Doubleya Tee Eff

Here’s the DL (down low, for those of you not familiar with my vernacular). They tell me I’ve got Multiple Sclerosis. In an ideal world, I receive this information, digest it, research treatment options, and begin the process of moving forward. This is how I like my scenarios—clear cut, uncomplicated.

But no. Doctor MS decided to mess up my scenario and throw me a curve ball. And now I’m faced with a whole new series of questions that I didn’t anticipate.

Physical Symptoms--Background

As I mentioned in a previous post, the symptoms that brought me in to see a doctor in the first place (waaay back in 2004) were based in my eyes.

Initially, I had sharp, shooting pains behind my left eye that came and went over time. They would only last a second or two, but they were pretty intense (enough to stop me in my tracks if I was walking, for example), and appeared periodically over varied intervals of time.

In February (or so) of 2009, the pains evolved to a dull, much more consistent ache (mainly painful when I strain to look in any direction), and vision impairment during activity. It was this evolution that led me down the path to the neurology department I’m currently frequenting. For the past 9 days, the vision impairment has progressed further to a constant issue (unchanged by activity, or so it seems).

This write-up provides a great description of many of the symptoms I have been experiencing, specifically the picture of what the visual impairment actually looks like through my eyes.

Discrepancy
The battery of tests I went through concluded that the MS diagnosis was positive based on an increased number of lesions in my brain (from a scan in 2005 to a scan a few weeks ago), and some rogue bands in my spinal fluid that are attacking healthy stuff (the internal conflict to be further explored in a future post).

However, the two tests designed to evaluate actual damage done to my eye(s) both showed that the nerves and brain transmissions were normal. First, the MRI showed that there was no visible damage to my ocular nerve. Second, the visual evoked potential test showed normal brain activity. Based on these findings, the doctor told me that he believes the symptoms in my eye may not be related to MS at all.

Ensuing Confusion
Perhaps this information should provide me with some relief. But it doesn’t. You see, if I can’t tie the issues I have been experiencing with my eyes to the MS, I’m faced with the following truths:

• Something is making it so I can’t see so good out of my left eye. If it’s not MS-related, than what the heck is it? I’m basically back to square one with the problems that sent me to the doctor in the first place, only now I have the added benefit of an autoimmune condition.
  
  
• I was diagnosed with, and am about to start treatment for, a disease for which I have had no physical symptoms. As such, I am about to embark on a lifelong journey of injections and possible side-effects (explained in greater detail in a future post) to treat a disease that has evidently provided no physical inconveniences to date. Bummer.

I’m not convinced that the MS is not the contributing factor to my eye symptoms. In fact, I'm skeptical. So I am in the process of finding a second provider to review my test results, and discuss my symptoms, to get some additional perspective (and to find out if there is something completely unrelated that needs to be addressed in my eye).

So that, in a nutshell, is my current situation. Hopefully there will be much more to share in the coming weeks.