I've had optic neuritis at least twice. (maybe 3 times, but all I had was pain for that third time. No obvious vision problem except that it hurt like crazy)

First time I had it, it was my first real clue that I had MS. (the numb hip that I'd had for 6 months that I complained about to the doctors 3 months before was basically ignored)

That first time, I had a big scotoma (blind spot) in my left eye. It obscured about 2/3rds of my vision in that eye, and also affected my color vision. Took about 3 or 4 months for the scotoma to go away, but I had dim vision and screwed up color vision for about a year or a little longer.

My eye recovered to about 95% of what it was. I can tell there's some residual problems. Eyes dont track as quickly as they used to. I didnt have any IV steroids for that. I just waited it out.

The summer of 2009, I had another blast of optic neuritis. This time I had double vision...which was really more horrible than being half blind. Again, it was the left eye that was picking on me. I pretty much insisted on the IV steroids for that. Took about a month for the double vision to start to clear up. I had problems with the double vision coming back if I was tired, and if I looked to the side I'd get it.

I still get a little double vision if I look to the right without moving my head. But right now, I'm pretty happy with my vision.

It sucks to wait for things to clear up tho. You get to a point where you think it'll never get any better and that you're stuck with it. It really does feel like it takes forever. One of these days, I know I'll have another flare that wont improve. I'm hoping that's 3 or 4 decades away tho.