Katy
I have had Optic Neuritis three times.
I'm going to be blunt below so if you aren't up to reading it at the moment then skip it.
My pain and visual disturbances started on honeymoon in August 2000.
Went to GP in September who faffed with oral antibiotics., then eventually an optician who sent me urgently back to the GP for a referral to a neurologist as he could see a problem with my optic nerve.
I had to go in and sit in the ward waiting room, the second someone was discharged I was given their bed and the tests started.
I had an MRI, eye tests, balance, field test and they were about to do a lumbar puncture when they came running in with the results of the MRI and my optic nerve was inflamed to the point of looking like a ribbon threaded through my brain (it should look like a strand of cotton).
Immediately they set up an IV drip of VERY high dose steroids (a gram a day for three days given exactly 24 hours apart). This is the ONLY steroid treatment that works on Optic Neuritis as it penetrates the lining of the brain, Oral steroids will do NOTHING for visual problems. The side effects of the steroids were rank but the pain subsided and the vision in that eye improved slightly.
I am left with permanent damage to that eye as the myolin sheath around the nerve is damaged and cannot repair itself. I have no colour vision in my right eye and no peripheral vision.
They repeated the MRI three months later as often Optic Neuritis is the first sign for MS.
You MUST get your DD referred urgently to a NEurologist, there are other things could be causing it...in my case, I had ON a further twice and it was found to be a side effect of pregnancy, which can also happen. I had the steroid treatment as an outpatient, going home with the canula in my hand then back 24 hours later for the next dose.
Please, get a referral. Shout and scream if you need to - A&E were useless for me even when my husband refused to take me home until they had done something about the pain I was in - it was like having an arrow from my eyeball right through the back of my head in a line.
I get pain still now, not often, but if I have been mumsnetting working too much on the PC.
Like I said, I know the thought of MS can be frightening but I haven't seen anyone else mention it and thought you should perhaps hear from someone who has had ON and come out the other side. One thing that DID help with the pain was acupuncture if you have a recommended place near you - I went to one in York who were excellent.