Optic Neuritis questions

Hello. I am a 20 year old female that is not really showing any other signs of MS. I get a lot of headaches, but I haven't had any other symptoms attached to MS. Yesterday I noticed that my right eye felt sore when I looked to the far right or down. It is still a little bit sore today, but not as bad as yesterday and I only feel the soreness when I roll my eye really far to one side. I have not noticed any change in color vision or any blurriness, and both of my pupils seem to be responding normally to light. I am mainly concerned that I only feel this pain in one eye and only when I move it. Could this be optic neuritis?

This same thing happened to me a few months ago. The pain lasted for two days, and then I woke up and it was completely gone. I have since been to the eye doctor and had a full examination as well as my eyes dilated. If I had had optic neuritis then, would the eye doctor have been able to tell?

I realize that this is something I should be asking a doctor, but I am constantly worrying about being sick and if I went to the doctor every time I had a suspicious ache or pain, I would probably be living there. The last time this happened I brushed it off because the pain only lasted a couple of days, but now that it has come back I am worried. Are there any other causes of this type of pain aside from Optic Neuritis?

Firstly, yes it could be MS but it could also be a lot of other things which are a lot more minor. Yes an eye doctor would have see "something" such as pale discs but they usually just make a note and watch over time.
Optic neuritis often starts on one side and later becomes 2 sided. Your description sounds exactly like it. I had it as my first symptom. They can look further by doing a CAT scan or an MRI or cheaper to do a VER (visual evoked response) this can be arranged by either your normal doctor or an eye doctor. They put some electrodes on the back of your head and measure how long it takes from flashing some patterns in your eyes to being received into the brain. A further evoked response can be done with an electrode on your thumb I had both of these done in an eye hospital.

If it is MS two bits of good news.
1) you're finding it early so treatment is more effective
2) Statistically those who start with Optic Neuritis have the least severe form of MS

Hello there,

Thought i would chime in here...I have MS and i do have Optic Neuritis...When my symptoms started my eye did feel very similar when i would move it around, however, i had vertigo along with the eye pain. Not sure if ON is always accompanied by vertigo, but....just a thought...This was about 10 years ago and the eye doctor blew it off as a lazy eye and gave me glasses, but anyway...this past year, the pain in the same eye came back and i was so scared that i was having a flair up, however, it ended up being a sinus infection. It was so bad, the pain in my eye, that i had myself so worried, but thats all it was..Maybe see your family doctor...hopefully it is something simple like that...Would maybe explain the headaches??? Just a thought.

Good Luck,

Lynn