Hi everyone,

So I was unsure where to put this, as I haven't been diagnosed with MS, just had a rather nasty bout of ON. If this is in the incorrect place, I do apologise and I'll remove or move it as necessary.

So late last year, around the middle of December, I started getting severe pain behind and around my eyes. I was unsure of what to do, so I left it alone for a day or so but then the pain became intolerable, and I went to my local GP. She suggested that it could be a sinus condition as I'd been having some pretty severe sinus-y things happening over the previous two years. She handed me some antibiotics, patted me on the shoulder and off I went.

A week later, I started to lose vision. Something really wasn't right, so I called the doctor and she advised me to seek out an optometrist straight away. So I did, and he then referred me to an opthalmologist the very next day and he then sent me to the nearest major city and public hospital ASAP. By this point I was getting very, very frightened.

My vision was just blurry and the pain was AGONISING but they suggested I wait it out and hope that the ON cured itself, as it still had roughly two weeks to go before it was due to get better. The lady that I spoke to and who diagnosed me, said that it wasn't a particularly bad case and wouldn't need steroids. Three weeks later, I was admitted to the hospital with absolutely NO vision in my left eye and partial vision in my right. I could barely see to walk.

9 months later, I am vision impaired. I have roughly 85% I suppose, but it always feels... wrong. Alien, like my eye doesn't belong in my head. They couldn't find anything wrong in the billions of tests, MRIs and lumbar punctures, but I was placed on steroids for a lot longer period than usual to try and maximise my sight healing. The nerve itself is damaged and there's nothing I can do about that.

I've been dealing with stress and anxiety most of my life and the doctor's best guess was that my immune system finally caved in and attacked itself, leading to this happening. My life has been completely uprooted, I'm living in a one room apartment, I've gone from a full time, well paying job to unemployment.

I was just wondering how people cope with the loss of vision afterwards? How long it takes to fully get over something like this? If people have had similar things happen? Is there a chance of a relapse this far out? Any kind of help or anything would be much appreciated and welcomed.