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Hello, my name is Pam and I joined your list last weekend. I've been

looking for a good alternative medicine group and found this. Lucky! :-)

 

Anyway, I'm looking for alternative treatment for mild uveitis. I've had

this off and on since '89, got put on steroid drops temporarily once it

was diagnosed back in '92, and I haven't had a serious flareup since

'95. I still have mild attacks off and on, and those are seasonal --

usually around March then again in the fall. The symptoms are classic:

redness, tearing, blurry vision, light sensitivity, although the attacks

are not as acute as they were ten years ago. I've been through the usual

tests for autoimmune diseases...RA, sarcoidosis, lupus, sickle cell,

diabetes, etc. Every test comes back clean so my optho still doesn't

know what causes the uveitis and has suggested that my case is

idiopathic.

Since then I've been experimenting with herbal remedies and found that

ginger helps tremendously. I take two caps twice a day at the first

signs of flareup, and my symptoms disappear within day of dosage. No

redness, no tearing, no pain. I'm also taking bilberry for general eye

health, but isn't there something els I can use? I've been doing some

research on antioxidents and vitamin supplements as treatment for

uveitis, but I'm getting the old " don't do that " from people who have

the disease. It is suggested that I ask my optho for more radical and

aggressive treatment such as immunosuppressants (methotrexate and

Cellcept come up in conversation frequently). I don't want to go that

route; the thought of using such drugs scares me so.

Is there anything I should do for my eyes? I've totally banned aspartame

from my diet years ago as I've concluded that it was years of consuming

aspartame-sweetened tea and soda that aggravated the uveitis. I never

had problems with my eyes before, and after some

backtracking of my dietary habits over the years, I suspect the

aspartame triggered something and possibly upset my immune system.

 

Thanks for any suggestions you can give me.