Blurred vision need help

[Soccerloser4U]

Hi, I am 22 years old and have been to an ophthalmologist, cardiologist, and neurologist. I've had blurred vision when I exercise that has been going on for two years. It started out as only being in my right eye. But recently it has started in my left eye. Its not just blurry either, it goes dim and kinda black. Not really definite spots, but just dim, like someone turned the lights down. I first went to the ophthalmologist, and he checked everything that he could and said everything was fine, so then he sent me to a cardiologist to have him check the blood vessels around my neck and brain.  So he ordered a brain MRI, and that came back saying that I had white legions in my brain. He then had an EKG stress test done and all that came back normal. He referred me to a neurologist because he thought I had MS. So the neurologist did a spinal tap, and those results came back and confirmed that I do have MS. But what is happening with my eye is not a symptom of MS. I'm going in two weeks for another eye test to see if I have optic neuritis, but my Dr. said I probably don't have that because that only last a couple of weeks and goes away, and this started two years ago. Now it doesn't only happen with exercise, it'll happen whenever it wants and its happening two to three times a day. Can anyone help? My neurologist said he doesn't know what to do next. Thanks

Melissa

[Pixiangelj]

That's good that you don't have any pain. I'm in a chronic state, since I was 19, I'm 22 now. I hope that doesn't change for you. There are different degrees of nerve injuries. 1-4 most commonly, sometimes debated, or on different ranked systems. 1-2 are myelin damage partial to full, then 3-4 are axon damage partial to full. I have full axon damage in my face including my eye. Mine will never heal or repair itself. The type of nerve injury you have corresponds to the recovery time. So this is probably a good sign, that is hasn't gotten too progressive, I would think, just my opinion. Let me know, I know this forum helped in my pre-diagnostic state...

[Soccerloser4U]

Thanks, that article helped. I definitely will get a second opinion. I'm just waiting for that other test to be sure if it is optic neuritis or not. But in the articles about optic neuritis, it always says that people who have it have pain in their eye. And I don't have any pain with it. I guess I just won't be sure till I have that test done.

Melissa

[Pixiangelj]

Hi Melissa,

I'm sure you're having a hard time. I had to go to several drs. before I got a diagnosis I was looking for. Sometimes you have to be your own dr. (to a certain extent of course) You know yourself better than anyone else. I fought with my drs. for two years, and my family, to try and thell them that something was wrong and no one believed me. I researched and researched, in case anyone can tell, lol, and  I walked in and said ok listen I know I have Trigeminal Neuralgia, it's secondary from my suboccipital craniectomy, not primary, I have my records, I have my MRI's I want to try Tegretol or Neurontin as an add on. If that fails, then you can try what you think. I got fed-up. And I finally got a dr. who took me seriously and listened, and now I'm as good as I can be.  I included an article, and not sure how much you know about optic neuritis. If you read the article it finitely states a symptom of MS. and as soon as you said white plaques, I kind of had a feeling this was where it was going unfortunately. It does say that most times it does go away in a 8-10 week time frame; however, it does include exceptions. Your myelin can heal because it isn't a severe injury to your nerve or it depends if your axons are damaged. And in the medical field, drs. forget every individual is not standard textbook, so there is potential to have a different outcome than what they think or what the book says. My point is don't let a dr. dismiss you and let you think this isn't relevant, get a few more opinions, if you can, especially that you know you have MS. Sadly that causes an array of symptoms, so for him to dismiss anything is kind of ridiculous. Let me know if this helps, and keep me posted.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Optic_neuritis