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Optic Neuritis without vision loss??

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    Optic Neuritis without vision loss??

    Hi guys,

    Has anyone ever experienced ON WITHOUT vision loss? In the past, I have had two severe bouts of ON with almost complete vision loss that lasted WEEKS. I recently had the sudden "stabbing" pain in my right eye with pain upon movement. I am also having a sparkling lights effect mostly when upset or startled. I am only experiencing very mild blurring in the eye but no real vision loss. Now, my neck was pretty out of alignment and went to the chiropractor a few days ago. That only helped mildly.

    Anyone else experience mild ON like this?? or is this maybe something else?


    #2
    I think I get this. My eyes aren't very trustworthy. I see things that aren't there; like, I think I see one of the kids or even a dog walk past the doorway, but there's nothing there. I don't think it's ghosts. I think my optic nerves are damaged (I've had severe ON with double vision and complete vision loss in the past). Sometimes when I'm at a stoplight I think the light turns green or red when it didn't change. I often see sparkly lights.

    But I don't have any pain with this stuff. I just imagine I have permanent damage to my optic nerves, or maybe I have those things that float around inside your eyeball.

    Maybe related, but I don't wear glasses because glasses don't help my vision. Things are sometimes a little blurry but glasses don't seem to help.

    Sometimes I get pain in my eyes when I have a sinus headache. Then I do a neti pot or take some Mucinex D.
    Proud Mom of three kids!
    dx'd 1996

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      #3
      Hi Kitty:

      Yes, optic neuritis can be mild enough that it doesn't cause appreciable vision loss. My first episode was so mild that neither I nor my eye doctor was sure that it really was ON.

      There's also the possibility that the pain you're experiencing might be something else.

      The issue with mild ON (if that's what you have) is that it isn't standard protocol to treat ON that doesn't cause a significant loss of visual acuity or visual field. High-dose IV steroids are overtreatment (more risk than benefit). An uneducated practitioner (GP or neurologist) might think that it's OK to treat a mild case of ON with a correspondingly mild dose of oral prednisone (say, 60 mg or less per day for a few days). However, the Optic Neuritis Treatment Trial showed that subjects on low-dose oral prednisone were MORE likely to have a repeat episode of ON than were subjects who weren't treated with steroids at all. So low-dose steroids have been contraindicated for ON since about 1992.

      You might want to be evaluated by your ophthalmologist (NOT your neurologist, who isn't qualified to fully evaluate eyes or vision) to determine whether you have mild ON or something else. Mild ON doesn't require treatment (you can research this for yourself), but a different condition might.

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        #4
        i've been wondering about ON. i've never lost vision completely.
        i do get the auras, what i call 'kalediscope vision', have lost some peripheral vision, and see things like described above.

        but this last and current relapse has a myriad of sx. shake/ and or tremors, extreme fatique to the point of not even being able to think or talk straight, bad, bad balance and a wooden left leg. but 'the fuzzy right eye, i feel like my glasses are all soaped up on that lens feeling is the worse'. i'm terrified of ON!
        put me in a wc forever and i'm okay with that, but ON scares the crude outof me.
        i have great admiration for those of you living through ON. not sure if i can handle it and pray to God that i don't have to find out.
        i'm on 3rd wk on prednisone down to 20 mg a day and no difference in the eye issue.

        does this fit anywhere in ON?
        "All things are possible for those who believe." Jesus

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          #5
          My last visit to the opthalmologist revealed a form of ON and the beginning of a cataract and I didn't have a clue. He said the ON was slight and called it Retrobulbar Neuritis and the cataract was just beginning. I've had pain when moving my eye, have seen 'sparklers' in my eyes, and see colors slightly different in each eye which he called it 'washout' and have had blurry vision (which varies according to stress, activity and fatigue) with and without my glasses. Also, in a very short span (a few months) my vision has degraded. I would highly recommend regular visits to an opthalmologist (not an optometrist) to anyone that has MS.

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