Hi,
My mum has had MS for 23 years and is currently secondary progressive and is currently having a relapse. Initially her feeling in her hands and the feeling/mobility in her legs went, we saw the neurology consultant, checked for underlying causes, MRI the lot. The MRI showed “new activity” to suggest this is just her MS rather than any underlying causes and she had started to slowly improve in terms of walking and use of her hands (this is around 2 months into the relapse/being off work), she even returned to physio as that reopened in the current climate and then the next day after going to the physio, she starts suffering with double vision. She can cover either eye and see/read as normal but obviously having to physically close one of your eyes can be a pain and she might be straining herself doing that, I don’t know. I’ve got her some eyepatches ordered to see if that can help her in the mean time.
Has anybody else had this before? Not just the double vision but the sort of second drop of symptoms at a point where we thought she was finally starting to recover? She can’t help but think that she’s done something to cause this by being at the physio and “over-doing it” but I’m pretty confident that can’t be the case.
Obviously in the current climate with Covid they’re trying to stay away from steroids, and the last few times my mum took steroids they didn’t really seem to help, but that was years ago and she hasn’t actually had as obvious of a relapse in a good couple of years (whilst she’s been secondary progessive).
Any advice anybody can offer with this would be great, we lost my Dad just over a year ago so it’s been a really rough year for her and it’s hard to not feel a bit lost with MS and not being able to do anything about it.
Thanks,
Danny
Hi…Your mum might be right in thinking shes overdone things.I have had some relapses where i thought i was picking up only to be hit with yet more symptoms…I have also had one relapse straight after another.I once had what i think were 3 separate ones as every 2 month i would seem to have another one.The neuro didn’t know for sure if it was one long one or 3 separate ones.The eye patch is a good idea.I always used one for my double vision.I am sorry you have lost your Dad maybe the stress of that has brought a relapse on.I know stress and grief can be a trigger for my relapses.Hope your Mum picks up soon but make sure she rests as much as possible.Try to get her to do some deep relaxation too as that really can help.Thers lots on youtube It helps me a lot.I am having a severe relapse just now and bed bound because of it,it started 4 week after lockdown.I normally have a really bad one every 7 years,and smaller ones in between but his time i went for 8 yrs and thought i had got away with it,but sadly not.
Just a thought: double vision isn’t always caused by MS. I had what the eye specialist called 6th nerve palsy. This can be due to MS but also high blood pressure or cholesterol. I had blood tests and my cholesterol was very high so I was put on statins. A couple of months later when it was reduced to normal levels the double vision eased.
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Do you think so? She didn’t do anything too excessive with the physio when she visited and didn’t push it too hard at home, only to wake up the next morning with double vision. I don’t understand how slightly working her hands and legs would result in her eyes going, but then again I don’t fully understand MS, hence why I’m here.
Yeah they have mentioned that about stress, but it’s hard to judge because she says she wasn’t anymore stressed/upset than this new normal, if not a little bit better, but again I guess you just don’t know how it affects people/their MS. Thanks for the tips, I hope you start to recover soon
How did you/the doctors tell between normal MS double vision and 6th nerve palsy? My Mum’s been to the optician who said that her optic nerve wasn’t swollen & the muscles are moving as they should, just that it’s most likely the MS causing it (I think, this is coming from my mum as I wasn’t there and she can sometimes struggle to take in information when she’s worried about things like her relapse). Is 6th Nerve Palsy something an optician would be able to see signs/symptoms for or would it require a specialist/blood tests/wait and see? (no pun intended).
She recently has had multiple blood tests, before her eyes went and we never heard anything about high cholesterol but as they were checking for underlying causes of her relapse in the first one and to see if she was eligible to take beta-inferons going forward in the second, I’m not sure if they would be checking for cholesterol or even tell us if it was high?
Also, is there any specific things you search for on youtube to help with relaxation? I can imagine theres a lot
It came on quite suddenly and as I’d only been to the optician 2 days earlier we went straight to the eye department at the hospital. It was the specialist who said that’s what he thought it was and ordered the blood tests to check my cholesterol (and other things).
My neurologist still thinks it was due to my MS. However, I’m Primary Progressive and don’t have relapses and it did get better…
Yes there are lots of relaxation ones and some really good ones too.For years now i have listened to one by a Dr Martin l Rossman and it really helps me cope with my MS when it all gets too much its called ‘Evocotive guided imagry’.Hes a very well respected Dr in America and he has such a soothing voice.I use it to help me sleep too as well as for anxiety.I think you have to look trhough lots until you find one that works for you and this one works really well for me.