Eye problems

[veebee]

Hi everyone

Just looking for some advice. I haven't posted in a while as I've been doing ok-ish and trying to control my panic and worry but have been on a bit of a slippery slope over the past couple of weeks.

I have been worried about having MS for months now, have seen various GPs and neurologist and had MRI. Neuro wasn't concerned with my presenting symptoms and subsequent MRI result in July was clear for MS. However I still can't shake the feeling that something is very wrong - and I know MS can be tricky to diagnose.

My vision has gone blurry twice since March - it literally lasted 5 seconds and on both occasions it happened when I was in work. I've had a intermittent ache in my browbone and when I apply pressure to my left eyeball it sometimes feels very tender. There was a period as well when I kept thinking I was seeing something out of the corner of my eye. I went to the optician last week (mainly because I am not entirely convinced about my MRI result, and when I told my GP about my eye a couple of weeks ago she just snapped 'go to an optician'). The optician did the usual tests and then she asked me to come back to have drops put in so they could get a look at the back of my eye and peripherals. I panicked and asked her if she thought it was optical neuritis.

She said 'why are you asking, do you have MS?' I said I'd had a clear MRI but was still worried. She said she was only getting me back because she didn't have time to do the test that day, and she would be getting me back anyway because I'd mentioned blurring. I must have looked awful because she kept saying 'don't panic, don't panic, I'm sure there's nothing to worry about'.

Then she says one of the most effective tests for optical neuritis is looking at colour, so I do this test and again I freak out..she asks me to tell her what I see but she says I'm actually seeing it the opposite way of how someone with optical neuritis would see it. But I am still really panicking..I really think I have mixed up my left and right eye and told her the wrong thing and she hasn't noticed. Both my eyes have felt really weird since last week - kind of irritated and tired, and the left one feels sore when I press it in (its felt like this on and off for ages). I keep doing the colour test and sometimes there's a difference and sometimes there isn't.

I read on the web that optical neuritis usually lasts 4-12 weeks - I've had this since the middle of March (which I think is around 23 weeks). I've also had a persistent runny nose since then and don't know if this is connected.
I'm scheduled to go next Friday (when a more senior member of staff is back from holiday) to have the drops put in so they can look at the back of my eye and peripherals but I am getting really worried about this - I always thought optical neuritis was very severe (such as blindness, or black spots in vision) but further reading has revealed that it can be 'moderate'. Pain behind the eye was mentioned in the stuff I had been reading too, but I don't know if this means constant pain behind the eye (which I don't have) or if its just pain when its pressed in firmly.

Also when I went to the neurologist in April he only had a very quick look at my eyes - I told him that I had pain in browbone, eye felt tender to touch, and that vision was a little blurry (but this only happened in work). He didn't seemed concerned. But the little light that he used to look in my eyes wasn't working too well and I think he may have missed something. Does anyone know if optical neuritis would show up on an MRI, or can this only be seen in a very thorough eye test?

I just can't seem to rely on myself to correctly interpret my symptoms and would really appreciate any advice.

thanks

[Ddcoo]

Veebee, I get similar symptoms to yourself with my eyes going blurred and pain in the eyebrow and tenderness in one eye usually and I find that it is sinusitis mixed with good old anxiety. I went to the opticians last year because of the vision problems, first of all they told me I had probably got a cataract coming, then 3 months later they checked my eyes again and said it wasn't a cataract and they didn't know what it was, so since then I have had on and off spells of vision problems and lots of sinus pain and dripping nose. The more wound up I become the more double vision I get and then the dizzy spells start, but to put your mind at rest, have all the tests done and I just hope that you are only suffering from sinus problems. I'm having another eye test done next month so I will see what the opticians find this time.

[LeeBee]

Hi veebee, leebee here :)

I had an eye test about 6 weeks ago because of pressure above my right eye. He did all the usual checks and said the health of my eye was fine but that my prescription in just my right eye had changed a bit (got worse, I'm short-sighted) since my last eye test, which was 18 months ago, and that I'd developed an astigmatism in the same eye.

That should have reassured me but instead freaked me out. I went to the docs and it turned out the pressure above my eye was sinusitis (I had swollen glands and other symptoms too). But why had my eyesight got so much worse after years of being stable? And only in the right eye? Since then two different GPs have had a look in my eye and say that it looks perfectly healthy. But the change in vision combined with the pressure above my eye is still bugging me. To the point where, when I'm worried about it, I become convinced that there is something abnormal about my vision. My eyes get tired, dry, and I get stabs of pain in both of them on occasion.

Here's how I TRY to rationalise it:

1. The pressure above the eye is because of my sinuses. There is a sinus really close to the eye, and, if swollen, it can irritate the eye.
2. The three health professionals who have looked into my eye, one very thoroughly and with specialist equipment, have not found any physical abnormalities in my eye. The fact that my vision has worsened in the same eye as I'm having the sinus problems with is just a coincidence (so hard to convince myself of this one).
3. The other symptoms - dryness, pain etc - are the result of the sinus problems and, probably, anxiety.
4. The 'abnormal' vision (which I can't really pin down, just "doesn't feel right") I've been having is a combination of anxiety and imagination and, well, my eyesight just isn't perfect.

Despite all of this I am going to see a different optician for further reassurance and because I'm not convinced that the first guy got my prescription right. And I want to ask some questions about how/why my vision changed so much in 18 months.

I totally understand where you're coming from. It sounds to me like you're having some sinus pressure too, which can be aggravated by anxiety. Get another eye test for further reassurance if you need to but you and I have both had several health professionals look at our eyes and not see any problems. At some point, we have to believe them. :)

[turnthelighton]

Here's how I TRY to rationalise it:

1. The pressure above the eye is because of my sinuses. There is a sinus really close to the eye, and, if swollen, it can irritate the eye.
2. The three health professionals who have looked into my eye, one very thoroughly and with specialist equipment, have not found any physical abnormalities in my eye. The fact that my vision has worsened in the same eye as I'm having the sinus problems with is just a coincidence (so hard to convince myself of this one).
3. The other symptoms - dryness, pain etc - are the result of the sinus problems and, probably, anxiety.
4. The 'abnormal' vision (which I can't really pin down, just "doesn't feel right") I've been having is a combination of anxiety and imagination and, well, my eyesight just isn't perfect.




I can really relate to this as this is what I get and have just got to accept that this is what my eyes do.

[veebee]

Hi all, thanks so much for your replies.

I'm back at the optician on Friday - pretty freaked about it all. At least they are being thorough I guess.

Since I started worrying about the optician appointments I know have problems in my right eye...crazy, eh?

I've also got counselling on Wed so will get the view from the professionals about my constant worrying.

Like you point out, we've had reassurance, so we've got to listen to it, eh?

Thanks again