Though I have never had Optic Neuritis...I too have floaters, and in my right eye I have 3 black spots...They showed up almost a year ago. luckily they are small.

I found this, maybe you will find it helpful.

http://www.mscentralsupport.com/visual.html
Take care.-Beth

I get floaters fairly often. I also suffer from disequilibrium and am constantly dizzy. Sight affects my balance and I can't even walk through a dark room anymore.

I had optic neuritis about a year before being diagnosed with MS (back in Nov '98) and have suffered from APD (asymptomatic pupil dilation - so my pupils dilate and shrink at different speeds, this makes it pretty difficult to drive at night, sometimes I just wear my sunglasses when it gets bad ... shrug.

I haven't been dx yet with MS but I get blurry vision and floaters sometimes - I have to stop what ever I am doing and wait for it to pass and after about 15 mins to half an hour its gone - and its only in my right eye

I have floaters that showed up during a "neurological episode" last summer, I was told by the eye doctor that they were not in relation to MS, however, I find it very strange that they all showed up at once, during the time I was having other neuro symptoms.

I get those and it goes right into a migraine headache-excedrin and 23 minutes its gone.

Floaters are just very common in the general population.....I don't think there is anything specfic to MS whether you have floaters or not.

Floaters are caused by debris in the vitreous humor of the eye (the jelly like fluid in the eye). This debris then causes shadows on the retina that may appear as spots Birthmarks - pigmented Liver spots
Measles, koplik spots - close-up Mongolian blue spotsor lines in the vision. These are most often "normal" findings, get better with time and do not suggest any other underlying disease. However, on rare occasion the debris is caused by inflammatory bowel disease Ulcerative colitiscells (a condition called ParsUveitisPlanitis), causing floaters and may be a presenting symptoms of multiple sclerosis. The typical macular edema/optic neuritis can follow Pars Planitis. Warning signs that floaters may be more concerning are a sudden increase in floaters, floaters associated with flashes of light, or loss of peripheral vision. It is encouraging that your MRI was normal, but there is MS and MS varients (Devic's) that can show up in the eye and spinal cord without much brain involvement.

OH MY LORDIE! I read the title of the post & at first glance swore it was about "NUMBER 2 IN THE BATHROOM!"...

EWWWWW!

Take care,
Stay sane!

P.S...I have never been diagnosed with this issue, but I get floaters on & off all the time (eyes look like I'm looking into a microscope sometimes) Also get really blurry vision at times, double vision & I see spots at time...sometimes yellow.

I also get very narrow vision as well & my vision can either go out completely blind for split seconds or get where lights are extremely too bright...but this last paragraph is most likely (my Neuro. says & I've also noticed) is from the seizures/epilepsy I get from the MS.

I'm with Beeincharge! I have numerous floaters & occasional dark spots in both eyes...& get the "blurry spells" too. I even see things flying at me from my peripheral vision, to where I even duck from them at times. Now that's insane! (I also "hear" things that aren't real). I lost my entire center of vision in my left eye, 3 yrs ago, for about 2-3 months. I did NOT have ANY of these issues until 4 years ago...when ALL my neurological stuff started!

I've had doctors, neuros, & eye specialists to tell me that these (floaters & spots) are not related to MS, or any other disease...that they are simply "normal." Really?? I don't have any other friends or family who has this problem (except for maybe my 2nd cousin with MS...but haven't ever asked her specifically about "floaters"). And tell me WHY doctors...did this just start 4 yrs ago...at the same time my other neurological symptoms did?? I'm realizing more & more that the medical field knows almost NOTHING about our diseases...at least not as well as they pretend to!
~tj

Beluemyst, you keep me in stitches.

Anyway, I had floaters a long time ago and it had nothing to do with my MS. Everyone is right, the normal population gets them. Not to worry. I was told by my eye doc that it was debris floating off my eye. It came and went. I haven't had a floater in years or I just do not pay them any mind so I don't even notice them.

I had floaters before my optic neuritis. They usually follow whereever my focus my eye is on so they move with my eye. No, I do not think that it is damage to the myelin, just debris floating off from the eye. Please do not worry. I had floaters before I ever had balance problems. Just coincidental.