april1848
06-23-2008, 09:10 PM
Hey buddies,
I made an appt for next week to see an opthamologist. First of all, I have an infected, blocked tear duct that I want him to look at. Antibiotics are working to a certain extent, but it's still blocked, until I get surgery. I also thought I'd bring up the MS thing so he can check out my optic nerve. How do they do that?
I haven't had any symptoms of ON except for two days in February, where my eyes were blurry and I had a tiny blind spot. It went away as quickly as it appeared. I just thought that since I have to see one anyway, I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I just have no idea how they look at your optic nerve! Next week I'll be starting all over on a $3000.00 deductible, so I hope it's not an MRI!!
I made an appt for next week to see an opthamologist. First of all, I have an infected, blocked tear duct that I want him to look at. Antibiotics are working to a certain extent, but it's still blocked, until I get surgery. I also thought I'd bring up the MS thing so he can check out my optic nerve. How do they do that?
I haven't had any symptoms of ON except for two days in February, where my eyes were blurry and I had a tiny blind spot. It went away as quickly as it appeared. I just thought that since I have to see one anyway, I might as well kill two birds with one stone. I just have no idea how they look at your optic nerve! Next week I'll be starting all over on a $3000.00 deductible, so I hope it's not an MRI!!
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Nenu
06-23-2008, 10:12 PM
Blocked tear duct does not sound pleasant April. Hoping this guy can be of assistance with that, as well as your other questions. :)
purple2067
06-23-2008, 10:28 PM
Yeah, blocked tear ducts can be painful. You should check out the eye & vision board about that. Anyway, I have got MS and my Ophthalmologist was the one who diagnosed me. In addition to several other symptoms surfacing (numbness in my face, loss of taste on one side of my mouth, speech slurring, tripping, to name a few) I had Optic Neuritis. I woke up one day and had pain behind my eyeball and I couldn't see very clearly. My ophthalmologist got me in immediately and gave me a visual field test. A visual field test checks your peripheral vision. You put your head in the machine and you look at a fixed point. Then a bunch of tiny lights start flashing around you and you click every time you see a light. The machine makes a graph for the doctor that tells him the location of all of the lights that you missed. The location of those missed lights would be where you are losing your peripheral vision due to the ON.
Do you have a diagnosis of MS or are you just speculating? Optic Neuritis usually lasts for much longer than two days (mine lasted for a month, and that was a mild case). I would tell the ophthalmologist about the blurriness and let him do some testing and make a proper diagnosis. It could just be some floaters or else something minor.
Do you have a diagnosis of MS or are you just speculating? Optic Neuritis usually lasts for much longer than two days (mine lasted for a month, and that was a mild case). I would tell the ophthalmologist about the blurriness and let him do some testing and make a proper diagnosis. It could just be some floaters or else something minor.
Canadian gal
06-23-2008, 10:40 PM
I have heard of eye doctors using a MRI, CAT, VEP/VER (to check the speed of nerve transmissions down the optic nerve), and opthalmoscope on the back of the eye (so long as the inflammation is not further back along the optic nerve), to test for ON.
However, I would think ON would be most obvious, by any testing method, while it is inflammed and we are experiencing symptoms. I'm not sure how much damage they can pick up on if it is not active. :confused:
They can probably give an educated guess as to whether what you experienced previously was ON, but I'm not convinced they could confirm that at this point in time though.
Cherie
However, I would think ON would be most obvious, by any testing method, while it is inflammed and we are experiencing symptoms. I'm not sure how much damage they can pick up on if it is not active. :confused:
They can probably give an educated guess as to whether what you experienced previously was ON, but I'm not convinced they could confirm that at this point in time though.
Cherie
Nenu
06-23-2008, 10:54 PM
In addition to several other symptoms surfacing (numbness in my face, loss of taste on one side of my mouth, speech slurring, tripping, to name a few)
Ugh. Facial numbness for me on the right side, loss of taste... plus the ever present burning mouth. :( Fortunately drugs are helping, but they only can help so much!
Ugh. Facial numbness for me on the right side, loss of taste... plus the ever present burning mouth. :( Fortunately drugs are helping, but they only can help so much!
MSNik
06-23-2008, 11:13 PM
Hey April. As you know, I was at my opthamologists just this week, getting my optic nerve checked...no big deal! He put drops in my eyes, not the kind that dialate you, but a different kind, which actually are like contrast- when he looks thru a special machine, the optic nerve glows..he can tell from that if it is inflamed or enlarged or NOT normal..it took seconds and was completely painless..now, this time, it was normal- but one time when he did this for me, he sent me to the NeuroOpthamologist who did more intense tests..none of them hurt, none of them required any preparation- and all of them were in the office....the visual field test is one which I have had many times (the clicks with the lights floating around) thats like an amusement park ride- it doesnt hurt at all, but its interesting to see the lights flash and whether or not you can see them all over the screen. Again, totally painless and really quick!
Youll be fine. Promise...Id be surprised if anything else took place...if you have never had your eyes dialated, he MIGHT do that, to see behind your eyes and check your corneas and for glaucoma..that doesnt hurt- but it is hard to drive home afterwards...youll be blurry for 3-4 hours..other than that, its a piece of cake.
Let us know how it goes..and April, say a prayer for me- I might have an interview by the end of the week, got the call saying they were forwarding my resume...more on that, if and when.
Hugs,
Nikki
Youll be fine. Promise...Id be surprised if anything else took place...if you have never had your eyes dialated, he MIGHT do that, to see behind your eyes and check your corneas and for glaucoma..that doesnt hurt- but it is hard to drive home afterwards...youll be blurry for 3-4 hours..other than that, its a piece of cake.
Let us know how it goes..and April, say a prayer for me- I might have an interview by the end of the week, got the call saying they were forwarding my resume...more on that, if and when.
Hugs,
Nikki
Nenu
06-24-2008, 02:07 AM
Let us know how it goes..and April, say a prayer for me- I might have an interview by the end of the week, got the call saying they were forwarding my resume...more on that, if and when.
Hugs,
Nikki
This is great news indeed Nikki! I'll be praying for you. :)
Hugs,
Nikki
This is great news indeed Nikki! I'll be praying for you. :)
Moldova
06-24-2008, 05:08 PM
Nikky and others explained it well about the test.
I had pain behind eye ball for about 5 days; than my vision got grey and blurry in my left eye. I thought I got something into my eyes and mentioned this to my PM Doctor. He sent me to see eye Dr.
She looked into my eyes and asked if I ever was diagnosed with MS. I was shocked: why MS and eyes??
She called another DR and they put drops in my eyes; 20 minutes later she called local Neurologist to see ASAP. When i went there she evaluated me and sent to have MRI of the brain, C and T levels.
MRI did not show any leasions and she doesn't know what to think; according to her 95% of MS sufferers have leasions shown on MRI. I have very pronounced symptoms of MS (very serious too, like chocking during eating due not be able to swallow and many more) but MRI is clear so DR very puzzled. So far I don't want to have spinal tab because I had 2 spinal fusions and results may be controversial anyway...
So I wouldn't worry if I would be you: it will not hurt I promisse!:)
Best of luck to you!
I had pain behind eye ball for about 5 days; than my vision got grey and blurry in my left eye. I thought I got something into my eyes and mentioned this to my PM Doctor. He sent me to see eye Dr.
She looked into my eyes and asked if I ever was diagnosed with MS. I was shocked: why MS and eyes??
She called another DR and they put drops in my eyes; 20 minutes later she called local Neurologist to see ASAP. When i went there she evaluated me and sent to have MRI of the brain, C and T levels.
MRI did not show any leasions and she doesn't know what to think; according to her 95% of MS sufferers have leasions shown on MRI. I have very pronounced symptoms of MS (very serious too, like chocking during eating due not be able to swallow and many more) but MRI is clear so DR very puzzled. So far I don't want to have spinal tab because I had 2 spinal fusions and results may be controversial anyway...
So I wouldn't worry if I would be you: it will not hurt I promisse!:)
Best of luck to you!
april1848
06-24-2008, 06:22 PM
Thank you all so much for your awesome replies, as usual! To answer Purple, yes, I definitely have MS.
Nikki, good luck! You're in my thoughts every day!
I had my eyes dilated when I was in my teens, when I had pink eye. If I remember right, they put stuff in it that made things show up with a black light. It was pretty cool to a teenager!
Nikki, good luck! You're in my thoughts every day!
I had my eyes dilated when I was in my teens, when I had pink eye. If I remember right, they put stuff in it that made things show up with a black light. It was pretty cool to a teenager!