Optic Neuritis

[Kimberly]

Hello all. This summer has been absolutely brutal for me with my MS. I started my 3rd round of steroid IV infusions in less than 2 months this morning. I was diagnosed with Optic Neuritis 2 days ago, hence round three, I REALLY try to stay very positive but it's getting tough. Anyway I digress. Has anyone else experienced the Optic Neuritis? How long did it take for it to resolve for you? Did you recover your full vision and color perception?

Kimberly
http://myjourneywithms-kimberly.blogspot.com/

[ScottK]

Hi Kimberly,

Optic Neuritis was my first attack, and it scared the you-know-what out of me. I woke-up from a nap, and half my field of view was gone. It took over 6 months from when the vision went to when I got my official diagnoses of MS.

I never took any steroids for it. My vision did come back, but it took about 3 months to regain the total field of view. However, I do wear glasses at this point. Somedays my vision seems a bit worse than others, I think it is my direct indicator of my stress level.

Hang in there, and try to keep your spirits up, we will be cheering for you!

[Kimberly]

Scott,
Thanks for the reply. I was diagnosed several years ago and have had problems off and on with the eye. However, this is the first time I've had a diagnosis of Optic Neuritis. Which leads me to believe this isn't he first go around with it. Merely the worst. This is the thirsd round of IV steroid in less than two months. So I'm hanging in there!
Kimberly

http://myjourneywithms-kimberly.blogspot.com/

[ActiveMSers]

For me, ON wasn't very sudden. Sort of a, That's odd, I can't see that well. Hmm, and colors don't look that sharp. And, Is that a red light or a green light? The eye doc tested me at 20/40 in one eye, 20/30 in the other with corrective lenses. In fact, he had to check the work of his assistant because he thought he could get it closer to 20/20 than she could. But he was wrong.

A year and a half later, vision is better, but not perfect. Probably 20/30. Color is 90% back to normal, too, and night driving is much easier. But when I exercise, the eyesight still goes to hell!

Hope your MS medication does its thing so you can avoid the every three week steroid treatment. Hang in there!

[Kimberly]

Dave,
Mine started with problems with my field of vison. I thought I had something on my glasses. Didn't. Then I noticed I could read the closed captioning on the TV (a requirement when your deaf)! Then the pain started. This was over about a months period of time. (Even the previous two rounds of steroids didn't stop it from coming on). Today is day 4 in round 3 of the steroids. I don't see any improvement yet. I'm hoping it will improve over the next few weeks. I'm hanging in there. Just stumbled over another pebble during the journey!

Kimberly
http://myjourneywithms-kimberly.blogspot.com/

[Twilightsign]

with me things from far away started getting blurry then i got double vision. after getting put on steroids my vision went back to normal fast.

i've also noticed that my visions starts going crazy after i excercise or when i'm stressed out though not nearly as bad as the first time

Doug

[txhollyann]

The joys of ON...

Kimberly,

My ON was how I got dx'd with MS as well. I gradually lost my vision over about a month.. I had lasik about 2 years prior and experienced halo-vision every now and then, so did not think anything of it. Finally went to doc when my best friend/doc told me to when I lost complete vision & no color distinguishing ability! LOL I had pain in that eye as well, right "behind" the eye and along that side of my head above my ear. My neuro also told me I had ataxia during that time - total loss of depth perception & could not drive for about a month and walked around "drunk" for that amount of time as well... It took about 3 months, but got 96% of vision back and most of my color perception. I'm still testing at 20/20 now but have to go to my opthamalogist every year for the vision-field test...

Now, I can tell when my body is over-heated and/or over-worked because my vision field will narrow in that eye. It was the steroids that brought it back for me... 5 days IV & 2 weeks of oral afterwards as well...

Good luck! It'll get better and it might become a MS "monitor" for you like it did for me!

[QuasiMondo]

My dx came with a bout of ON. Woke up one morning and couldn't see out of one eye. It got worse within a week, and it took two months to clear up. My vision's pretty much restored now, though I did have to switch to a slightly stronger prescription in that eye for my glasses. I was never placed on steroids for it, either.