I have had optic neuritis in the same eye three times. I have lost a good deal of vision in that eye. It does not affect my driving but mostly missing small things like grammar on the computer especially. The computer screen light makes the glare reflect back on my retina. Sunlight does this too so I wear sunglasses as well.

Back in '88, I had a gosh be awful headache that took up the whole upper right quadrant of my head. I had blurred and double vision and had to drive myself to work with my hand over one eye. Yes, I was that determined. After going through a 100 count bottle of Tylenol, I decided to go and see what was going on. I lived close to Bloomington, IN at the time, so I went to the IU school of optometry (I believe that's what they call it) to get it checked out by a student.

Well, he was in there and tested me out with all the expensive machinery they had, and the caps off of two solution bottles to see how my color vision was...LOL He asked me to wait a minute and left.

When he came back in, his mentor/teacher/whatever came in carrying a THICK (about six inches) book with a bookmark in it. She opened the book to me and read with me (Yes, I got to see the print!) about this thing called Optic Neuritis. What caught my eye was the information that if I had another attack within a year or so, I had a 95% chance of having Multiple Sclerosis. She looked so sorry and upset for me. I was clueless.

I went to the medical library and did a bit of research. That was rather frightening.

In '89 I fought another round of ON. I knew then what was happening. They didn't have any medicines or treatments for MS at that time, and I didn't want to hurt my career opportunities at work, so I didn't have it 'diagnosed' officially.

One piece of information I came across eventually did shine a little beam of sunlight on this stinking mess. It seems that people who are initially diagnosed with MS because of ON tend to have the less virulent form, if any can be called 'less virulent'.

Good luck sweetie. I hope you never have to see your Ophthalmologist again.

@donnaR I got diagnosed with Optic Neuritis 3 years ago. I did a 3 days treatment, not sure how many hours per day. It was intense. By day 3 my vision was perfect again (I wear glasses but like I had them before). I was told it would probably never come back, but to be aware that many people that have Optic Neur, then end up having MS. A month or so ago, I had numbness on the whole left side of my body. It lasted for almost 3 days, so I went to the E.R., they took me in immediately & treated me with intravenous steroids again. The MRI showed I have lesions in my brain, fresh ones. Not too bad, but I do have MS. 2 weeks after that, I had a relapse. At first I was told I have benign MS, now it's Relapsing-Remitting MS. So, it is what it is. Things can always be worse. I'm not on meds, yet... trying to do things naturally. We'll see how that works out for me. :) Good luck!!

last month i had ON, and was sent to the ER by my dr for steroid drip and MRI, with in a week i had MS diagnosis. The pain in my eye was almost unbearable and i could hardly see out of that eye. I had to have my parents take me to the dr and then the ER. I drove to work for 2 days but i Live 3 miles away lol. I wish you luck. After the 3 days of the drip then oral steroids i had no pain and have my right eye sight back to almost normal.

I was diagnosed with Optic Neuritis and MS at the same time after going to the hospital emergency room, Sears eye glass store, an ophthalmologist, then a neurologist. The sight in my right lost color ability and 5 percent sight. If I closed my left eye everything was a black and white dripping water color. I was treated with an IV of aggressive steroids for 2 hours at my home over 3days. Then I was placed on pill form steroids. After 6 months my sight in my right eye retuned to color ability and 95 percent capability. I was diagnosed in 2001. I went on permanent disability in 2010. www.allsup.com is a great company that will assist with applying for disability. Another great site is www.needymeds.org to assist with the cost of meds.