New patient. Loss of site due to MS. Is it common and will I recover

I have only recently been given the possible diagnosis of MS. I was taking the drug Humira for my existing condition of Ankylosing Spondylitis and it turns out it can cause MS. Despite serving in the military and both the first gulf war and Bosnia I have never been so concerned and frankly scared. I started with pins and needles in my right hand and what felt like a belt around my middle but I was also suffering from a chest infection which became pneumonia so was treated for that firstly by GP. A week later my right arm was now week and I was losing the feeling in my right leg. I also had other symptoms which included things like my face feeling funny and ringing in my right ear. I was admitted to hospital and went downhill quickly. My symptoms included speech difficulty, unable to feed myself etc.

The purpose of this post is I was eventually allowed home with support from my wife and numerous pieces of equipment. My symptoms have improved greatly however I still have some strange feeling in right hand,head and face. My main concern is I developed something called “one and a half syndrome” and lost the ability to see properly. Many weeks later I’m nearly symptom free but my sight although better is not returned. Is it common to loose sight and does it return in most cases. My MRI showed one piece of inflammation on the brain stem.

Hi Andy

So sorry to hear what you’re going through. It is possible your sight will continue to improve. How long has it been?

I too had a brainstem relapse which badly effected my sight. I had double vision and nystagnus - between the two I couldn’t see straight or focus at all. My sight did recover although it took several weeks. A good optician may be able to sort you out with prisms glasses aswell - I had some and they really helped.

Thanks for taking the time to reply humbug. Could you expand on it took several weeks for your sight to return please? It was the last week of January when I started symptoms and I spent Feb in hospital before being discharged in early March. Most of my symptoms have improved or even recovered completely however I still have double vision unless looking to the right where my vision returns to normal. I feel that my vision amount MAY be slowly getting better but my biggest worry is long term. So I guess for now “patience is a virtue” but that not something I excel at. Have a great weekend.

others reading this who suffered sight loss please reply if you have time. Thanks