I’ve just come back from the opticians, he suspected optic neuritis last week as I have dimness in my eye, flashing lights, blurryness. I had the drops to open my pupils so he could have a good look inside. However he has said my eyes look healthly, but he thinks I do need to go down the neuro route and has written to my GP to refer me back (My last brain MRI was in 2011) He wants an ophthamologist to have a good look at my optic nerves to as he said looking in my eyes he can’t see the nerves, but everything he can see loks healthly.
My question is :
I suffer with blurryness but it can come and go many times during the day, I probably have it every day, but not all day. I sometimes get a flash of white, which looks like a ghost has ran past me in my peripheral vision, sometimes it’s like a black shadow. I also get colour dimness. Not just reds, it’s like the overall brightness has been turned down in one eye. This can happen in either eye, and lasts for a few hours, not days. So it doesn’t seem like optic neuritis, but does anyone have anything similar?
Are you me? I can relate to every one of these symptoms - particularly the “dimming” effect. When I was originally seen by a (decent) neuro one of the things he tested me for was my ability to differentiate colours. The results of this were quite shocking. I hadn’t realised how “colour blind” I was. (My husband thought it was hysterical )
If it is Optic Neuritis an optician would not be able to find anything wrong. As he correctly has referred you to a Neurologist as Visually Evoked Potential (VEP) is measured by an EMG with electrodes stuck on certain parts of your scalp and head
This test measures the speed of an impulse along your optic nerve Each square in the pattern alternates between black and white at measured intervals. The patient wears a patch on one eye for a while and then on the other, so that the speed of both optic nerves can be measured. Completely harmless.
I had my eyes tested thoroughly a few weeks ago because I was growing more and more concerned about my eyesight. I would suffer from blurred vision, colours would come and go, if I was out in the car at night I would struggle to see properly with the oncoming headlights, I would sense a white light in my peripheral vision, sore and itchy eyes at times.
My Optometrist was brilliant. Had all the tests required including VEP and at the end of it advised me that I had a condition called Blepharitis. It is basically a form of dry eye. It can be caused by all kinds of things, medication, menopause but more often than not - watching tv or looking at computer screens for long periods of time. We don’t blink as often as we should when we look at these and this causes the eyes to become dry. Dust builds up on the lashes and then our eyes overcompensate by becoming very teary (eyes run a lot). It is easily treated with ointment around the eye and drops in the eyes. I can’t believe the difference in such a short space of time.
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