OCT imaging , worse than 2 years ago

[sparkie10ts]

i'm new here so first off hi to all.(rubbish grammar)
to start off with ,had oct test done end of 2009 which turned out fine, had follow up yesterday which showed left eye in the red ,right eye in the yellow ,he said the retinal nerve fibres had thinned. field test had improved from last field test( a year ago ), eye sight had improved from oringinal.
to explain how i ended up going to ophthalmologist my left eye decreased in vision and went blurry (much better now) i seem to have contrast issues especially dull rooms and started getting flashes in eyes at night (flashes only lasted couple of weeks) or sound induced too,my depth perception went nearly to non existent ,which was very good some years before(4-5) as i get checked for work reasons.opto did mri which was normal (2009).my opto said there is some drusen which thinks is causing it, however after reading on this site i'm going to get second opinion from a neuro-optamolgist.
on top of this the last 3 years , i have back problems(l5-s1) sciatica which i've noticed gets worse in shower ,burning down arms and a funny sensation kinda like sciatica in arms , ended up in hospital from severe pain in eyes,vomiting,dizzy head ache(woke up like this)also recently had operation on tubes to help urinate easier , which i do so often ,still some trouble starting and lately extreme fatigue in my arms, shoulders and neck which feel very heavy ,sore and light burning sensation.also according to doctor i woke up with severe "tennis elbow" and numbness in wrist or it's in my head ,i've stopped going to doctor to complain because i feel stupid at this point being told its in your head.....confusingly most of my symptoms (usually painful) seem to come and go except my back pain that's so regular and bad i that i haven't ran or played any sports in 4 years.i am 31 years old and over the last couple years i noticed a few more strange things happen which no apparent cause ........thoughts any one especially on oct findings.
many thanks........

[Alicious]

I am by no means the expert (hopefully some of those will chime in!), but I did just have an OCT and see a neuro-ophth, so I can tell you what she told me.

My right eye is almost entirely in the red, and my left eye is 1/2 green, part yellow, part red. (This sounds insane to those not familiar with the test, huh? As I understand it, the retina/optic disc are mapped, and the thickness is plotted on a graph or on a pie chart and color coded to give a striking visual about how thin the charted area is. Green = "normal" thickness of optic nerve, yellow = pretty thin, red = very thin/clearly damaged. There is a pretty wide range for normal; more than I would have thought.)

Anyhoo, the neuro ophth said that it is very, very normal for the thickness showing on the OCT to decrease in both eyes even if you only have symptoms in one of them. Also, it's a great way to determine MS progression, so she recommends it for all people with MS along with MRIs, number and intensity of flares, etc. Many of us with MS have decreases in thickness from the disease even if we aren't aware of having any eye issues.

As for what the thinness means...it depends. While there is a correlation between thinness and decreased vision, some people with thinner nerves see better than some people with thicker ones, so they can tell you in a broad sense what the results mean, but not a while lot about what they mean for you in particular in terms of how thin they are, how much more you can lose and retain function, etc.

Also, the nerves tend to be thinner even before MS for people who are severely nearsighted, giving them even less nerve to work with much of the time, so a little loss can cause more damage. (Lucky me!)

You didn't say whether or not you have been diagnosed with MS. This finding on an OCT doesn't say one way or another about whether or not you have MS, but it is a piece of the diagnostic puzzle. I very much think you should see a neuro-ophth like you mentioned above to get a better feel about what this means, what could be causing it, etc. As for your other symptoms, there are many things that could cause them, but it does sound like it's time to see a neurologist who will take you seriously.

[sparkie10ts]

thanks for the advice ,to clear up i have never been diagnosed with ms but then i have never seen a neurologist, only ever went to doctor or hospital with little explanation of any problems, all i do know is over the last couple of years i,ve gone from very active(sports) to very,very little ,get tired too easily,pain etc ,but sick of doctors looking at me like it's in my head, basically learned to put up with it ,another Q 5-6 days before my opto appointment had pain in eyes and minor flashing at night...cleared up ,now after all the test the other day my eyes have been sore ,in behind eye and minor pain with movement is that normal any one experience that.
would it be worth mentioning to neuro-opt about other pains and aches,burning etc.
lost a lot of faith in doctors after being asked had i taken cocaine the week before as he thought this could of caused the burning in my arms and neck(first ever experience of this)by the way this happened in my local hospital and you can imagine i'm slow about seeking help from them.dont feel like being insulated.
all i know is i'm 31 and feel weaker physically than at the age of 14 or so.....
ohh one last thing i live in small town a question my doctors experience with type of thing.
thanks again.

[Alicious]

Oh man. I get that doctors need to understand what is actually going on in your life, but being asked if I were using cocaine because my arms were burning would really, really piss me off. I am so sorry you are getting the runaround.

I think that telling the neuro-ophth that you are having other symptoms that you worry are neurological is a good idea, especially since you can say that sentence and ask if there is a neurologist they can recommend. Not to mention that if you do have optic neuritis, I'm pretty sure they will be sending you to a neuro straight away anyhow.

Please, keep us posted about how the doctor's visit goes and what happens from there. Whether or not you have MS is a job for a neurologist to determine, but clearly *something* is going on that deserves real medical treatment, not the run around.