Eye and weakness question

[shannon_xray]

I know I need to see an eye doctor, after all, I am 45.  With that being said, I was wondering if any of you guys experience these weirdo symptoms.  At work today I was reading my computer monitor at work and all of a sudden I couldn't see anything at all.  All I could see is colors all squashed together like on a painter's palette after color mixing.  It only lasted a few seconds but it sort of freaked me out.  I am just glad it didn't happen on the long drive home.  
I am extremely tired, I work full time and my fatigue is getting worse.  My legs and arms feel weak which doesn't seem related to fatigue.  They feel like they've been stretched out super hard, they don't hurt but they are weak!  
Random spasms seem to be worse too.  Ya'll, I gotta work.  I see my doc on the 1st is their anything I should tell him or ask him?  Currently I am on Ritalin and blood pressure med..no other meds.
Neuro says I have PPMS, I told him nobody has time for that.

Sorry I don't write much, I am tired constantly now and my reading comprehension ***** big time.  

Hope you guys are doing well,
Shannon

[shannon_xray]

Well, I haven't hurt a patient but I did drop an xray cassette on my coworkers foot :)  lol
I barely get a lunch break :(  I would love down time, it just doesn't happen often for me at work.

[jensequitur]

I'm lucky to have a job that won't hurt anybody if I screw up!

Are you able to take a nap? Sometimes that helps me get my mojo back.

[shannon_xray]

I have increased my distance behind cars because of that uneasy feeling.  By the end of the week my Ritalin stops working in the afternoon and my fatigue is terrible.  I will be OK in the morning, but just ok but the afternoon is awful.  My problem is I can't stay out without getting another xray tech to cover me unless I am dying.  

[jensequitur]

I have to gauge how well I feel in the morning, and decide whether or not I can be productive at work. Sometimes I've come into work and discovered I'm no good - can't concentrate, keep falling asleep, etc. It's bad enough not being able to see, but not able to drive at all because you can't figure out where you are or how to operate the car - now that's dangerous.

What I've heard is that the damaged optic nerve transmits information slower. Your brain perceives that it's receiving signals from your optic nerve at different times, and so you get this feeling of unease, like something's wrong. I think it also contributed to the 'receding' effect in my right eye.

[shannon_xray]

It hasn't happened again, I just wish there was some kind of warning before it came in.  I have a 45 minute commute to and from work.  I can't stand flickering light!  It has the same effect on me as it does you.  Early on, before i knew something was wrong, I had very odd depth perception issues.  Sometimes it would it look like objects that I was looking at were right against my nose.  I have had nystagmus before but, knock on wood, it hasn't returned.

[jensequitur]

What you describe is optic neuritis, which is caused by inflammation of the optic nerve. This has a number of side effects... For me, everything went gray in my right eye, as if I was looking at a black and white tv. My eye also started jerking around so it looked like the room was going around in a circle. I also began to notice that colors were really washed out in my left eye, but really vivid in my right. Every time I looked at something close up, my eye would vibrate really fast. It turns out that I also have nystagmus, which is an action tremor of the eye.

All this is terrible, but it's liveable. However, I would not recommend trying to drive while it's going on. My eyes didn't want to cooperate when looking back and forth, so I had to work at keeping my eye motion as limited as possible. Light really bothered my eyes. I felt 'weird' when there was flickering light, and had a hard time concentrating. Sometimes it would set off myoclonus in my back. I also noticed that when I looked at things through my right eye they seemed to recede, like I was in a horror movie.

Most of that stuff has resolved - it's been about 7 years since that happened. I still occasionally have color problems, and I have a saccade (jerk in my eye motion) in my right eye that doesn't go away.

[shannon_xray]

Thanks for the info, JJ and Aspentoo thanks for the camaraderie.  At least we know we aren't alone.  I figured the eye thing is probably some short circuit thing.  I just don't want it to happen behind the wheel.  

Leave it to me to give all the types of fatigue a try.  Everyone of them describe me.  I do my best to stay cool, which isn't usually a problem at work because they tend to keep the temperature equal to that of the artic (ok, that's what it feels like to me. lol)  I do get hot though when I have to lift patients from time to time though. I will certainly be reading that pdf!  Thank you very much!  That's awesome!

As far as I know that isn't a side effect but I will research more.  My neuro is probably going to increase the Ritalin so we will definitely find out.

Thank you, guys!

Shannon

[aspen2]

have you increased a med? Have you checked for side effects of  Ritalin or your bp med?  I had instances of  palinopsia and one instance of colours bleeding together (dashboard of car while driving at night) while taking amitriptyline.  Prior to realizing it was a med side effect,  I was told by my neurologist that it was silent migraine related.

Fwiw ... I know not much help, but I do empathize with weird eye stuff.  I'm in the middle of ten days of new but different eye issues.  Never ends :P.

Great info on fatigue, JJ!  Thanks.

[supermum_ms]

Hey Shannon,

I'm not sure what the vision was all about, i've definitely heard of a lot of weird over the years but this one isn't ringing any bells sorry, though if it's only happened once for a couple of seconds i'd be more inclined to not even think about it unless it becomes more than a one off.......the weakness sounds like you could be experiencing muscle fatigue which you should talk to your neuro about.

It actually sounds like your probably experiencing more than one type of fatigue (general, muscle, cognitive), though because your having to work through the general MS fatigue it's likely creating a domino effect. Technically fatigue is put into two categories primary and secondary....

"Although it is given one name, there are two recognised types of fatigue in MS: primary fatigue, and secondary fatigue. Primary fatigue is thought to be a direct result of damage to the central nervous system, such as demyelination or inflammation. Secondary fatigue is related to the symptoms of MS, such as
sleep problems or drug side effects.

Primary fatigue is sometimes divided into:
• lassitude – an overwhelming sense of tiredness not directly related to participation in activity or exercise
•‘short-circuiting’ fatigue – occurs in specific muscle groups, like the hands after typing or legs when walking and standing for a short time
• heat sensitivity fatigue – a rise in body temperature due to the
season, infection, or a hot bath
• cognitive fatigue – when memory, learning, concentration and
attention are affected

Secondary fatigue is a result of factors which may be related to MS, but are not MS itself. These include:
• other MS symptoms – such as muscle weakness, stiffness, pain,
tremor and depression"
http://www.mssociety.org.uk/sites/default/files/Documents/Essentials/Fatigue-Aug-14.pdf

That pdf is actually well worth reading as it's also got some really good tips on how to manage fatigue, tips and tricks all definitely help but it's unfortunately on going babe...

Hugs..........JJ