Optic Neuritis/Migraines - Should I just accept the doctors don't know?

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3 years ago I had my first bout of optic Neuritis and lost most of the vision in my left eye. After a 2nd bout about a year later my optic nerve is permenantly damaged and I'll never get 100% of my vision back.

In January this year I started getting horrible migraines, but after 2 MRI scans and a Lumbar Puncture they have ruled out MS and can't give me an explanation.

I'm not content to think this just 'happened' without an underlying cause.

Should I worry? Any ideas what could have caused the problem? What can I do now? Should they have tested for anything other than MS?
I would suggest doing your own research and trying to find doctors or centers which might have expertise in this area. Often, patients go to numerous doctors who are unable to diagnose them, but often by researching their own symptoms and seeking out specialists they can get an accurate diagnosis. Doctors say there is no underlying cause because they are not aware of what you have and not because they necessarily isn't one. I would suggest going to a different hospital and seeing different doctors and making calls to various centers to see if you can find someone who will have more information and might be able to get you a more detailed diagnosis.  (+ info)

Optic neuritis and MS?

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I went to an opthamologist today because I was having blurry vision in one eye and she told me I have optic neuritis. She said that about half of the people who get this get it because they have MS. I have scheduled an MRI but it is over a week away. I am 26 years old and am otherwise healthy. My father was diagnosed with MS when he was 24 and is currently on hospice at 52 years old. I was under the impression that MS was not hereditary. Was I wrong? Did lightning, so to speak, strike twice, or am I more prone to MS because my dad has it? I just had a daughter and now I am terrified not only for myself but for my daughter as well. I don't know yet if I actually have it, but I can't seem to be optimistic about it given the circumstances. Does anyone have any facts they could share with me about this?
Optic Neuritis is the most frequently presenting symptoms of multiple sclerosis, although there are other causes. It is the most common symptom at onset of MS. The majority of all cases of ON, MS-related or not, are caused by demyelination.
Studies indicate that more than 50% of patients will convert to Multiple Sclerosis within 15 years.

New studies shed some interesting light on the hereditary aspect of MS development, demonstrating that men with multiple sclerosis "pass" the disease onto their children 2.2 times more often than women.  (+ info)

Mystery illness!Optic neuritis,gastritis,reflux,dizziness?

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I had a mystery illness 5 years ago. Drs really can't give an answer as it what it was.Just wondering if anyone had had similar or had any thoughts.
It went like this: June.violent stomach bug. 1 week later had chest pain so bad i thought I was having a heart attack. Tests ruled out heart. Dr said reflux and gave me pills. Pain stopped but I felt weak and shaky and achy, with some dizziness and morning nausea. Had palpitations (probably stress) and a deep ache in my left thigh muscle which lasted 6 weeks,plus pain along my left collarbone to tip of shoulder again for about 6 weeks. Drs kept saying it was 'stress'. For the first time in my life I was signed off work.
Got a very globus/contricted sensation in my throat (this probably WAS stress) which lasted 3 months. Eventually vanished and I began to feel a tiny bit better. then (this is November now) I noticed a small grey spot in one eye. A week later I went into a bright shop and it was like a camera flash had gone off in my eyes,whiting everything out. From there my vision went all frazzled and I began to lose light perception and colour vision. I went to hosital and they diagnosed. optic neuritis in BOTH eyes. They thought I had a brain tumour but an mri ruled it out. Their next guesses were fluid on the brain or multiple sclerosis--again the mri and a lumbar puncture ruled it out.
At the same time, I had the chest pains again despite taking the meds, though this time they were less severe but lasted days (the drs still said stomach acid inflaming the esophagus.)
Over the next few weeks my vision return to normal and I began to feel better generally. i changed my stomach pills to something else and had no more pain.
However over the next while I had other symptoms,such as dizziness when turning my head which lasted about 2 months each episode,although I felt much better in myself.
I had another brain scan and follow up tests just to rule out MS recently, and i have been totally discharged. I am not quite the healthy person I once was though.
Other notes: about a year before this started I had been in Europe on holiday. On the way back I had flu-like synptoms that were severe but didn't develope into anything. A month later my ankle swelled and I had a funny depressed mark on it. I went to the dr and they just seemed to think it was veins swelling but I've never had that before or since! Iremember having about 6 weeks after where I felt 'not quite right'-shaky, flushed,achy. Told myself it was stress at the time. Wondering now if it could have been a tick bite or something?
Your long story help me to understand your condition.
But i will answer shortly.

Your heart is weaker than other organs, which means
1. marginal circulation is not enough -> heart trouble and discharge
and eye trouble.
2. and reflux often recurs.-> you get stomach trouble when you are
stressed.

And your liver is also weak.

You can improve and treat these symptoms with herbal prescription.
You can read treatment cases in below source.  (+ info)

Does this sound like Optic Neuritis?

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i have been having pains behind my right eye for 3 months now, sometimes it feels like a knife is stabbing it. there is also alot pressure. i haven't lost any of my vision though.
Not classically, but have an ophthalmologist check your optic nerve head through a retinascope. Optic neuritis is easy to diagnose that way.He'll also do an intraocular pressure test for glaucoma.  (+ info)

Could this be Optic Neuritis?

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Is it possible to get optic neuritis and not have vision loss at the same time as the pain?

A couple weeks ago, I did lose vision in my left eye. It was like a curtain fell over my eye. It only lasted a few minutes, and I did have a bit of a headache but my eye itself did not hurt.

Today, it hurts to move my RIGHT eye. It is like a pressure behind the eye. Moving my eye hurts, and is giving me a headache.

There is no swelling that I have noticed.

My left eyelid does droop a little more than my right eyelid for some reason.

I have an apt to see a neurologist, but not until June

Help?
Um, it sounds like to me that you may have a retinal tear. The "curtain" falling in your eye is one of the symptoms. Losing your vision, even for only a moment, is extremely serious. Did you hit your eye at any time in the past?

Your eyeball does not have pain receptors in them, so you will not feel a thing in your eye. But this doesn't mean the stress can't be passed along as a headache.

If your right eye is hurting, a retinal tear in one eye, while it can't necessarily spread to the other eye (not physically), the trauma that caused the left eye damage may have hurt the right eye, only lesser so.

You don't need to see a neurologist, you need to see an opthamologist, and you should see one immediately, as in Friday morning.

Someone else just posted a problem with vision not 20 minutes ago and is having a similar problem. You will not heal automatically, and you have the potential to lose your vision, in one or both eyes.  (+ info)

what is the color of a healthy optic nerve?

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Or, what color would an optic nerve affected by optic neuritis be?
red on the inside covered with a white sheth  (+ info)

Has anyone ever been diagnosed with optic neuritis and if so did you regain back your normal vision.?

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I was diagnosed with optic neuritis about a month ago. It causes swelling of the optic nerve in the back of the eye which causes vision loss and distortion. This is rare and can be a symptom of multiple sclerosis but my brain MRI was negative for that. I was also tested for all kinds of viral and bacterial infections which also came back negative. My main concern at this time is regaining back my normal vision. If anyone has ever been diagnosed with ON I would like to know the outcome. Any information would be greatly appreciated.
Yes. I had it in BOTH eyes. At first they thought I had a brain tumour that was pushing on the optic nerves. My mRI was normal, no tumour, no MS. I had a lumbar puncture too, to test for fluid on the brain and to further rule out MS. All was normal.
I had been unwell for several months prior-violent reflux with chest pain,terrible joint and muscle pains,dizziness and nausea-they told me most of it (save the reflux) was stress but I personally think it was some kind of 'mystery virus' which eventually caused my immune system to attack itself.
The ON stopped worsening after about 3/4 weeks,stabilized, then slowly started to get better. I was in the kitchen and noticed a weird flickering as if someone was turning on the lights--it was some of my normal light percetion returning!
I have regained nearly 20/20 vision, no glasses. i'm a little more senstive to bright things and stripy signs but that's about it. I had another mri and a few tests recently just to check all was ok, and 6 yrs on no sign of ms.  (+ info)

Inflamed Eye Arteries Caused by Optic Neuritis?

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My wife woke up about two weeks ago with a fuzzy spot in the corner of one eye. The first doc said it looked like some kind of scar on her retina, but after a follow up they determined that some arteries in her retina are inflamed. They didn't diagnose it as optic neuritis, but at the same time haven't ruled MS onset out, and also haven't ruled out diabetes and some other things. She also had pounding headaches for a week that went away when they put her on the steroids. Anyone out there ever experienced anything like this? Sound like it could be ON? She is freaking herself out that it's MS but I still think it's something else, maybe arteritis, even though she is very young to have something like that. Just curious if anyone's had similar issues, or can describe what their ON was like. She will have a follow-up Monday, but in the meantime is getting pretty worked up about it.
Thanks for the response! That's exactly what I was thinking, if it's inflamed arteries I don't see how it can be ON. The doc was definitely fairly wishy washy and didn't want to commit to a diagnosis yet, which was really frustrating. I'll update this after the follow-ups next week.
I should add, the spot in her has remained stagnant and painless since it showed up. The steroids haven't seemed to change it either, and it's just a portion of her eye, not the whole eye. All the more making me think it's inflammation related and not neurological.
If the retinal arteries are truly inflamed then this is not optic neuritis nor a harbinger of multiple sclerosis. MS is a demyelinating disease in which the myelin (insulation) around nerve fibers in the central nervous system (brain, spinal cord, and optic nerves) is damaged--it does not cause isolated nflammation of blood vessels.

The trouble is that judging inflammation of blood vessels in the back of the eye can be a judgment call, and it doesn't sound as if the doctor was particularly definitive in his/her opinion.

A classic presentation of optic neuritis would involved global decrease in vision in one eye, pain in/behind the eye (particularly pain that is triggered by moving the eye as when one looks up/down/sideways), and change in color vision (colors appearing "washed out" or muted).

If your wife's doctors are seriously concerned about the possibility of demyelination affecting the optic nerve they will likely request an MRI scan of the brain. Of all people with an episode of optic neuritis, only about 50% will develop multiple sclerosis. If a brain MRI is normal, however, the odds of developing MS decrease significantly.  (+ info)

is there possible to have optic neuritis and to be suspected of MS but to have Sjorgren syndrome?

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I had optic neuritis 10 weeks ago.I had it at my left eye and I started treatment 6 days after it appeared and I recovered 50% until now. I was told I might have MS and announced that I will start the interferon treatment. But yesterday I did a Shirmer test at my eyes ant it was positive, so it showed I might have Sjorgren syndrome. Moreover, I have dry mouth and pain in my joints, witch I know that happen in SS. On the other hand, I am 23 and as far as I knoe, SS occurs more to women between 30 an 40.So, what do you think is my case.I must say that I am going to the doctor, but they don’t want to say anything until I have all my tests done, which is normal. I only want to know is their is anybody who was in my situation or knows more about this kind of cases. Thanks!
well multiple sclerosis is seperate from sjogren which can be caused by connective tissue diseases ,u might have the both and its coincidental not related to each other ...  (+ info)

What can an optic neurologist do?

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I have optic neuritis, it is inflamation of the optic nerve. I have lost considerable sight in my left eye. I've been on steroids to treat this, but my vision got worse instead of better. My eye doctor wants to know why, so he reffered me to an optic neurologist in Nashville. Anybody have any clue what this man might do for me? or what he's looking for?
an optic neurologist is looking for a problem in your brain that is causing the eye problems. you probably will have to take some very simple tests like the visual evoked potential test. quick and painless. optic neuritis can be a sign of other problems, the doctor can help to find those.  (+ info)

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