Medications for Temporal Arteritis/Giant Cell Arteritis (GCA)

I’d really rather err on the side of caution than to worry about eyesight loss. It might be nothing more than very dry eyes but this warrants a quick trip to even your optometrist, if you can’t get an ophthalmology appt.
Anything that creates even a smidgey of worry is your internal alarm going off. Your eyesight is too valuable to lose. ☺️

I found an interesting article from AARP about different eye conditions. Hopefully you’ll find some useful information. https://www.aarp.org/health/conditions-treatments/info-2020/vision-problems-solutions.html

You mentioned that your vision has been deteriorating since your diagnosis. Was your doctor aware of this symptom too?

My Rheumatologist seemed unworried and unimpressed about my vision, as did my eye doctor. My eyedoctor said I do have cataracts, but they were not "ripe" yet. That was in May. Maybe they ripened in 7 months? I don't know. I mentioned to my eye doctor that I have PMR, and he said that doesn't mean anything, and never checked it out. I think with all the Holiday stuff going on, I will have to put it off for now. Not sure I could get in to see anybody. Thank you for all your information.

I have GCA, since the beginning of 2020. Treatment is prednisone. I am trying to taper with methotrexate.
GCA can be very serious if it affects your eyes so listen to your body.

If you have any Sudden changes in vision usually your optometrist would be able to get you in pretty quickly on an emergency appointment or an emergency dept at the hosptial.
Frankly I’m a little surprised that your eye doctor didn’t take into account that you have PMR. About 50 percent of people with Giant Cell Arteritis had PMR first.
Just so that you keep in it in mind and don’t let any sudden symptoms slip past you. Both my mother-in-law and my mom had PMR and GCA. Started first with PMR. My mom’s eye doctor caught her symptoms early and she recovered fully.
My mil wasn’t so fortunate. She ignored the symptoms when vision suddenly changed in one eye and it became permanent. Just giving you a nudge. 😉
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/polymyalgia-
rheumatica/diagnosis-treatment/drc-20376545
https://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/giant-cell-arteritis/symptoms-causes/syc-20372758

@floridabonnie I’ve been on prednisone for several years and i just had cataract surgery. In July my doctor also said they weren’t ripe yet, but 2 months later, and lots of complaining from me, he said they were ready to go. I chose to wait even longer, but my vision was terrible! The surgery wasn’t bad at all. Ask your rheumatologist if you need to “stress” dose your prednisone before surgery. I had to.
Can you call your ophthalmologist this week?

I was diagnosed with PMR this last September. And it seems like my vision has gotten noticeably worse also. I've been told the same thing as you regarding my cataracts. Not ready yet. But I'm wondering if the prednisone is affecting my vision now. I mentioned this to my rheumatologist at my visit two weeks ago. He also was unimpressed, and seemed to indicate that the vision loss is a sudden thing that occurs and made a gesture of slapping his hand to his eye. I assume he was saying it's a dramatic occurence rather than a subtle one. However he told me to go and get an eye exam asap and then get one once a year. My last eye exam was this March, but he still wanted me to go now.

@aspine Yes, prednisone has a definite affect on vision! Find a n good opthamologist for a vision exam and discussion. Your eye health is important!

Prednisone and Actemra.

Good morning @marilynredder2367 . Can you tell me a little more about your posting? Are you on these drugs for Giant Cell Arteritis? Are they causing you some side effects ? How can i help you?

No side effects. I was just answering a question. Don’t need any help right now.