalgia Rheumatica (PMR) | Last Active: Aug 21 5:29pm | Replies (28)Comment receiving replies
Replies to "Oh yeah, I forgot about the cataracts that were found at the same time as the..."
Age related deterioration is usually blamed more than either our autoimmune disorders or prednisone.
I wasn't very old and I didn't have PMR yet when I had a rapid onset of cataracts which progressed very quickly. The only thing to blame was prednisone but uveitis shared some of the blame for my left eye. I never had uveitis in my right eye until much later and it was a mild flare.
Fortunately the cataracts didn't progress at the same rate in both eyes. I couldn't see anything with my left eye when I had cataract surgery. A year later my right eye followed along and I had cataract surgery on my right eye.
Glaucoma only happened when I took Prednisone. It was called Prednisone induced intraocular hypertension but that can lead to Prednisone induced glaucoma.
https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC5577123/#:~:text=Among%20the%20ocular%20side%20effects,resulting%20in%20steroid%2Dinduced%20glaucoma.
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Fortunately my ophthalmologist stayed on top of the ocular hypertension. I didn't have any symptoms of high intraocular pressures except for one time it felt like my eye was going to explode.
My blood pressure registered as high as 210/110 when I was on Prednisone. No explanation for my high blood pressure readings but it was belatedly treated with three blood pressure medications. The treatment came after left ventricular hypertrophy and cardiac arrhythmias were detected on a routine EKG done because of exercise intolerance.
Now I'm off Prednisone and I don't seem to need any blood pressure medications anymore.