Tuesday, September 20, 2011
What is Optic Neuritis?
Just thought a general short video of what optic neuritis (what I was diagnosed with when I was 4) and Neuromyelitis optica (what I was diagnosed with when I was 16) are.
So when I was 4 years old I slept in a room with this alphabet thing hanging on the wall and every morning, instinctually, I would look at the alphabet. One morning, though, I woke up and I could barely see the letters. I was small but I still knew something wasn't right so I tried getting out of bed and realized I literally couldn't walk. Now it was pretty obvious something was wrong so I crawled to my mom and I guess I got taken to the hospital. I really don't remember much since I was so small, and honestly that story could've just been ingrained in my mind from all the things I have heard.
Anyway, I stayed in the hospital for a week and after tons of tests they said I had Optic Neuritis and Encephalomyelitis (it took me ten years to actually remember what I was diagnosed with). I had 5 more almost identical eye episodes after this first one but I was able to walk every time. The doctors were pretty positive their diagnosis of Optic Neuritis was correct until 11th grade when they thought I had the same episode, did tests, and realized something else had happened. I went on heavy meds and ended up having a seizure. The seizure has actually helped me though. Because of this, more tests were done and more has been discovered. They still don't know what I have but they are sure it is auto-immune. I have read so so so many health articles and papers and I have become so interested in these diseases, kind of distracting me from what I have.
There are so many diseases out there that aren't given enough attention but are extremely important. I'm excited for people to learn about these, not so they pity those who have them but just to understand. It would be impossible to know about all the rare diseases, and I'm not saying it's necessary that we learn everything but I think diseases like Lupus, MS, and more that I haven't read about yet need to receive some attention.
Anyway, I stayed in the hospital for a week and after tons of tests they said I had Optic Neuritis and Encephalomyelitis (it took me ten years to actually remember what I was diagnosed with). I had 5 more almost identical eye episodes after this first one but I was able to walk every time. The doctors were pretty positive their diagnosis of Optic Neuritis was correct until 11th grade when they thought I had the same episode, did tests, and realized something else had happened. I went on heavy meds and ended up having a seizure. The seizure has actually helped me though. Because of this, more tests were done and more has been discovered. They still don't know what I have but they are sure it is auto-immune. I have read so so so many health articles and papers and I have become so interested in these diseases, kind of distracting me from what I have.
There are so many diseases out there that aren't given enough attention but are extremely important. I'm excited for people to learn about these, not so they pity those who have them but just to understand. It would be impossible to know about all the rare diseases, and I'm not saying it's necessary that we learn everything but I think diseases like Lupus, MS, and more that I haven't read about yet need to receive some attention.
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