I just got off steroids for ON, a few months ago actually. It seems closer than that. I think with anything suspected for MS--that it continue 24-48 hours without stress and cooler temperatures and not a virus going on. So the advice I would give myself, if I was clear headed enough at the time (and fyi, i don't remain clear headed when these episodes happen)
I would drastically reduce stress, strat the air conditioner, take tylenol and wait the 48 hours out then call and report it....

I hope it is just stress causing a bad symptom to flair up again.

I'm just curious, so no reason to satisfy my curriosity and I won't be offended if you ignore my slightly impolite, 'none of my business' question, given your crohns & MS both is there any serious consideration of Tysabri for you?

I am really hoping it's just stress causing the pain and not the beginning of a flare. I handed in my thesis this morning so maybe my body is just reacting to the stress?

My neuro wants me to stay on betaseron while it is working. If it stops working, then he will consider it. No point in trying to fix what isn't broken I guess.

Also, since developing MS, I haven't had any problems with crohn's disease. I think my crohn's disease might have kept calm because I was on an oral chemo drug for it for over 6 months.

Maybe the chemo drug helped to keep my MS at bay as well?

Congratulation on completing your thesis, you vey educated lady. It was a rocky road to completing it & the fact that you did complete it, is an accomplishment that can never be taken away from you. You own it and its yous always!!!

Hi
Don't know if this applies, so is just another possibility. Do you get migraines? With mine, I often get eye pain as well as headaches and it affects my eyesight too. Usually mine occur directly following a stressful period, so that could fit.
Again, like MS, migraines are different for every person.
Just an idea. Hope you feel better soon
Oh, and congrats on the thesis!
x

I also get weird eye symptoms with my migraines. Sometimes I'll have a visual disturbance in the "aura" phase. I might not get a headache until the next day, if at all.

Congrats on finishing your thesis! That's a big accomplishment. I also agree to take a day or two off (like, get in bed and watch movies, not go tromping around the mall), try some Advil, and see how you feel. Obviously, if things worsen, I'd call your doctor.

Definitely congrats!

I would agree with the migraine thought if it might apply. Also, this is just a thought and it is a sort of "if you like it." I had flares for sometime before dx. Never anything that made me have to stop, but did raise very serious concern. Three weeks after my son graduated from college, I had things pretty much going the way I wanted at that time, I got ON. My body went into MS mode all over the place. I was sort of dxd in the ER, eerything pointed to MS in the history I was giving.

My thought is, looking back, each time something happened that I now know was MS, it was at a point where i needed to be a little less about something, like I could "afford" to not be as well. I don't know if I am saying what I am trying to, but I think that when my son graduated, I felt such a relief, so happy, and I think that somewhere deep inside I felt like I had gotten my child to where I wanted to, I know he got himself there, but that I had been there to help, that kind of thing, that he had what he needed to be on his own, and I could finally let go of all the physical things I was holding at bay and working though.

I don't know if that makes sense, like I said, it is "if you like it" or if you think it makes sense, but i just know that for me, I have always had the attitude that if I can just get from point A to point B, I can relax for a minute, and that seems to include letting my MS have a little party for a day or two.

Again, many congratulations!

Thank you for the congrats. It's only my bachelor's degree but doing it in neuroscience gave me a huge head start in learning everything I needed for MS. My doctors even treat me differently after they hear that I have studied neuroscience.

And Nikki... I do get what you're saying. That's what I'm afraid of. I would be glad to have all of that stress out of my life, and then have my body work properly so I could take the time to enjoy and appreciate all the little things (like sunlight, green grass, going for walks etc). U

Unfortunately I feel like my body is saying "OK, now you have time to be sick."

I went in for a visual field test this morning (I have to go every two months and I seem to be a teaching tool because most of the med students haven't seen someone whose eyes shake and who has had ON in both eyes... which is annoying, I hate being a teaching tool, I've never had an eye appointment last less than two hours). I don't think I did very well on the test.

I don't see the doctor until next thursday to find out for sure, but I am sure that I will find out that they were worse today than the last time I had this test done. However, they did require me to be there at 8:30 am, and its a 45 minute bus ride from where I live so being tired might have played a factor.

I no longer have any eye pain, and I've only had one migraine ever that was brought on by ON.

Either way, I hope I was stressing about nothing.

I can relate re being the subject of eye exams. I have Duane's syndrome, which basically means that my left eye does not move to my left. I was asked to go to a testing session for training ophthalmologists and had my eyes tested about 30 times in a day so that students could be assessed. It's tiring, but it serves a good purpose.
Sorry, probably a little off-topic, but I saw it and related...

I would just like to be asked permission if my doctor wants to show 10 students my eyes. It's hard to keep your eyes wide open and stare at one spot. The students get frustrated when you blink... can't stand it!

Some students even came into my examination room and took it upon themselves to check my eyes without their teacher, my doctor's permission.

Their teacher definitely ripped them a new one

question: what is ON

ON=OPTIC NEURITIS

reply #8 and reply 9

I was asked three times to be a part of "grand rounds." I said okay because I figure, hey, people have to learn, and if I say no, I may one day have one of these less well-trained doctors treating me. Plus, they did alot of thinking out loud, so I hear alot of discussion on my eyes and nerves.

I still don't want a less trained doctor to to treat me, but I have done my part for opthomological education. New guinea pig needed.