This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

It took me three months to make and go to an appointment for the ophthalmologist but I did finally get there. He says optic neuritis and talked a lot about MS. I shut off at some point and stopped listening for some reason. I guess it is because I am already dealing with so much I didn't want to hear anything else. So, he wants me to get that MRI now instead of waiting for another month from GP and get a referral to a neurologist soon. What are the percentages of people being diagnosed with optic neuritis that have or go on to have MS? I am 37yrs old.

Theresa

sorry to hear your news, theresa - i hope you can arrange a serum zinc test to either a) provide you with an option for treatment, or b) to at least be able to rule out zinc involvement in your case.

Nutritional effects of zinc on ocular and systemic physiology
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/6454715

High concentrations of zinc are found in human ocular tissues and are closely related to visual function. When zinc levels are inappropriately low, results can include ocular birth defects, reduced ability to dark adapt, excessively low IOP, and optic neuritis.

Hi I currently have optic neuritis. I know it sucks. I've had it for almost a month which is how long it's also been since my ms diagnoses. It scared me when I woke up and couldn't see out of my left eye and I went to the opthamologist that day and he sent me immediately to get an mri. It all happened very fast. The reason he talked to you about ms is because optic neuritis is many times one of the first signs of ms that causes people to go to the doctor but it does not necessarily mean you have ms. There are other reasons you can have it especially if you have no other ms symptoms, but to be safe you really need to have an mri and go to a neurologist. Especially because if you do have ms (which you may not) you need to start steroid treatment for the optic neuritis to maximize vision recovery. Good luck