Hi All,
Last June, I was diagnosed with Optic Neuritis brought on by another diagnosis, after MRI, of MS. My doctor and I decided to wait to treat the ON until I’d had 2 Covid jabs, had both by November and went back to the doctor who tested my eye again. She said the eye had improved well over the time and suggested I could either have the steroid course or wait another few months and test again. As I’m an asthmatic and it was winter and the steroids attack the immune system I decided to wait out the extra time, which is now…
Had my eye tested again and now the doctor says there’s been slight improvement but in her opinion this is as good as it is going to get… She still offered me the steroid course but doesn’t think there will be much if any further improvement and basically advised against it.
So my question and your thoughts, is it worth me spending the £900 for the steroid course, I live outside the UK and it’s all private hospitals, or should I take her advice and live with what I have… has anyone been through a similar situation. Thank you.
Steroid treatment is usually most effective if taken at the beginning of a bout of ON. Personally I’d save my money. The ON will likely resolve itself on its own eventually. You might need to be patient though, mine took 18 months.
Good luck with whatever you decide.
Thank you Willowtree, I think the doctor was trying to tell me the same but making sure it was my decision whether to go ahead with steroids or not. After a lot of consideration and given that the ON isn’t completely impairing my right vision, I have what I describe as a small doily in the centre of my vision, I think I’ll just wait it out again, see how things go. I guess I always have the option of the steroids should I have a relapse.
I luckily don’t suffer from ON but I do have a chronic inflammatory condition in my right eye that I used to have to go on steroid drops for regularly… but when I felt it coming on I learned that I could just tell it to go away.
Now I’m very skeptical of anyone telling me of mind over body tricks and we all should be but I know that this works for me. So I’d just say to give it a go with some real belief that you can do it. If you’re not going down the allopathic medicine route right now anyway it can’t do any harm!
Ive had 2 bouts of ON, my eyesight never recovered to what it was before, almost but not quite. It slowly improved for about 20 months before levelling out to its current state. Like others have said steriods really need to be taken during the inflammation stage.
Thanks for the replies, I’d really like to think I could do the same and tell it to go away, but with ON I have a permanent change in vision, I don’t get it coming and going… I very much like the idea of the power of positive thinking.
I’ve been living with this now for 10 months, the vision has improved but after my last eye test the doctor thinks this is as good as it’ll get. I should have written should I have a flare up and the vision gets bad again I guess I have the option of the steroids…
I had an online consultation with a UK Neurologist, recommended by a friend in the UK, he compared my last test results against the first and also thinks this may be the best the eye will get, his recommendation is wait it out. He reiterated what has been said here that the steroids are really for when the ON initially hits and maybe it’s a little late for the treatment…
Guess I’ll wait it out, see what happens.
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Hi I had visual problems in the February of 2019, eventually being diagnosed with Optic Neuritis. Fortunately it only affects my left eye. I was told “give it a year and we will know more”. I was never offered any medication. I would only be offered if my right eye became affected. My left eye is not brilliant I can’t distinguish depth and clarity.
I have learnt to adjust but still has me feeling like I dreaming daily lol.
Sending hugs
Hi there. How is it going now? I lost 60 % of my central vision on my left eye last fall and it still haven’t returned to anywhere near normal. I am still keeping up hope though.
Best