People diagnosed with multiple sclerosis (MS) can experience many different vision problems. One such eye problem associated with MS is watery eyes or excessive tearing. According to the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, eye problems are often the first symptom of MS to appear in a person.
A common visual symptom of MS is optic neuritis — inflammation of the optic (vision) nerve. Optic neuritis usually occurs in one eye and may cause aching pain with eye movement, blurred vision, dim vision, or loss of color vision. For example, the color red may appear washed out or gray.
For individuals with MS, vision problems may come and go. They may affect just one eye or both. The problems may grow worse and then disappear, or they may stick around. Understanding what types of visual disturbances you may experience can help you prepare for living with them if they become permanent.
Detecting Early Signs of Multiple Sclerosis
An eye exam can detect early signs of MS. Regular eye exams are critical because what may seem like a vision-related problem might be an indication of a broader health issue, like Janna learned during her eye exam.
Vision Problems
The first symptom of MS for many people. Optic neuritis, neuromyelitis optica, blurred vision, poor contrast or color vision, and pain on eye movement can be frightening — and should be evaluated promptly.
Fatigue. Feeling fatigued is one of the most common and troublesome symptoms of MS. It's often described as an overwhelming sense of exhaustion that means it can be a struggle to carry out even the simplest activities.
Floaters are a common ocular symptom for individuals with multiple sclerosis, but MS isn't a leading cause. On their own, floaters don't usually indicate serious conditions. Eye conditions like optic neuritis can be an early warning sign of oncoming multiple sclerosis.
When the onset of the disease occurs at 50 years or older it is conventionally defined as late onset MS (LOMS). Compared to classical MS, the LOMS is characterized by progressive course, a greater delay in diagnosis and a higher prevalence of motor disability.
However, watery eyes are less common than other eye issues associated with MS, like optic neuritis, as well as those sometimes confused with MS, like neuromyelitis optica (NMO). (Both optic neuritis — optic nerve damage — and NMO — an autoimmune disorder — can lead to eye pain and vision troubles.)
The two most common eye movement problems in MS are double vision (diplopia) and involuntary eye movements (nystagmus).
Multiple sclerosis (MS).
This demyelinating disease can lead to severe dry eye. In MS, poor corneal sensory impulse conduction can result in insufficient tear production, and lagophthalmos-associated DED can occur due to poor motor control.
Those symptoms include loss of vision in an eye, loss of power in an arm or leg or a rising sense of numbness in the legs. Other common symptoms associated with MS include spasms, fatigue, depression, incontinence issues, sexual dysfunction, and walking difficulties.
1 MRI can reveal associated changes in the brain, particularly in the visual pathways, to a number of visual disorders, including anophthalmia, glaucoma and age‐related macular degeneration (AMD).
Neurological examination
Your neurologist will look for abnormalities, changes or weakness in your vision, eye movements, hand or leg strength, balance and co-ordination, speech and reflexes. These may show whether your nerves are damaged in a way that might suggest MS.
Here's where MS (typically) starts
Optic neuritis, or inflammation of the optic nerve, is usually the most common, Shoemaker says. You may experience eye pain, blurred vision and headache. It often occurs on one side and can eventually lead to partial or total vision loss.
While there is no definitive blood test for MS, blood tests can rule out other conditions that cause symptoms similar to those of MS, including lupus erythematosis, Sjogren's, vitamin and mineral deficiencies, some infections, and rare hereditary diseases.
Hearing problems aren't a common MS symptom. But people with MS can sometimes experience problems including tinnitus, increased sensitivity to sound and loss of hearing.
The course of MS is unpredictable and can cause a variety of symptoms in different people. It may cause hearing problems and other symptoms that have to do with the function of the inner ear, such as hearing loss, tinnitus, balance problems, and a muffled or full feeling in the ear.
Head pressure is both an invisible and subjective MS symptom. The sensation of pressure can feel different to different people. This can make pressure hard to define and measure: The feeling can range from barely noticeable to unbearably painful, and everything in between.
Usually, MS facial twitching affects one side of your face at a time. And you may notice other facial symptoms first, like numbness, tingling, weakness, or other weird sensations. “People will usually say, 'My face feels swollen, but I look in the mirror and it's not swollen,'” Stoll says.
Multiple sclerosis (MS) triggers that worsen symptoms or cause a relapse can include stress, heart disease and smoking. While some are easier to avoid than others, maintaining a healthy lifestyle and overall health and wellness can have outsized benefits for MS patients.
What age is multiple sclerosis usually diagnosed? While these MS symptoms can make everyday tasks more challenging (walking, say, or using your hands for things like texting or cooking), it's not related to the aging process. In fact, the average age range of diagnosis with MS is between 20 and 40.