Fibromyalgia Community

You are way to young for your eyes to develop cataracts, right? I am 43 & often post here about my eye problems with fibro, but no cataracts. I have severe dryness & swolleness. I wasnt aware that meds could cause them. Would you seek a 2nd opinion?

I just cant believe that all of us here have an illness that is labeled-not progressive-then why do we look normal but everday there is another body part going to hell? I am so frustrated-I feel like no one listens. I need to post on the whine about docs not prescribing pain meds-im so sick of popping tons of pills that do NOTHING but make me dizzy & drowsy.

Sorry, JMC for going off on that tangent-I hope you get another opinion about your eyes. Hang in there & God Bless

Hi J---I don't know if it's Fibro related or not; however, I started a cataract last year, so says my eye doctor. One eye is cloudy and blurred and I see rainbow halos around anything bright. What a pain! I can't drive at night unless it's a familiar place, and even then I have to be careful. I am seriously annoyed by this because I'm only 43! My insurance doesn't cover eyes so I can't get a second opinion yet. Grrr....I'm not taking any meds so I can't blame them for it either. Perhaps Dr. P would know.

After 40 everything falls apart! And then, wait until you hit 50, geesh.

But seriously, people who spend a lot of time in the sun can develop cataracts early. That's why they say to wear glasses with UV protection every time we are outside. Could there be a relationship with sun exposure in your case?

Some medicines, especially ones with cortisone, can cause them. Even nasal cortisone spray for allergic rhinitis can do it. At least now there is surgery with high success rates.

Aging is rough, but at least we have more wisdom and stability to deal with the crumbling body parts!

Margaret

NeNe, Angelswife & xperky, thanks for replying,
Most of my past jobs and last fulltime job in 2008 I stayed indoors and havent gone outside that much when its warm here, its usually too humid. I dont take steriods of anykind, I had a bad reaction to prednisone in early 2008--made me sicker. I dont take any nasal sprays.
the only thing I've been taking since 2008 is Tramadol, Xanax and Lidoderm/lidocaine patches. I was on Vivelle dot/Estrogen for 10 years though, for surgical menopause.
Just cant understand why I would be developing cataracts in both eyes at my age!? and it is weird and scary to see halos around lights at night that no one else sees! I've had dry eyes for a few years besides bad nearsightedness/astigmatism. I just dont know...I'll try and find another Opthamologist and see if its the same diagnosis.

Hi JMC,

Your other post is here ; keep looking in for a response from Dr. Pellegrino.

I am 32 years old and just had cataract surgery in my left eye and have a cataract developing in my right eye. I have no family history of early onset cataracts or traumatic eye injury and was diagnosed with FMS in 2005. The cataracts started developing within 24 mos of my diagnosis.

Hi JMC, Linda R here and No I haven't had cataracts since being DX'd, that was 30 years ago. And in all those years I haven't heard of anyone who has gotten cataracts from having FMS. I know FMS plays with our vision now and again, as NeNe mentioned,but causing cataracts to grow, not so much. But I'm sure Dr. P. will pipe in on that.

As for me I got cataracts, so my eye surgeon says, from HEAD TRAMUA from a bad fall I took 3 years ago. He says that the head trauma is the second most accounted for reason that people get cataracts earlier than 65 years of age. =(

And when I fell I really fell hard. =( I fell at my daughter's house 3 years ago. I lost my footing and fell onto/ into a 2 inch plaster wall that was covering red brick. I banged my so head hard in fact that I felt my brain slam onto the right side of my skull and back again. It was bad. I dislocated my jaw, loosened 6 teeth and later lost two from nerve fracturE spent weeks and weeks getting tested by head and neck doctors, heart doctors, bone and joint doctors, and my eye doctor for anything that could have been damaged during the fall.

And before that fall my vision was 20 20 both eyes. And I have had the same eye doctor/ eye surgeon for over 12 years and went to him right after I fell and although he didn't see any damage from the fall right away He said I grew cataracts
=(( because of it.

My vision really got awfully bad in just months, Like from this past January to August. So much so that I got worried and went in to see my eye doctor months before I was supposed to to find out what was going on with my vision.

To my surprise he said I had to have the cataracts removed right away.. and he had just seem me in December.. he noted then that I had cataracts in both eyes but felt because they were so small they just needed to be watched.. so you can imagin my surprise at him saying they've got to be taken out. As the small ones he'd seen in January were three times as big now. they'd grown from 1's to nearly 4's in just 9 months. Yikes.

So now I'm 6 weeks out from the first surgery on the left eye.. and 4 weeks out from having the right eye done. I can see again, no halos, I can drive at night.. got my 20 20 back and am one happy camper.

If you feel or you eye doctor feels it's causing problems for you and you have insurance that will cover the surgery, by all means get the surgery done to get rid of the cataracts

Soft hugs going out your way.
Linda R.

Hi Linda R.
I sortve lost track of this post. I havent gotten the 2nd opinion yet but will get it done. I read this last comment and I havent had anykind of head trauma at all. I did have Dry eye diagnosis 4 years ago & skin around one eye is extremely dry and flaky, hurts to wear makeup. I did work as a Forestry Firefighter in my mid 20's, was out in the summer sunlight everyday for a month at a time and I'm nearsighted so just wear glasses(no sunglasses back then but have UV protected ones now). Otherwise have had office type jobs since then until I had no choice but to go on SSDI early last summer due to Fibromyalgia,IBS, Depression. Stopped working fulltime in 2008, parttime in 2009 & stopped then
.
Now I've got another new issue going on--my thyroid levels, especially the TSH has been going up steadily since last year, its now high so I've started Armour Thyroid today, I didnt have any reaction so far. I also had a Sonogram/Ultrasound on my thyroid because it hurts on one side and hurts to talk loud?? this is weird. Plus my overal pain level has been a 9 out of 10 this past week, not even tramadol helps--puts a dent in it but I'm hoping the thyroid medicine helps>>but is also confusing to take, like has to be on a empty stomach, no calcium, magnesium for 2 hours before or after?? plus I've got allegra to take but stopped taking, i'm out of focus with this pain so nothing makes sense.

Hi JMC.. sorry about the dry eyes. I've never had that. I do hope you get the second opinion and if you need to surgery and have coverage for it I'd suggest you get it. It's a cake walk of a surgery, takes 30 minutes in out and heading home. Recovery is a snap as well and your eye sight will return to normal in 4 weeks. You can see 20 20 the next day.

Let us know how it goes..
Soft hugs going out to you,
Linda R.

I've had vision problems since getting new lens on my right eye last year. I though, wrong prescription. Turns out a fast growing cataract. I suspected it was related to my fibro and glad to see others have confirmed that. I was having the halo's, light sens, I had a knee replacement at 47 and the other needs replacing. Now at 59 it's cataract surgery. I get good relief for my fibro from glucosamine and chondroitin that I started taking for the knee over 15 yrs ago and found it helped. If you visit my gardening blog and GRIT magazine blog, you see how busy I stay.