Vision Thing...Weird

[Coyote]

So I'm going between MS and Dystonia with symptoms and trying to figure out what is what but....today I'm looking at a little magazine that has all kinds of crafts you can do, crocheting ect.

I had noticed before times of differences in the way I see things but I wanted to see up closer in this picture, the stitch. So I bring out my magnifier and am looking at this afghan with diff. colors and shapes. Well the red shapes stand out 3 dimensional. I study it and where it shows just a little bit in folds so it's smaller area ect., or a little bit of fringe sticking out red from the other colors, and it's all, no matter what size 3D. It looks like something an inch or so thicker has been sewn onto a flat surface in shapes.
Hope I'm explaing this ok. It does not always need to be with a magnifying glass. It's happend with some things without using one.

Now I'm remembering the tie on the newsman that I cannot focus in as it's quivering or walking by a checked pattern in the store and it wiggles all over the place or....stranger yet....sitting looking at a magazine and it's a furniture add. It's a long table featured with a white center leaving about 5 inches of wood all around the outside of this. It was when they first brought out those table with tile centers. But for me, this picture looked like the entire center of the table was sunken. Figure that one out. As much as I looked at it and tried to share it with my mom....I could not make out why somebody would make a table with a sunken center. I could not change it in my mind.

I know it's a bad time for me right now as I'm getting pain in my neck and am dog tired. My entire face feels numb and I'm dragging my feet to walk.
Been getting cramping in midriff area and don't want to bend over as it will bring it on worse as will twisting. Muscles doing crazy things.
My right front leg from the knee to the ankle keeps sending a kinda message I can feel to the foot and it lifts each time it does. ect. ect.

Boy no wonder I feel the way I do. To bad I cannot get more help!

What are your vision experiences when things go wrong?

Oh yes and then there was two summers ago when I was out on the picnic bench and a shade came over one eye for a few minutes and then went away. No test showed what that was. Oh me. Just spilling off.

Coyote

[agate]

Hi Coyote,
I'm not sure but it sounds as if you have impaired depth perception. This can happen when one eye isn't functioning. Have you tried covering one eye (when you're having these problems) and then the other and observing how the vision is in each eye separately?

As for the "shade" that comes down over one eye for a few minutes, that sounds like a scotoma (enlarged blind spot) and can be a symptom of optic neuritis. It can also be a symptom of many other disorders. You should see an ophthalmologist, and you'll probably have a visual fields test to find out what part(s) of your visual fields are impaired.

I won't go into my vision experiences when things go wrong except to say that I've had the scotoma experience often. I hope you'll get your vision problems checked into by a competent ophthalmologist.

[Erin]

First off...what crochet magazine were you reading? (I'm a crocheter too)

When I had optic neuritis last summer, my depth perception was way off in that eye. I damaged my right side car mirror trying to park in the garage a few times.

When I was crocheting, and trying to weave in the yarn tails, I had a ton of problems trying to get the yarn needle into the stitch to weave it in. (darn depth perception again) I also couldnt see the crochet stitches clearly with the left eye. It was just a jumble of color that didnt look right.

I think Agate's correct that the "shade" was a scotoma.

The best way for me to describe a scotoma would be this...ever take a photograph and not realized that your finger was over the lens? So when you develop the film (or download the pictures to your computer) you get this photograph that's obscured by a finger. That's sort of what trying to look thru an eye that's got a few (or one big) scotoma in it.

Go see an opthalmologist (or better yet, a neuro-opthalmologist) and have him check out your eyes. You could have optic neuritis...the opthalmologist will either recommend you get steroids, or they'll do what my optho did which was nothing. (steroids have lots of side effects, some opthos prefer to just observe the patient instead)

The visual field test isnt bad. They have you look into this machine that has a black dot directly in front of your eyes. They put lenses into the eyepiece that you look thru so that it's set to your eyeglass prescription. One eye will be able to look thru the lenses, they block off the other eye. Then you have to watch for little pinpricks of light and click a thingie that looks like a computer mouse everytime you see the light.

They do that for both eyes, and then they get a printout that shows exactly what you were able to see (and not see) that will show them how widespread the defect (if you have one) in your visual field is. I always thought it was kind of interesting to see on paper just where my visual defect was, and how it changed every few months.

My only problem with that test is that I've fallen asleep in it once or twice. (seriously boring, watching for the lights)

[Coyote]

Well I get a couple of these little mag's. They sell all sorts of patterns. This one was Mary Maxim and she is online.

Scotoma. Hmmmm.

Well that day I remember of having a real hard time walking the yard and sat in the sun on the picnic table.

My husband had to assist me in and as I walked in the door it was like a dark grey to black shade came down over a bit more than half my eye. It twinkled away allowing me to see through lines what seemed like looking through an Oasis...quivery. The thumb over the camera seems pretty good.

(The other catalog is Annies Attic for you crochet lovers and knitters. Also online I think.)

It took my Opthal. at the time three days to see me and when I had all kinds of tests done they found nothing and other tests showed no strokes.
They still wrote down fugax or some such.

I have been having off and on pain in my eyes, more when moving them, but not bad. What has been lousy is the constant twitching of the orbit or the surrounding area of the eye.

Well Agate and Erin, I'm going to have to look up that Scotoma and see what I can find out.

Agate...I just went and tried the one eye at a time thing. Discovered my left eye is blurry but don't have the 3D on those colored shapes but did somewhat, althought not near as bad with the right eye. That's the eye that got all those spasms around it for so long. Also the one that gets the curved flash of light sometimes when I walk into a dark room.
I was just refracted about two weeks ago! Tell you, sometimes you just want to say who cares. Oh me.

Oh yes I'm trying to come down off of prednisone after such weight gain. Hmmm. Makes you wonder.

[Erin]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scotoma

[Coyote]

Thank you Erin.
None of the images I saw seem to fit. Mine was coming half way down from the top of my vision and had a straight line on the bottom edge all the way across. I wonder if I could find an image of Uhthoff's.

About the raised images....didn't see a picture of that.

Coyote

[Erin]

Thank you Erin.
None of the images I saw seem to fit. Mine was coming half way down from the top of my vision and had a straight line on the bottom edge all the way across. I wonder if I could find an image of Uhthoff's.

About the raised images....didn't see a picture of that.

Coyote

Your description sounds a lot like the scotoma I had last year, except for mine came up from the bottom.

I dont think there's an image of Uhthoff's. Uhthoff's is a worsening a symptoms in MS. When you get hot, you can have a worsening of vision, fatigue and a bunch of other MS symptoms...not just visual symptoms.

[Coyote]

Your description sounds a lot like the scotoma I had last year, except for mine came up from the bottom.

I dont think there's an image of Uhthoff's. Uhthoff's is a worsening a symptoms in MS. When you get hot, you can have a worsening of vision, fatigue and a bunch of other MS symptoms...not just visual symptoms.


I have heard of this before with someone, coming up from the bottom.
When I had this I was having a difficult time just walking around the yard and had to go and perch myself someplace.

Seems it all got some better but never completely gone after this. But the eye problem as far as blindness has not reoccured thank goodness.

Now for the last few months it's back and not going away with walking difficulties and cramping pain in legs at times. Foot will twist under onto it's side ect. Something going on right now and I just hope I'll see the day again when it will go away for the most part...but somehow don't think I really will.

Have to have a walker to go very far and even then may have to yell for a w/c. Knew the vision thing that may be Scotoma was back with the terrible fatigue that is back. Think I'm in a flare.

Thank you for your help. I appreciate it.

[cricket52]

Hi Coyote:

You used the word "quivery". Look up oscillopsia. I tried to describe it to my opthomologist and couldn't. It was my MS neuro who gave it a name.

[Coyote]

Thank you Cricket. I'll look that up. That quivering took place as it was going away and dissapating. Ha, just realized that is another word I forgot how to spell.

Coyote

[Lille]

Oh yes and then there was two summers ago when I was out on the picnic bench and a shade came over one eye for a few minutes and then went away. No test showed what that was. Oh me. Just spilling off.

Coyote
It sounds like amaurosis fugax. I had that occasionally about 20 years ago, and it looked just like someone pulled a shade up. The first time caused total blindness in that eye for a few minutes, and it really startled me. Each successive time over a period of about 3 years, it caused only partial blindness, each time a little less and a little shorter. Finally, it stopped altogether, thankfully, and I have not had it since. (I only recently learned from my neurologist that that is what it was called!)

Hopefully, you will not have it again. If you do, be sure to see a doctor right away.

[Coyote]

It sounds like amaurosis fugax. I had that occasionally about 20 years ago, and it looked just like someone pulled a shade up. The first time caused total blindness in that eye for a few minutes, and it really startled me. Each successive time over a period of about 3 years, it caused only partial blindness, each time a little less and a little shorter. Finally, it stopped altogether, thankfully, and I have not had it since. (I only recently learned from my neurologist that that is what it was called!)

Hopefully, you will not have it again. If you do, be sure to see a doctor right away.

What was the cause of yours. Wow it happened a few times? I've been dreading the fact it could happen again to me. Yikes.

Yes that was the name they put to it. Never found any reason for it, such as stroke or clot or a retinal problem.
I was really hoping they would make a connection to this neuro. thing.

Coyote

[Lille]

They were puzzled as to the cause, even after all the lab work and tests. My records state that "She has no obvious risk for cerebrovascular disease." Despite that, the neurologist considered it to be a cerebrovascular problem rather than neurological.

During that period of time, I was working nights and was exhausted all the time and under great stress. I personally think that had something to do with it. Maybe my blood vessels were constricted? Who knows?

I decided it was just another one of those strange things that happen, and went on with life. Sometimes that's all you can do! :)

[Erin]

Woke up this morning with a weird headache, opened my eyes and was totally annoyed to to discover that my "good eye" (the right) had some seriously blurred vision. My "bad eye" (the left) that I had optic neuritis in seemed to be relatively normal.

So, I sat around for two hours this morning, waiting for the blurriness in the "good" eye to go the heck away. It's better now, but my lower eyelid keeps twitching and I still have the headache.

Dont you just hate it when the stupid MS decides to screw around with your vision? It's annoying as heck!

I wonder if it's not currently messing with my vision (blurriness is gone now), if this is something that can wait till I see the neuro and/or optho in two weeks. (my regular appointments for both doctors are in a few weeks)

[Coyote]

Woke up this morning with a weird headache, opened my eyes and was totally annoyed to to discover that my "good eye" (the right) had some seriously blurred vision. My "bad eye" (the left) that I had optic neuritis in seemed to be relatively normal.

So, I sat around for two hours this morning, waiting for the blurriness in the "good" eye to go the heck away. It's better now, but my lower eyelid keeps twitching and I still have the headache.

Dont you just hate it when the stupid MS decides to screw around with your vision? It's annoying as heck!

I wonder if it's not currently messing with my vision (blurriness is gone now), if this is something that can wait till I see the neuro and/or optho in two weeks. (my regular appointments for both doctors are in a few weeks)


Erin if you are going to wait....better write it down. You may forget if it passes by the time you see your Doctor. My twitching started in lower lid but then came to include the entire area around the eye for a week or so. Gone now. Good but worrisome.

Coyote

[Erin]

Erin if you are going to wait....better write it down. You may forget if it passes by the time you see your Doctor. My twitching started in lower lid but then came to include the entire area around the eye for a week or so. Gone now. Good but worrisome.

Coyote

I've been keeping a symptom journal for worrisome symptoms or weird and bizzare symptoms. I havent really been keeping up with the journal much for the last few months (probably because I havent had that many weird and bizzare symptoms)

I type them into Word on my computer and print it out to show the neuro. It's interesting sometimes to see how some of the symptoms come and go. Mine seem to happen cyclically about every month and a half. I either get something new or weird, or I'll get a repeat of an old symptom.