Double Vision

[christyn]

I was diagnosed with MS Five years ago after a bout of double vision, which reappeared yesterday. My question is this....when I hear people talking about ON they never describe anything like double vision. Does anyone else have this as a symptom?

[KarenR]

My very first symptom before diagnosis was severe double vision (which is not ON).

I've had it several times since. It's very annoying and a little scary. Steroids usually help me when I get double vision.

[SilverLinings]

I was diagnosed with MS Five years ago after a bout of double vision, which reappeared yesterday. My question is this....when I hear people talking about ON they never describe anything like double vision. Does anyone else have this as a symptom?

Hi Christyn,

I was diagnosed in December 2009 with initial symptoms of ON, primarily blurry vision, it cleared on its own. Then a couple of months later I woke up with double vision. If I covered either one of my eyes I could see perfectly well but had double vision while using both eyes. I had another MRI and found a new lesion on my brain stem which if I remember correctly was what was causing the double vision. My eyes just weren't dancing well together and since I was unable to drive/function at work the decision was to use a course of IV steroid treatment. I'm happy to say I came out of the relapse with fully restored vision....just hoping it stays that way!

Take care,
Silverlinings

[twisterred]

Double vision was my second flare about a year after my first flare that didn't affect my vision at all.

I was a year away from diagnosis after the double vision and thankfully, if it ever happens again, I know what to do. Call the Dr for steroids.

It's not mentioned as often as Optic Neuritis, but Double Vision does happen.
The how vision is impaired is different than ON, interestingly.
http://ms.about.com/od/signssymptoms/g/diplopia.htm

[JudySz]

I had horrible double vision, finally went to neuroopthomoligst and she prescribed prisms in my glasses. It has really helped. Mine was much worse when I was tired. She explained that it takes alot of work to see and with the MS, the muscles that control the eyes do not work as well. Makes sense. She also tols me that I will probably need a higher prism in a year or so and mabe eventually surgery. So for, so good with what I have now. Been about 2 months since I have had prisms. Plus that gave me an excuse to get new frames and I got ones with some bling on them.

JudySz

[Shashi]

I don't think that double vision is the same thing as ON.

I actually have monocular (one eye) double vision (more like ghosting), but it's caused by a cataract in my right eye. I've also had mild ON in that same eye, which causes my vision to blur when I'm overheated.

In addition, I have exophoria or convergence insufficiency, which means my eyes don't play well together. That causes double vision, but at the moment, my brain is compensating for it. However, there have been times lately when I'm tired that I've noticed that it's getting more difficult to keep my eyes in sync. I feel like I'm actually seeing two images, but that my brain is barely putting them together to make one. It's very annoying!

[isamadjul]

Just had it

I just took my eye patch off on Saturday! 2wks of double vision. 5days of IVsteriods this time...fun stuff. my Neuro said its called Ischemic optic neuropathy. My eye not only went double but also went lazy...it went up and wouldn't move in.

The double has left and the lazy is gone to. I seem to usually have problems with my eyes feeling tired though so thats still there... but can't have it all!

[Maple25]

Prisms

I have been having intermittent double vision for 18 months which goes away after a minute or so if i cover one eye or roll my eyes. finally i just got prisms and cylinders to help with my muscle work. I have been trying to get used to them but it is really difficult since you need time off driving or running errands. (i don't want to crash my car, it changes depth perception etc...). Together with the double vision I also have heavy limbs that come on the same time. They told me that it must be a brainstem lesion. Can't confirm without an mri, and the last one I had was over a year ago...

[meg513]

I often have double vision, definitely in both eyes but sometimes in one eye. I got diagnosed after a bout of ON that after 2 rounds of steroids, 7 plasmapheresis (sp?) Treatments over 2 weeks and IVIG something, my left eye never got better. I think a lot of my double vision is bc I can see just enough out of that I that it keeps trying to work, but it has a lot of trouble syncing up. It's made reading and computer work really exhausting and frustrating, particularly since I used to be a photo editor I hope you can find some relief from your double vision.

[Redwings]

2wks of double vision. ... my Neuro said its called Ischemic optic neuropathy.

Hi isamadjul:
Your neuro was mistaken on several points. I'll mention two of them.

If you do a search on ischemic optic neuropathy, you'll find that it's the aftermath of an ischemic (lack of blood) stroke to the optic nerve. First, ptic nerve problems don't cause double vision. The optic nerve has no motor function and isn't connected to any muscles, so ischemic optic neuropathy and optic neuritis anatomically cannot cause double vision. Second, ischemia isn't the mechanism behind MS.

From what you're describing (for simplicity, I'm assuming it was caused by MS), what you had was an inflammatory/demyelinating episode in or near your brainstem that affected one of the cranial nerves that is connected to an eye muscle. But it wasn't the optic nerve, and the diplopia wasn't caused by optic neuropathy.

True diplopia can occur along with optic neuritis (or other optic nerve problem) if -- and only if -- there's a concurrent problem with another cranial nerve that affects one or more eye muscles. ON alone can't cause true diplopia. When some folks with ON say they have double vision, what they're referring to is an awareness that one eye is blurry and the other eye is clear, so that they're noticing the vision of each eye individually and aware that one eye's vision doesn't match the other's. The definition of double vision (diplopia) is two images separated in space. It does not include a clear image and a blurry image overlapping. That can be incredibly annoying to the point of being visually disabling, but it isn't double vision.

[knuckle]

My diagnosis way back in the early 90s came from optic neuritis - specifically my right eye not tracking with my left - a result of a plaque on the optic nerve.

I had it bad three times, each treated with intravenous solumedrol. However, it was always there and would flare-up with heat and humidity.

When I started Low Dose Naltrexone (LDN) about four years ago it totally cleared-up. I had an eye doctor's appointment two years ago and she said there is no evidence of MS damage on my optic nerve.

Now if only I could say the same for my spinal lesions...

[rdmc]

I have double vision...I think the correct term is diplopia, bit I have never had ON.

My double vision is corrected, for the most part, by prisms in my glasses.