About 15 years ago, before being diagnosed with TM, but after being
diagnosed with lupus, there was a dark spot in the field of vision in my
right eye. I went to an opthalmologist who told me to come back in two
days. Over the course of the 2 days, the vision was completely obscured,
but in my naivete I assumed he knew what he was doing and waited. It turned
out to be optic neuritis. At that point I was put in the hospital and given
IV cortisone, but it was too late to restore the vision. (I'd love to post
his name but a quiet, little voice is stopping me. If you are in the
metropolitan DC area and are looking for an eye doctor, I'll be glad to
suggest one to avoid.)
A few years later, I had shimmering and floaters in my good eye. Naturally,
I ran to a doctor, a neurologist this time. He said it was a migraine even
though there was no pain. He prescribed an aspirin each morning. Since
being on the aspirin, I have not had a migraine and the vision in my left
eye remains normal.
The optic neuritis started with a fixed spot that enlarged. The migraine
had floaters that constantly moved so that a different small portion of my
vision was missing each second. Also, FWIW, my TM came on very gradually
which, I gather from other postings, is unusual. I lived for a few years
with tingling in my right foot that kept me up at night but let me walk
around and just accepted it until one day the foot went numb. Anyway, I
*think*-it was a long tome ago-that the optic neuritis preceded the TM but
the migraines happened during the period of time during which I had TM but
didn't realise it.
The symptoms most people seem to be describing sound much more like the
migraine than the optic neuritis. I hesitated to write because I don't want
to frighten people unnecessarily and thought of just saying, yes, I had
migraines like that, but I really don't know what connection there is
between TM and other neurological problems and it would have been even
worse to tell half a story that could cause people not to get prompt
attention for a serious situation. I fervently hope your visual problems
turn out to be the kind that respond to aspirin or Advil. They sound like
the kind that did in my case. But, if in doubt, demand prompt attention,
especially if the spot does not move.
Ellen