Eye Problem

hello

I was wondering if anyone has any ideas if this could be ON I’m getting a little worried.

It began 2-3 weeks ago with numbeness in my cheek and then it moved to my left eye, It feels as if my eye lid (upper and lower) is heavy and swollen but everything looks ok. I have blurred vision but if I double blink this normally clears, and I also feel like I have loss of vision in the left eye, mostly things just don’t seem so bright. My eye just feels swollen this comes and goes but is mostly there.

I stuggle with changes in light, I went to the cinema last night and felt as if I was drunk when walking into the light, this was scary, lasted a few minutes. When talking to my friend I felt like I was zoning in and out and I didn’t really have a clue what I was on about some of the time.

I get an aching pain but not usually in the eye it’s normally in the eyebrows, temples, top of head and ears. I also feel like my ears are blocked and the bridge of my nose feels as it it’s block (no runny nose or anything)

It basically feels like I have the flu but in my head, without a runny nose. Have headaches but these seem to come and go quickly.

I went to my doctor who thinks I have congestion in my head and has given me some eye drops and told me to put my head over a steaming bowl of water, and to go back in a week if things don’t improve.

I have mentioned MS to my doctor as my chiropracter recommeded MRI scans to check for MS. He doesn’t think I have MS and has only ordered a lumber, sacral & cervical MRI which I don’t have until October. This is due to ongoing back ache and stiffness, pins and needles in hands and feet and also heavy legs, and some clumsiness and weakness in my left arm.

I can now feel my other eye is feeling the same.

Sorry if this is a simple (long) question, but I feel as if no one else understands every one thinks I’m being dramatic and I’m ok really. if only they knew.

Well, yes I think it could be ON. numbness in the cheek and any thing non-visial including eye-movment problems would be a different cranial nere I think. I guess you need a refferal to an othalmologist, to get it checked out. Eye pain is often part of ON but sometimes after the visual effect. I wouldn’t have thought the exact apparent sorce of pain would be definitiveas referred pain is notoriuously confusing.

But then again congestion can probabbly be confusing too. Back ache and stiffness, pins and needles in hands and feet and also heavy legs could be neurological MS symptoms but also can be caused by many other things.

Jon.

Hi I have had ON and I had alot of pain behind my eye, and at the bridge of my nose like you say. Is it sore when you move your head or eye? I found I had sharp pain when doing this so tried to remain as still as possible. Also noticed changes in light and found I got bright flashes of light in my eye even in the dark. It does affect colour vision also, I also found everything to be duller, the eye specialist advised me it will affect reds and green colours more so. You should go and see an Opthamoligist they will be able to have a look at the optic nerve. I did this first sign of my symptoms and was told the nerve seemed ok, I was also back and forward to my gp and was treated for sinisitus however weeks later an eye specialist at the hospital diagnosed ON.

Good luck hope you get to the bottom of it soon

Hi I have had ON and I had alot of pain behind my eye, and at the bridge of my nose like you say. Is it sore when you move your head or eye? I found I had sharp pain when doing this so tried to remain as still as possible. Also noticed changes in light and found I got bright flashes of light in my eye even in the dark. It does affect colour vision also, I also found everything to be duller, the eye specialist advised me it will affect reds and green colours more so. You should go and see an Opthamoligist they will be able to have a look at the optic nerve. I did this first sign of my symptoms and was told the nerve seemed ok, I was also back and forward to my gp and was treated for sinisitus however weeks later an eye specialist at the hospital diagnosed ON.

Good luck hope you get to the bottom of it soon

I was getting sharp pains in my temples and eyebrows, which could have been due to the fact I had a really bad migraine for a couple of days.

That’s now gone though, it does feel as if I am all blocked up in my head (or maybe I’m just hoping)

This seems to have been going on for a few weeks and I was at least 2 weeks into it before I started to get any pains, the pain would come and go, it was also in my ears and gums. But mostly temples and the bridge of my nose. It was so bad at night time I couldn’t sleep. Eye’s ached mostly when I looked upwards.

The doc has told me to go back next week if things haven’t improved.

I was getting sharp pains in my temples and eyebrows, which could have been due to the fact I had a really bad migraine for a couple of days.

That’s now gone though, it does feel as if I am all blocked up in my head (or maybe I’m just hoping)

This seems to have been going on for a few weeks and I was at least 2 weeks into it before I started to get any pains, the pain would come and go, it was also in my ears and gums. But mostly temples and the bridge of my nose. It was so bad at night time I couldn’t sleep. Eye’s ached mostly when I looked upwards.

The doc has told me to go back next week if things haven’t improved.

It doesn’t sound like ON to me, but ON is one of the sensory symptoms that my MS has not (so far!) visited on me so I really can’t be confident about it.

From what I can remember from reading, ON usually involves changes in colour vision (red most), pain (especially when moving the eye) and can involve loss of vision. It also most often affects one eye (at a time).

The light thing you experienced the other evening could be that your eyes didn’t adjust quickly enough and so you literally couldn’t see very well. People with walking and sensory problems often rely heavily on their vision so, when it’s compromised, they walk much worse, e.g. when it’s dark, when there’s a bright light in your eyes, when things are moving next to you (which can confuse the brain’s understanding of what’s stationery and what’s not), etc.

The feeling in your head is quite familiar to me actually. I sometimes feel like that when I have a migraine. Possible?

Karen x

Hi Karen

I did have a migraine which lasted for a couple of days but seems to have eased - which is not normal for me and the pain was pretty bad.

I feel like my eyes are sticky but there is nothing there, and like I keep having to blink, or pull at my eye lid to make it feel nomal.

My eye’s did ache but only when I had the migraine. they seem ok now just the vision thing is a bit of a worry.

I’m going to see if I can get an appointment with an optician in the next couple of days.

Hi Karen

I did have a migraine which lasted for a couple of days but seems to have eased - which is not normal for me and the pain was pretty bad.

I feel like my eyes are sticky but there is nothing there, and like I keep having to blink, or pull at my eye lid to make it feel nomal.

My eye’s did ache but only when I had the migraine. they seem ok now just the vision thing is a bit of a worry.

I’m going to see if I can get an appointment with an optician in the next couple of days.

i had my first attack back in June and like you experienced the sensation of a swollen face down my right side and blurred vision in my right eye.

over the past 3 months the swelling sensation has gone and my vision is back to normal. i still have slight numbness to the side of my face but this slowly seems to be improving.

hope things improve soon.

sharon.x