This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Your offer to answer questions is so generous! I just want to welcome you and say thank you.

There was a post I read that mentioned flouresent(sp?) lights. I noticed problems in stores with those lights--they hurt my eyes and made me want to leave after only a few minutes in the store. I never connected that to the ON. Currently i am still (hopefully) recovering from my initial bout of ON (which also got me diagnosed as MS). Did the steroids and have gone from blind in that eye to maybe 40% vision. A big improvement in my book! I was so excited to be able to drive again!

Just found this site, also. New all the way around. LOL Odd to be a newbie at 55.

Welcome again EyeDoc and a big thank you for all the time you are taking in answering everyone's questions.

I need to clarify a point: fluorscent lights do not generally bother people who have had ON more than people that have not. ON does not cause more sensitivity to fluorescent lights, per se. They can be generally bothersome to anyone in terms of glare. This is not to discount, however, that for you they were a big problem. I just want to make sure I don't accidentally give out misinformation that becomes "fact" in peoples minds because I said it

Keep going with your treatments. The vast majority of ON patients secondary to MS will regain normal vision within a year of treatment. Don't lose hope!

Hello Eyedoc,
I also wanted to say welcome...and I'm sorry. You are the first physician I have seen here with MS...I am a pediatrician and was diagnosed with MS in September of '02 and had to retire due to fatigue and concentration problems in March of '03...I had only been out of residency for 3 years when I was diagnosed. I did pretty well other than the fatigue for about 18 months and thought I was going to have a pretty "mild" case of MS if there is such a thing...but then things began to worsen. Quite a bit of sensory problems...intermittent weakness and spasticity in legs. Since February of this year I have developed ON in the right eye...which was pretty brief. Then I developed a VI nerve palsy resulting in diplopia that lasted 3 months (just getting over that) followed immediately by ON in Left eye. I worry more now about my vision than anything else. I have tried to avoid using steroids unless absolutely necessary (strong history of osteoporosis in the family). Any evidence that the long term outcome of my eyes would be any different with steroids.
I wondered if you have been able to continue working....developing a "new identity" has been pretty tough...worked a long time to get through med school/residency and now I have pretty much just had to distance myself from it completely. Hope you are doing well!

God Bless, Wendy

Hi Wendy,
Just wanted to thank you for sharing your story. You have a seemingly great attitude and I look forward to the day you can put MS behind you and get back to your intended career. As a doctor, we would always be curious to hear your thoughts and feelings about the MS drug pipeline.

welcome again,
-a

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Disclaimer: Any information you find on this site should not be considered medical advice. All decisions should be made with the consent of your doctor, otherwise you are at your own risk.

Hi Ed:

I just read your post and wanted to say hi.

As you can see you’re not alone. There are great people here, all trying to figure out how to adapt and function in this new MS life. Including me, although I’m new here.

I was dx’d at the Cleveland Clinic in 2001 with PPMS. I entered the denial phase immediately and stayed there for a long time (probably years). I still go back from time to time. Like they say, you don’t go thru the stages step by step, you go in and out of each one several times until you can absorb what is happening. The toughest thing for me was accepting the fact that I really couldn’t control a lot of what was happening. The truth (as I see it) is that I never had the control I thought I had anyway. I was a manager of a research and development group for a company that probably made your phoropter and automatic tonometer.

Anyway, MS is not the end and I have become more aware than I have been my entire life. I’m a bit older than you (53) but I think it works the same no matter.

Your offer to share your knowledge and time is very generous. Information that comes from people who are experiencing MS is somehow much more meaningful and trustworthy.

Please don’t hesitate to post here. There are many people (like me) who watch all the posts incase they can offer help or can relate in some way.

I guess that’s enough for now

Hang in there,

Mick

Hi Wendy! It is great to hear from you (although under unfortunate circumstances of course) because I have often wondered why I chose the profession I did...let me clarify that statement:

I am not a physician, as I am an optometrist. For those that do not know, an optometrist goes through 4 years of college for a bachelor's degree and then to 4 years of optometry school, not medical school. Our education is very much in the vein of dentistry, except we don't deal with mouths! A physician goes through the bachelor's degree and then to 4 years of medical school. However, only after medical school does the physician start a residency to learn a specialty. For example, an ophthalmologist will have at least 4 more years after medical school to become an "eye doctor". That explanation is not intended for you obviously, Wendy. I give this explanation to clear up the misconceptions of posters about optometrists vs. ophthalmologists.

Back to my original point: I had the grades and test scores to go to med school when I was in college. Because my best friend chose optometry school a year before I graduated college, I followed him. I just had this nagging feeling that I did not want to go to med school and risk not becoming an ophthalmologist if I could not get a residency. Also, I didn't want to go through 4+ more years of school that would have kept me in school into my 30s. It is funny how things work. I don't know if there was a higher power guiding me towards that decision or not, but I know now that I would have certainly had problems completing a residency/internship now that I have MS. Luckily, now I am just a lazy office worker and not having to go through the crazy hours/routine that a resident has to endure (I would just now be finishing my training for ophthalmology...I am only 31 years old). I am really sorry to hear that MS has caused you to prematurely retire. I am able to continue working currently. At times I feel very fatigued, and at other times I feel relatively normal. These periods seem to come in waves of weeks to months at a time. I have been pretty fortunate since my diagnosis in 2003: I have not had a recurrence of ON, and I generally only suffer from fatigue and bladder dysenergy. As the main source of income for my family, I am extremely concerned with my ability in the future to continue working. Luckily, I purchased disability insurance a year before I was diagnosed.

As for steroids and evidence of longterm outcome: my research of current articles and journals indicates that steroids affect and improve the short term visual recovery, but have no effect on the long term visual prognosis with MS patients. I would certainly recommend them for the short term visual recovery, however. I know that it was very beneficial for me to have the short course of IV Solumedrol and oral prednisone when I had my ON attack 3 years ago.

It is really nice to hear from you. I hope your ocular problems will stabilize soon. Please keep me informed, and if there are any further questions please do not hesitate to ask. I know all the "doctor" stuff about MS and the eyes, but more importantly I know about all the little thingsa I feel daily with my eyes that only us MSers will understand

Sorry for the wall of text I just wrote!

Thanks, Mick. It is nice to hear from you.

Since I wrote the original post in this forum, I have become a thousand times more accepting of my condition. I guess I have moved out of the denial phase. I accept that I have this problem, but I don't like it Of course, as it is with you and I am sure all of us posters, my acceptance and discourse with this condition changes often. Today is a good day

Hi Wendy,
I just read your story and it hit home. I am a family physician in Ottawa and have had MS for a longgggg time but the good news for me is that I can still practice medicine. Wow, I can only just imagine how it felt to let go of a profession that you worked so hard for. It must be sooooooo hard. I work in a private office only. I do not do hopital admissions now so no rounds in the morning. I could not do it now. I could not have done a surgical specialty either (and that came close).
I do not suffer with the fatique that much so I can work 4 days a week. When I read your story, I thanked the angels above.
How did you do it? All the greiving and the emotional darkness. Boy, I feel for you and I hope they find something soon. Maybe, just maybe, thinks could be different for you in the future.
Take care and feel free to contact me.
Try to hang in there.
Take care, Carole