Lesions on retina?

[Footsie3110]

I have RRMS, never had optic neuritis before. Have had funny vision since Friday morning and optometrist today showed me almost a dozen lesions on my retina. Has anyone else had this or heard of it in relation to MS?

I have no idea if it will get better or worse and I'm worried as already I can't drive with it and I have two preschoolers and a household to run.

I have a neuro appt booked for tomorrow.

Thanks in advance.

Footsie XOXO

[Footsie3110]

The blood test results are in and they were all clear, so Rebif is the likely cause.

[Footsie3110]

Thats really interesting! I have a splinter hemorrage show up as well. My ms nurse rang merck serono and they said they never heard of rebif causing it. Tecfidera not approved here yet.

[KariB67]

When I went to the eye doctor in January they found Hemmorages on my retna but it was not causing any vision problems.  I had to go back in Feb for another eye exam and they found three more hemmorages and again in March they found two more.  

In March I went to my primary care doctor to have blood test done to rule out diabetes and Heart problems all was negative.

My Nuero then got involved and had me go off Rebif because the preliminary studies show that  less then 1% of patients had this issue.  

I have been off rebif for 2 months and started taking Tecfidera last week.   So far so good.

I have to go back to the eye doctor in two months for another exam to see if the Hemmorages have stopped.

[Footsie3110]

Just popping in with an update. I ended up seeing a Neuro-Opthamologist today and the diagnosis is "cotton wool spots" (Dr Google was right for once LOL).

He also said there are only a few things that cause it (HIV, hepatitis, diabetes, SLE) and most of those can probably be ruled out because the blood tests I had a few months ago before starting Rebif would have picked them up.

His opinion was that it is most likely a toxic reaction to the Rebif and has advised me to stop taking it immediately pending another lot of blood tests to definitely rule out the other things.

Here's hoping my vision clears up soon... it might take up to 8 weeks after stopping the Rebif if that is what caused the problem.

Now I have to decide what to do as far as a DMD goes. :(

Footsie XOXO

[Footsie3110]

Thanks for your coments. They show up as white spots on the retinal scan. I've now googled a bit and I think maybe the optomrtrist heard "MS" and assumed lesions, and recommended I see my neuro.

I've looked at the pics and compared to other ones, they look like something called "cotton wool spots" that can be related to autoimmune disorders like lupus but not specifically MS. I guess my neuro will tell me to see an opthamologist instead.

[Poppy7402]

I wonder whether he's saying 'lesions' when he means 'holes' in the retina?  

If these are in fact 'holes' they can usually be cured by laser surgery as an outpatient.  It's quick and quite painless.

MS can cause thinning of the retina which can then result in these holes.  Usually they are in the periphery but I gather they can occur anywhere in the retina.  

[immisceo]

First of all, I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. I hope they can get you treated ASAP.

Hmmm. I wouldn't have thought it was related MS as it's the optic nerve that's part of the central nervous system which stops at the back of the eyeball. The eye itself remains healthy but how vision signals are interpreted can be effected by optic nerve damage In MS. What you're describing sounds more like cataracts which are related to the health of the eyeball tissue itself.

But this is hardly an area of deep knowledge for me, so hopefully someone with a bit more information will chime in!