MRI optic neuritis??
 

Hi all I have been having on going eye problems for 5 weeks, constant pain in my left eye which has now started in mildly in my right eye, it is sort of behind the eye ball at the top, my left eye is also blurred, my doctor is treating me for trigeminal nurelga my neurogist disagrees (he is really unhelpful though and just shrugged his shoulders on my first visit) and after much begging he sent me for a MRI scan, I have a follow up with my results next Friday, my question is, will an MRI always show optic neuritis? I'm in agony yet my unhelpful neurologist says that if my mri is normal then my constant eye pain (5 weeks without a break) must be a migraine. Another doctor has given me liquid morphine to help with the pain while I wait but it's not touching it :( I have booked an eye exam in the morning with an optician and another on Tuesday with an ophthalmologist, I had one 5 weeks when my pain first started but then it was very mild, almost unnoticeable, I'm thinking that back then it may not have been inflamed? Thank you

If I remember right, it doesn't always show up on an MRI. I had optic neuritis in 2006 and it didn't show up on the MRI. I had tiny "nonspecific white dots" in some other spot that wasn't anywhere near the optic nerve. I've had optic neuritis a couple of times since then, but I pretty much refuse to get back into another MRI machine because I have claustrophobia. (didn't know I was that claustrophobic until that first MRI in 2006)

They might be able to tell from looking at your optic nerve thru an ophthalmoscope. But, again, it might not show up. The color of your optic nerve can change when it's inflamed. (think it gets a pale pink color?)

I'm pretty sure that you can have a flaming case of optic neuritis and have it not show up in an MRI or looking thru the ophthalmoscope. There's other signs to look for.

I've got optic neuritis issues, have for years now. But for a very long time nothing showed on my nerves. It shows something now, but never as much as the doctors would expect for my symptoms.

Snailz It sounds like you need to find a different neurologist though. Doesn't sound like yours is treating you the way he should.

My optic neuritis was diagnosed through an opthalmoscope

Mine was, too. Then I was sent to a neurologist. Then the MRI was given, and lesions were there. The lesions show MS.

I agree, with above, if you aren't feeling heard, etc..as in your neurologist shrugged their shoulders, then seeking out someone else, you can trust, isn't a bad idea.

My optic neuritis flare ups take about 10-12 weeks to clear up, when I have had them. Hope you feel better soon. :hug:

They usually diagnose my optic neuritis problems from the symptoms. Usually I'll have a problem with my color vision. Last spring tho, when I had ON, my vision in my right eye was completely obscured. That was the worst it's ever been. Hurt like crazy too.

I describe mine as an ice pick through the eye...very, excruciating, and not much helps with the pain. The first, was the worst, pain wise, for me...

This comment is so in line with me. They say I do not have ON, but the pain is there. I often describe it was feeling like someone is scraping out my eye socket with a spoon. Sometimes its dull, other times it gets pretty bad. By the time I get to an 8/10 I am shaking, ready to vomit, and set to go to the ER for pain meds. Before I was diagnosed I hit the 10/10 mark and blacked out losing three hours.

Hi Snailz and Jim, happy to have you join us. Do either or both of you
have MS? ON is a mean side of MS, but other things cause ON as well.

I am one of the lucky ones. I've had ON only once in my 40 some yrs
with MS. It was awful. Some peeps have recurring bouts of ON and
very painful.

Has your Doc/Neuro tried treating your ON with solumedrol/prednizone ?
It works well for some people. I hope you are both feeling better soon.

What else, do they suggest it could be?

Thank you to everyone who has replied I'm most grateful for your support. My neurologist refuses to look into ms now because the MRI didn't show anything. Mine also feels like an ice pick and with pressure. I wish I could change my neurologist however I live in England and here we have waiting lists of around 10 months, I was rushed through because of how much pain I was in, I kept going to the emergency room thinking I was losing my sight and I think they just don't like people kicking up a fuss and so I got saw sooner by the first available neurologist. He's a nice man but because my mri was ok he just keeps saying I'm having a migraine, I firmly believe that I'm not and my doctor agrees. It's very upsetting, Iv had 2 appointments with him now and he says your mri is fine therefor there is no reason for the pain, almost like Iv gone crazy or something :(

What did your vision test as? What is your doctor proposing is happening?

Sorry you have to wait so long, to see another neurologist.

nothing much as happened really, my eye pain went away for a couple of weeks and then returned, my neurologist thinks i have a-typical migraines, i am taking tregretol and nortriptyline, none of these help so every day im in pain. i dont know what else to do. i cant change my neurologist as in the uk we have a long waiting system and are allocated whichever neurologist becomes available. i went to him and said that iv heard of cases where a person has ON but it hasnt shown on the mri or eye test and he said that he's never heard of that happening so he's not willing to even consider ON. :( im really frustrated by it all and getting nowhere. he wants to do another mri but believes the results will be the same, he is also considering doing a nerve block in my neck, this worries me as i have no diagnosis so im not sure what im being treated for.

The nerve block would probably be to see if the pain goes away; as it sometimes will for migraines with that sort of treatment. Sounds like he's trying to rule out migraines through trying the treatment, and he also may very well be trying to get you out of pain the way he thinks is best :).

Sorry that you have such a situation with the neuro. We have the same silly waiting system here in Canada...although we can choose our specialists (neuro). It just depends on how long one is willing to wait. It can be over 2 years to see one that specializes in a particular area within neurology like MS.
Can you be put on a waiting list for another neuro?

With love, Erika

Did you ever see the Optometrist and/or Opthalmologist?

If so what was the outcome?

Good luck with the Neuro/Opthalmologist on Tuesday. Many
times they can DX your illness, faster than a regular Neuro.

Let us know how it goes.:hug:

sally my opthamologist was a while ago now, my exam was fine. i asked them if there was any sign of ON and he said there wasnt. my eye and cheek feel like there is pressure behind, when i lean forward the pain increases, when i lay back it pretty much goes, weird hey :confused:

I got a fairly quick dx (only a year) after my eye problem started, and MRI showed lesions when a doctor finally gave me one, my first, and Visual Evoked Responses (have you have these VER's? They are easy to do an relatively inexpensive). the first doctor I saw after I got double vision, pain, and double vision was an opthalmologist who just said there was nothing wrong with me. I sat in his office and screamed because this was, now a severe symptom after more than thirty years of other symptoms. Nobody paid any attention to my screams, as if I were not there. I was on Maui where we often spent vacations.
Later, in Seattle, I had the positive MRI and the positive VER's (although I have no idea if the MRI was in a visual area), so the the doctor (a GP in practice with a neurologist) just said "I think you have MS". As I say, only a year to get that dx after over thirty years of symptoms.
My ON lasted for 8 years. The neuro opthalmologist I saw at that time didn't think steroids increased healing of ON. I patched the eye, covered the TV set so I could listen and not watch, stopped going to movies, always wore a hat outside to block light, and these things helped. Also, I then saw Dr. Swank and he put me on the radical low fat diet and that helped. I was still having double vision and a drooped lid when I finally was completely healed in a prayer service, suddenly and unexpectedly. I say this not because all healing services produce such results--but my neuro opthalmologist had before and after pictures of my drooping eyelid, and he had no reason for the sudden cure. I had many years of perfect eyesight, until I got hit by forest fire smoke here in Los Alamos. This smoke-eye situation has been so bad that I have to evacuate, at great expense, every time it happens. My eyes roll back in my head in spasm, and I cannot see at all for ten minutes, during that problem with smoke. Many tests done, opthalmologist says eyes are not the cause, nerves in the brain (or whatever she means by "what is behind the eyes" is the cause.
I also have Porphyria, so it's never certain which of my disease caused these problems.
Just describing what happened.
One symptom I did share with others on this list was that I had poor color vision on tests, some years before dx and some years before ON.