An old friend emailed me today (a GP!) saying she’d be surprised if I do have MS confirmed because I’ve never had any eye problems.
OK, I wear contact lenses/glasses but I have never once had any black-outs, fuzzy white lights etc. Apart from my short sightedness my eyes have always been absolutely fine.
But I’ve been reading through lots of posts on this, and other, forums and it seems that most MS folk do seem to suffer from eye issues. Makes me feel bit of an odd one out.
Sorry for being all me me me about this, but I could do with putting my mind at rest. So any vision perfectly fine MS sufferers reading this?
I think about 50% of people with MS get optic neuritis (ON) and double vision, nystagmus, uveitis and imbalanced eye muscles are fairly common, but plenty of people with MS don’t get obvious vision problems. Saying that, a lot of MSers think their vision is absolutely normal, but they still get an abnormal VEP result.
MS is one of the most variable medical conditions - there really is no “norm” - for every person that shares a symptom, there will be others who have never had it and within the people who have it / have had it, the severity will vary massively. There is no single symptom that all people with MS have. The most common one is fatigue, but even that is about 85% if I remember correctly. (Oh to be in that 15%!!!)
Btw, most GPs know diddly squat about MS. Their most recent venture into neurology is often a class they did way back in medical school!
Hi, I have MS with multiple brain lesions and 3 cervical spine lesions. I have never had optic neuritis and Im pretty sure my visual evoked test was ok. So, I really dont know what the GP was talking about! Hope that helps!
Hi, I was diagnosed around 18 months ago and I didn’t have any eye problems. I had all the numbness, tingling and buzzing sensations but have had no problems with my eyes, well not yet anyway!! So from my own experience eye problems were not present in my diagnosis Debs x
Just read your other post about your upcoming lumbar puncture on Tuesday. Did your brain MRI show lesions as well as your cervical spine? Im asking because my neuro wanted me to have a lumbar puncture but I refused. Turned out that I wouldnt have needed it anyway because of the lesions on spine. If you look at the nhs website it does say that lumbar punctures are only used as a last resort.
I did have a problem with my left eye. I had a purple/grey tinge to everything i saw thru it. I had a vep which did show a slight difference between my eyes. But that has now fully cleared up. Thankfully!! It was not bad just annoying. I have not found a mandatory symptom yet, like many say ms is very induvidual.
Hello Clucker Pidgeon - I was dx’d Nov, but I haven’t had any eye problems . I’ve worn glasses for about 40 years because I’m short sighted; at my normal checkup a few weeks ago the optician said my eyes were fine and there was no sign at all of de-myalination. I’m glad there’s one part of me thats working OK!
Hi there, My eyes are fine apart from being short-sighted which I have been for 30 years. However, I did have an abnormal VEP. I am hoping that my vision will stay as it is. Teresa xx
