Optic Neuritis?? MS Fear. Considering ER for the first time....

[Echo Hotel]

About a week ago the vision in my right eye became noticeably blurry. Drops do not lessen the blurriness and it's there all day. No pain. I was worried but I felt a cold coming on so I thought I'd wait it out.

A few days into it I went to an optometrist who performed several tests, including a slit lamp test, a light response test, and a test of my peripheral vision, along with a regular vision exam. He said my eyes were a little dry but that he didn't see anything wrong with them. He told me I have a very slight astigmatism that shouldn't affect vision but that I might be noticing it and that's why my vision is blurry. I felt better and thought that was it.

Then last night and this morning I noticed the blurriness was worse and my eye was slightly more dilated than the other. I have a cold and I have been putting drops in the eye, but I don't know if that can explain this.

I am so afraid that this is a mild optic neuritis. I also have chronic, aching and unexplained hand pain and I twitch and have muscle quivering all over my body. I read that eye exams can often miss optic neuritis, and that pain isn't always present, and i feel like maybe this doctor missed it. He mentioned I have a little bit of edema in (or around, I couldn't understand) each eye but said I shouldn't worry about it.

I am seriously considering going to the ER so that I can maybe get an MRI. I'm really scared at this point. I don't have much money and I don't want to be crazy, but I can't think of another reason why one eye would be blurry and getting worse other than MS and optic neuritis.

What do you guys think?

[sixpack]

I think you've been googling too much.   

optic neuritis--is always going to be mild when we hypoes think a doc missed something.  that is the way we think.

what you are describing really isn't what optic neuritis does.


BTW--- I do have edema actually it has a big fancy word central serous chorioretinopathy in my right eye.  It is pretty significant.  My vision is substantially effected by it. I was dx'd about 5wks ago.  I go back for another eye check on Tuesday.  It usually clears on its own, but so far it hasn't gotten better for me.  this is caused by excess cortisol. It caused fluid to leak behind my retina.  it is caused by a lot of extreme stress.   so if you have some "mild" edema that could be congruent with some blurriness.  It could also you just being hypervigilant.  It could be your body's reaction to stress and anxiety.

[Echo Hotel]

sixpack, wow, I never knew there was a cortisol connection with vision/ edema. That is really interesting. you make such a good point about it always being "mild" for HA sufferers...your brain always finds a reason why the doctor missed something or the symptoms don't quite fit.

i want to treat this like some weird anomaly and go on with my life and watch it go away like all of the other strange symptoms i have stopped paying attention to. sometimes it's just hard. i've been pretty worked up over this one. There is no pain in my eye but just a heaviness. ugh. i can dismiss a lot of these fears but the MS fear is the worst!!!! thanks for your words of sanity 

[sixpack]

if your edema is mild, you likely don't have the vision issue I am having.    I'm not enjoying it but, I'll live. 

any ole way, what you are descrbing is not optic neuritis.

[spoongirl]

Astigmatism can most certainly cause blurriness. I have it and notice my vision blurs when I look down for too long if Im reading a book or reading small text on my phone. As for one eye being dialated more than the other, the light may have been shining on one side of your face more than the other. One eye being more in light and the other being in dimmer lighting so it'll be a bit more dilated. I've freaked myself out over this in the mirror till I realized the lighting was not consistent. Rest your eyes and quit googling ;)