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    #1

    ON pain questions

    Hi All,

    This is my very first time dealing with Optic Neuritis (yay!) and I have a few questions if you don't mind answering.

    How long did it take for your pain to go away (without IV steroids)? I have had pain for about a week and a half now and it doesn't seem to be going away as stated it should in many articles.

    Also, is it normal to wake up with bad pain in the eye and side of face? it seems as soon as I wake up the pain is at it's worst. I suspect it may be from sleeping on the affected side.

    I appreciate it.
    Tags: None
    #2
    Hi Andria,

    I'm sure others will be along to give you some info...but here's a couple threads where posters describe what ON was like for them. I thought it might be a good place for you to start to get some info (can't answer personally since my eye problems are double vision, not ON.)

    http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthr...optic+neuritis

    http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthr...optic+neuritis

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      #3
      Mine was severe pain in my left eye, to the point where turning that eye to the left was excurciating. That lasted for about 6 weeks.

      I had ON at around the same time that I was diagnosed, but I didn't know it was related to MS so I never mentioned it to my neuro and never got it treated.

      Comment

        #4
        Originally posted by msesq View Post
        Mine was severe pain in my left eye, to the point where turning that eye to the left was excurciating. That lasted for about 6 weeks.

        I had ON at around the same time that I was diagnosed, but I didn't know it was related to MS so I never mentioned it to my neuro and never got it treated.
        Did your ON resolve by itself? I am not getting treatment.

        Comment

          #5
          Mine continued to hurt and vision stayed gone for two months. It started improving when I did steroids- but I do hear that for many people, ON does clear up on its own. My neuro wasn't going to give me steroids just for the ON, but other things made it necessary.

          You are getting confirmation that it is ON, though, right? Even if you aren't getting treatment you still want to be sure of what it is.
          Newbie

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            #6
            Originally posted by newbie but goodie View Post
            Mine continued to hurt and vision stayed gone for two months. It started improving when I did steroids- but I do hear that for many people, ON does clear up on its own. My neuro wasn't going to give me steroids just for the ON, but other things made it necessary.

            You are getting confirmation that it is ON, though, right? Even if you aren't getting treatment you still want to be sure of what it is.
            Yes. An MRI confirmed retrobulbar ON. The opthamologist I saw could not see anything wrong with my eye so they had me do an MRI with and without contrast. I was told it was ON due to the inflammation.

            Is it possible they were mistaken?

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              #7
              It totally resolved on its own, and my vision is fine. I haven't had any other bouts of ON. Its been 7 years.

              Comment

                #8
                Hi Andria:
                Originally posted by Andria View Post
                An MRI confirmed retrobulbar ON. ... Is it possible they were mistaken?
                If a classic presentation of ON was confirmed by MRI, probably not.

                Sometimes ON doesn't show up on MRI, and skilled doctors don't need MRI or VEP to diagnose ON, even when retrobulbar. I've had dozens of episodes of retrobulbar ON and have never had an MRI or VEP to diagnose any of them. Even though your ophthalmologist wasn't confident enough to make the diagnosis on his/her own, your MRI does seem to have confirmed ON.

                From the American Academy of Ophthalmology:

                "optic neuritis is a clinical diagnosis, thus MRI of the orbit with gadolinium looking for optic nerve enhancement, blood testing for inflammatory or infectious etiologies, and lumbar puncture are not needed for the diagnosis"

                and

                "Optic neuritis is diagnosed clinically by symptoms of acute unilateral decrease in vision, eye pain--especially with movement and signs of a RAPD, decreased color vision/contrast/brightness sense and documentation of a visual field defect. A MRI depicting enhancement of the optic nerve after administration of gadolinium is helpful but not required to make the clinical diagnosis and neither is disc swelling required to be present. Relative recovery of vision at 6 months from onset tends to be the natural progression of the disease. However, 12% of patients may not recover 20/40 or better vision, and the ones that do recover have residual vision changes such as decreased contrast."
                http://eyewiki.aao.org/Demyelinating...ical_diagnosis

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