Hi Had a rotten couple of days. Saw my optician on Tuesday who referred me for urgent hospital appointment to see a consultant neuro ophthalmologist. I saw him yesterday and spent three hours at hospital. Unfortunately it was the night after my injection and felt awful. They did lots of tests but couldn’t really see anything. I already have a dx so they said something could be going on behind my eye that they couldn’t see but as I had an MRI last April no point having another. It should clear up on its own, which it might but I felt like they didn’t believe me. He said how did I get my dx and some people wear ms like a badge. I told him I was really upbeat about it, no point worrying until it happens. I felt really cross inside. However my eye is causing me pain and just because I have ms doesn’t mean you can’t be unlucky enough to have other things go wrong. So told take paracetamol and come back in two months, unless it gets worse. I’d rather have stayed in bed I think. Meanwhile my mum has taken a fall and broken her hip on wednesday, so while I was in one hospital she was in another. Bless she has been so brave. With all the bright lights at hospitals and lights shone in my eyes I was so poorly after my appointment I couldn’t visit her after her op my head and eyes felt like they were going to explode. Easing off a bit now, but eye still aching. What a couple of days…moan over thanks for listening.
Think I might have pressed anon button by accident.
This is the only place come to “talk”. It seems to help aswell. Unless you have friends or family who have the illness, who can you talk to? Hope you feel better soon, and im sure you will get a knowledgeable from someone on here
Hi, oh dear, poor you and your mama too!
Hope you both recover well.
luv Pollx
Hi Mish,
I’m not surprised you feel pretty teed off.
I just don’t get the comment about “wearing MS like a badge”. Surely, if you’ve been diagnosed, it’s not vaunting it to tell other people involved with your medical care that’s what you have, as it might well prove relevant! Then again, it might not. It’s certainly true that MS can’t protect us from something unrelated happening.
I told my optician I have MS, as I have some minor and rather intermittent visual problems, albeit never diagnosed with optic neuritis. I thought he ought to know the full story, in case he found any of those abnormalities on examination, and wondered why. He might need to know I have a neurological disorder.
But he almost snapped at me: “There’s nothing we can do about that!”
Well, I wasn’t expecting him to cure MS, for goodness sake! I just thought that if there was a chance any of my visual tests might not come out normal, he ought to know about it. Otherwise he might waste time and effort trying to understand what’s wrong with me, when we already have a prime suspect.
You can just imagine the consultation otherwise:
“There seems to be something strange here… I may need a second opinion. Have you ever seen a neurologist?”
“Neuro… What? Oh, sorry, did I forget to mention? I am diagnosed with MS!”
Perhaps I should have kept quiet, and just waited to see if he’d come up with anything unprompted. But it seems a pretty mean trick to shut up about something you know you’ve got, and see if they notice, doesn’t it? I wouldn’t call being up-front and open “wearing one’s MS like a badge”. It just avoids possible confusion and misunderstanding, doesn’t it?
Or maybe not.
Grrrrr!
Tina
x
An MRI last April is good enough for a new eye problem??? Jeez!
So sorry you ended up with an ophthalmologist with what sounds like an attitude problem 
You did exactly the right thing, getting it checked out. As you say, having MS doesn’t mean that we can’t have something else wrong too!
If it’s ON, then it should clear up on its own, but I doubt very much that paracetamol will do any good - you’d need a neuropathic painkiller. Maybe call your MS nurse and get some advice?
I hope your mum’s op went well.
Karen x
Thank you for all your replies. Sorry you had a bad time with your optician Tina too. You know sometimes I think it’s the folk around us that see it as a bigger problem or have a chip on their shoulder about ms. I told the consultant I had ms for the same reason. I think maybe I’m to bright and bubbly about it, I just think there is nothing that’s gonna change things so why be glum. (…apart from I was after, glum that is!) The consultant must of taken it as looking for something else to be wrong, I don’t know, but a strange thing to come out with without knowing me. My GP tried to sign me off work twice and I refused. Ah well, one thing I have learnt in the past is you can’t change other folk. Thanks Karen I am already on gabapentine so I will cross my fingers my eye problem doesn’t last long. At least headache is a bit better now. Well I would have thought last April is quite a time ago but apparently not eh? Mums on mend back to her gorgeous bouncy 83 year old self. Sent me a phone video via hubby that began ‘I am a little space monster…’ (on account of all the tubes) humour is always a good sign eh! Mish x
Whatever’s going on in this bloke’s life, he ought to have left it at home. Was it ‘bring your personal baggage hobby-horse to work day’ or something?
Don’t let it upset you, if you can help it. Some poor woman’s probably married to him. Imagine that!
I am very sorry about your mother, and the extra worry this must plonk on your plate. I hope you have siblings or other family to help.
Alison
x
Hi Alison I’m hoping he didn’t mean it as it came out, ever the optimist me, although i felt very awkward by it. If he did their is an awful large chunk of wood on his shoulder! Unfortunately i don’t have any other siblings, and my stepdad sadly died two years ago but luckily i do have a rather fab hubby! Mish x
Hi Mish
Your experience is unacceptable. My optician worked out that I possibly had MS, he suspected my brain lesion before the doctor found it, so yours may just be angry that he didn’t pick it up. My new glasses were very expensive but I can recommend that you see someone who will help you properly. I don’t need glasses to drive but have been prescribed “indoor glasses” - they are varifocals for reading, computer and up to 4 metres, but each “level” has a prism that draws my eyes to the centre and encourages them to work together. I have found that I get less pain in my eyes when I wear them all day, but realise that they may not suit everyone. It may be worth you enquiring about?
Min x
Hi Min My eye pain has been hanging around since Christmas but varies in intensity usually worst in morning and night, somedays worse than others. I will wait a bit longer to see if it settles but thank you for the tip about glasses. My optician was really good it was the consultant who made me feel awkward, even if unintentional. If it carries on I will mention it to my optician. Thanks again. Mish x
Hi again Mish
I hope you find relief from the pain. I have also come accross consultants with no inter personal skills who have reduced me to tears but also met some lovely ones. Let’s hope your visit to him was the only one you have to endure and you find something or someone who can help and treat you properly.
Min x