I went to my eye doctor and told him what was going on. He is the one that came up with the double vision diagnosis not me. like I said it was hard for me to explain to me it was a weird feeling were everything in my eye field like shift to the right but did see 2 of each. it is hard to explain.
Yes I am reading it is not classic MS double vision. that's fine, Great even!]
And as for the dizziness/ vertigo if we thing that's what that episode was who knows I don't know. I do have other dizziness vertigo going on not just that episode.
Hi,
I honestly don't believe what you've described would be called 'double vision', to me it genuinely sounds like it would be more consistent with how dizziness or vertigo is commonly described...
"So out of the blue when focusing looking at something, someone or reading I experienced what was something that made me feel dizzier the my usual. what I was looking at shifted to the right. very strange feeling. very hard to explain. it catches me off guard and is very nauseating."
Double vision is literally seeing 'double' instead of one image, i have double vision and i actually see a lot of weird because of it, to me images often look 3D eg lines along the road etc, or are obviously double eg seeing extra eyes on their forehead etc, or images overlapping which isn't as obvious double eg H = #, V = W etc
You've also said....."I posted about how I was having left eye pain and what I didn't realize was double vision" and that isn't how 'double vision' is typically described either, i think it might help if you read about dizziness and vertigo, see example below
http://www.mayoclinic.org/diseases-conditions/dizziness/basics/causes/con-20023004
Cheers.........JJ
Nystagmus is double vision caused by the muscles tha control eye movement, rather than optic neuritis.
I have double vision for the first 2-3 minutes when I wake up, but my eyes and optic nerve are fine.
Kyle
Yes something like that. But not painful.
Is it like an electric shock? Is it where you switch from one eye to the other?
Alex
Thanks again Alex!
Ok so when I went to the eye doctor I explained what was going on which was hard to explain. I will explain it here. obviously him saying double vision is not what it is.
So out of the blue when focusing looking at something, someone or reading I experienced what was something that made me feel dizzier the my usual. what I was looking at shifted to the right. very strange feeling. very hard to explain. it catches me off guard and is very nauseating.
So I guess he felt that was double vision. is that kind of how double vision is?
With MS double vision it does not come and go. It is constant for weeks, months, or more. You probably need IV steroids. They can give you prisms or patch one eye in some cases.
Alex
The eye doctor did not say if it looked like I ever had optic neuritis or not. He only said that my eyes looked healthy. And that the double vision would come and go. And that obviously yes there was nothing he could do for me it would pass eventually.
No there was no discussion of any other meds for this. for me I just feel like there was no help from the meds we have tried. I don't have depression but I do have anxiety issues. So we just opted to go off it and see how I do. Since my migraine meds also help with some stuff as well. Only time will tell I guess.
Plus I don't really like taking a lot of meds.
There are two eye problems with MS. Double vision and optic neuritis. If you have ever had optic neuritis the optometrist can see it when he looks at the back of the eye where the optic nerve is. Both eye conditions are neurological. Double vision from damage in the brain and optic neuritis from damage to the optic nerve. The eye doctor can also tell if you have double vision. Unless you have a really bad case of optic neuritis you just wait it out. That is what you do with most MS symptoms. You just wait for them to go away.
Alex
Did they at least offer you another anti-depressant? Cutting one off suddenly, especially without a plan on how to deal with on-going issues/symptoms is not a good idea, and I'd question a doctor who's on board with that. I say this as someone who's on venlafaxine/effexor for depression and also has MS.
There are so many other options that will have a side-effect profile your body can better manage. Seeing after your mental health is no less deserving than getting to the bottom of your other challenges.
Thanks for your replies Alex and Rachel!
A couple more developments... No longer on effexxor for depression which GP thinks was contributing to some of my sleep issues which I aggree since that has been a new thing. So far so good on that. 4 days sleep slowly better. He feels I don't need study done. It was the meds and yes I have restless leg syndrome.
So for my neurologist I called to do appointment but the way refferal was sent it was for a migraine specialists. I explained I didn't want that I wanted MS specialist. I had to talk to GP.
So I needed to make go in anayway so when I did I discussed this with him and he said he didn't put that in like that. But felt maybe that was a good way to go. He feels that she can look at my mri's and go over what's been going on and know whether this is all migraine related better then my current neurologist. And if not then she can just send me over to one of the MS collegues. He feels like at least my foot is in the door at Dartmouth Hitchcock.
Also I have been having some new eye things going on was really thrown off by it so called and went into eye doctor. Left eye pain. Like when I move my eye not so much right to left but up and down. Not extreme but painful. And also hard to explain at first but I guess it's just double vision. I was having a hard time explaining it to him.
He examined my eyes said they look healthy. He asked about the migraines and asked about what else was going on. In the end he said that he felt my current eye problems were not migraine related.
What do I do with this information? Anything? If I tell neurologist new symptoms and what eye doc said I feel like he will just shrug it off like oh he is just an eye doctor.
Sorry you are having so many issues. I was going to suggest a MS Specialist. I think a LP would be a good thing.
Alex
Hi Tanya
Horrible to read you're still struggling. I hope you find some relief soon.
MRIs are a wonderful addition to the medical kit bag, though not the magic bullet to diagnosis we'd like them to be. Migraines certainly do cause lesions - I've got a fair few from them but also quite a lot of others from MS too.
The difference is the type of lesions - they don't look the same as the cause is from different things. MS ones also appear in fairly common areas in the brain as well as one the brainstem/spinal cord I.e. Central Nervous System. Did your neurologist talk you through the results of your MRI? Do you have the results write up report?
Quite often there are good clues the radiologist points out to the neurologist about what they can see. MS lesions shows demyelination ie the protective coating has damage. MS Society websites have some good simple info around this.
You could compare that to what you know about migraine lesions.
It might be a good idea however, to ask your neuro about the lesions they found, where they were, type etc if you haven't had that conversation though rather than trying to figure all this out yourself!!
Also, mention your biggest symptoms above that cause issue to you and let them weigh up all the data! The sleep study sounds a good idea as lack of sleep can cause memory issues, fatigue etc.
Raised blood pressure can cause headaches, dizziness etc
It might be an unlucky combination of things.
If you want to ask specifically about the likelihood of it being MS that is your prerogative of course, there does seem to be lots of info pointing to other things, but for your piece of mind I'd ask those questions rather than worrying yourself silly and potentially adding to your headaches with stress.
Hold on, it's hard I know. Your bloods, current data etc might mean a LP can be avoided - not something to undertake if you don't need, and might leave you in exactly the same place.
Let us know how you get on and what they can say to you to answer a few questions perhaps.
Nx