MS & Eye Pain

Multiple sclerosis has many different symptoms including, but not limited to, eye pain. This does not happen to each person who has been diagnosed with multiple sclerosis as symptoms can be different from one person to the next.

Optic Neuritis

• Optic neuritis is one of the most common eye pains associated with MS. Optic neuritis is a temporary inflammation of an eye nerve resulting in blurry or graying vision, dark spots in the center of the vision or blindness in one eye.

Uncontrolled Eye Movement

• Nystagmus, or jumping vision, is eye movement either horizontally or vertically without the person consciously knowing. It can be mild or it can severely impair vision, which will lead to mild to severe headaches in MS patients.

Double Vision

• Diplopia occurs when muscles that control eye movement are not coordinated. This occurs from a weakness in one or both eyes. If this occurs, a MS patient will experience headaches as well as nausea.

Devic's Syndrome

• This eye pain, rarest among all of the eye pains and only discovered by a MRI, occurs when the patient's protective fatty substance (myelin) has broken down and inflammation of the optic nerve occurs. Devic's syndrome can be fatal.

Recovery from MS Eye Pain

• Most eye pain in an MS patient will correct itself over time. A neurologist can prescribe oral steroids or corticosteroids to help relieve the pain.