Iritis? (Inflammation of the eye)

I woke up this morning with my eye tearing severely and barely able to open it. I saw my eye doc a few hours later and was diagnosed with iritis which is inflammation of the iris. It is severely painful, I am sensitive to light, and it burns. He put numbing drops in which helped right away but of course they wore off. I have steroid drops and they seem to be helping a little already.

 

My question is if anyone has experienced this with withdrawal? The doc said it's inflammation from an "unknown cause" although in my case he "thinks" it could be from my contacts. However, I have been sleeping in them for 5+ years and never had an issue. They are also the ones that say you can safely sleep in them. And, I recently made a cut in my taper. Anyone experience this?

I've had extremely dry, painful, and ultra-sensitive eyes all through withdrawal.  To the point where I went to the eye doctor three times last year, while only going to my regular doctor once for a check up.  But my eyes have always been sensitive.  I have a theory that withdrawal often hits us at our "weakest point," and maybe that's what it was.  I was so worried I convinced myself I was going blind at one point, but my eyesight is nearly perfect and all they diagnosed me with was "dry eye."

 

Now, I'm tapering citalopram and it's happening again.    Oh, well.....

 

If you haven't had this problem with your eyes before, don't worry, you will heal.

 

Hi Jazzy,

I had exactly the same thing during my taper.  It all went away with antibiotic and steroid drops.  Very painful though.  Funny thing is , I woke up with the start of it again this morning, I think the dry winter air may get it started.

 

Ringo

Thank you for your replies. This has never happened before and the first thing the doc asked after that was if I had an autoimmune disorder. I guess it is common in people with them. I also haven't eaten any gluten for two weeks and yesterday had some for the first time, but only a little. Who knows why I have this, a lot of the time they say it is unknown. I just hope it goes away and doesn't come back! Thanks again for your replies