Optic Neuritis?

[ManinVA]

Hi all,

It's my first post. Basically, starting last Friday, I've twice had the following: Brief (30-45 seconds) greying/fading out of colors in my direct line of sight. I noticed it as I was reading a monitor. I could tell that the words above and below my direct line of sight were normal, and would fade as I focused on them. It appeared to be both eyes, but I can't guarantee that. I did close each today, when it happened, and believe it was that way for both. The words were not blurry at all. I have no other visual issues (no pain, no blurry spots, no vision loss, etc). It happened on black font today and a blue font and black font on Friday. Can optic neuritis be this brief? Unfortunately, the descriptions online aren't very helpful in that regard. They seem to say that just a greying a vision is not optic neuritis, and that it has to last for at least a couple of hours, usually lasting much longer.

I've been tested in the past for MS (have twitches (benign apparently), shakiness, tingling/numbness in feet, and some other symptoms), with my last MRI (on a 7tev machine I believe??) 3 years ago completely clean. I currently have new symptoms, which while scare me very much (tingling in hands, some perceived weakness in hand/forearm/twitching in index finger), I realize are most likely something like an ulnar nerve issue rather than MS/ALS. But add them to the vision issues and I'm more worried.

Further, it's possible I've had these vision issues before. I clearly remember staring at my monitor in the past and wondering why some text was greyer than others. For some, it actually was, and I had to the change font, but I seem to recall that that approach didn't work all the time. But because of my other fears, I'm more sensitive to this now, so I noticed it right away this time.

Thanks!!

[ManinVA]

Thanks! Yeah, I"m going to call an eye dr today. And I'm confident that my initial symptoms aren't MS; just worried that these new ones might be. And I realize I didn't add that it also happened when I read a piece of paper in front of me. I made sure to try that, though the effect was less pronounced than on the screen.

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome to our little MS community,

Firstly, i personally would be 100% confident that my sx's were 'not' caused by MS, if the MRI was clear of lesions with a 7T, which is often the strength used in research projects. In Australia the 3T is only just becoming more widely available in the private facilities, our public hospitals are dxing MS with the more common 1.5T MRI's.

I don't think what you've described actually does sound like Optic Neuritis, to me  it could even be something as simple as brightness of your screen, because it was both eyes, rapidly fading with focus and it only lasted seconds. ipads and iphones or similar other branded products, are well known for brief visual issues due to the brightness of the screen.  

Sometimes when you are fearful of a medical condition, fears can make you not sensitive exactly, but more likely to assume something is more......

Cheers.........JJ

ps if you are concerned and need concrete proof, please get your eyes checked out by an optomotrist or ophthalmologist.