Hello, i have 2 questions, would appreciate any responses as i’m a bit confused right now. 1st question to those of you have had a definate dx of MS, do you or did you have Optic neuritis and Is optic neuritis always present when you have MS? 2nd question to all - has anyone who has visual disturbances, double vision, blurryness etc NOT been told they do not have Optic Neuritis after it has been investigated? The reason i ask is I went for a normal eye test yesterday as I need new glasses. The optician took pictures of the back of my eyes and was immediately on the phone to the eye specialist at the hospital because she thought she could see optic neuritis. I had to go to the hospital a couple of hours later as an emergancy referral. The eye specialist examined my eyes and said he cannot see any Optic Neuritis, but… he was concerned at just how bad my vision is and feels certain that whatever is causing the vision problems is linked to my other symptoms. he was very nice and is making an appointment to go back in a couple of weeks for further investigation. he says he doesn’t know exactly what the problem is but is determined to get to the bottom of it and it can’t be ignored. I’m pleased he is taking me seriously and hopefully he can ascertain what the problem is and it will be more evidence to show the rubbish neuro consultant I have. He feels that although I have a dx of hemaplegia, my current eye symptoms don’t really fit with that dx. Just hoping someone will do something soon as I am now almost blind in my right eye, vision in my left eye has deteriorated significantly so finding it hard to do day to day tasks at the moment. Thanks in advance for any replies xx
Hi My first sympton was double vision but was not diagnosed with optic neuritis. My DX of ms hasn’t been confirmed yet awaiting LP but been told by ms neuro 95% certain it is. Gray
Hi
I’ve not had optic neuritis and have been diagnosed with MS - so no, I don’t believe it’s always present.
I have a work colleague who’s had some eye problems, including partial loss of vision in one eye, whist being referred to different eye specialists his problem resolved itself - they were even considering some kind of laser surgery! I don’t know the full story on that one but one day I was wishing him luck with an appointment and the next he was fine. I know he was quite anxious about it as he asked me a few questions when I got diagnosed, it turns out they’ve flagged his notes with potential MS and he has to return for follow-ups.
I think MS presents itself so differently for everyone that it’s difficult and it’s why so many people have a tough time getting a diagnosis. My neuro can’t be sure if I’ve PPMS or RRMS so I ended up asking ‘is it definitely MS?’ and he said undoubtably, so I guess some indicators are clearer than others.
Good luck
Sonia x
I was DX with MS after developing further neurological symptoms subsequent to a DX of Optic Neuritis (ON) of no known cause.
I don’t think I have ON now as I recovered from the attack that lead to the DX but with residual damage (red colour blind, shades of grey defect). But I could get it again.
ON is just just one of the possible symptoms of MS - not all MSers have had ON (as Sonia and Pat(Snow Leopard)). I also think that all MS visual problems are not ON as ON is inflamation of the optic nerve and lesions in the visual processing part of the brain would be likely to cause visual problems.
My guess is that your optician looking for an explanation for poor vision thought the nerve leaving the back of the eye might be pale - a sign of previous ON.
I wonder if you have had a Visual Evoked Potential test as that tests the optics nerves - related to ON and MS?
I had no sign of ON before or at dx. Double vision was the thing that got me dx.
More recently, my visual field was hit by a relapse, but again the problem was further back in the brain. An Opthalmology junior doctor thought there was a very slight touch of ON as well (I was seeing colours a bit washed-out), but ON was never formally dx because the other problems were more severe.
Alison
Have had it very bad with this latest relapse. Sometimes the symptoms are not very noticeable until they look at your eyes further. Pain in eyes when moving, blurred vision making it hard to focus when moving eyes. Natural sunlight was awful 
it is diffrent for everyone. Still waiting on my own VEP results. Holiday time for docs. BE
I woke to blurred vision in June and headaches and all tjat jazz, I went opticians they ran their usual tests and saw I had raised optic nerves where I was sent to the eye a and e, they ran the same tests and booked me an appointment for the next day at the stroke clinic!!! I went had blood tests, ecg’s, ultrasound of my neck, medical history, and a consultation with the consultant there who said there was only one thin it could be as female of 23 and that was ms…she said I’d most likely need a lumbar pubcture to confirm this and that he was referring me to a neuro! When I me my neuro last Tuesday he confirmed I do have relapsing an remitting ms and said there is no need for a lumba puncture as he only uses that when he is not sure. I hope you get answers soon.