This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

Hello,

I was never even worried about possibly having MS until about 2 weeks ago. Now that it is staring me in the face I am thinking back on some of my ailments and symptoms and wondering if maybe it is. I made my appointment for my first nuerologist appointment but they can't get me in until Dec 20th. So now I am left to my own devices and of course over analyzing every tidbit of information I can consume. So let me tell you where I am at and maybe I can rely on some of your own experiences and expertise to tell me what could be made of all of it.

I am a 29 yr old working Mom of 3 boys. Ages 7-1. Generally pretty healthy until now.

A few weeks ago I started having daily rather intense headaches. One day in the kitchen while talking to my oldest son about his homework, I turned to say something to him and everything just went almost black. I actually reached for the wall and fell down because I couldn't get my barrings and even though I could see his outline I couldnt see him. It took about 2-3 min to shake the cobbwebs and be able to compose myself. That was an isolated incident but very alarming. I made an appt for a regular Dr visit the next day. After talking about what had happened and his neurological exam he decided that he was going to send me for an MRI/MRA. At that point I was rather freaked out, I had convinced myself it was probably just a migraine or inner ear infection that got the best of me. At that point he was thinking it was an "obstruction" of some kind... so of course in my mind it's a tumor.

So I had my MRI/MRA and made my follow up for 2 weeks out as directed. I didn't hear anything on the inbetween so I assumed it was probably fine. When I arrived at his office, he was rather unorganized. Couldn't initially find the radiology report, and was about to send me on my way saying he would have called if anything of importance was found. A nurse found it as I was preparing to leave... he looked it over and pointed out the abnormalities that were found. There was a 1.5 MM aneurysm at left MCA trifurcation.
Also, a 2mm T2 high signal focus in the left superior frontal gyrus subcortical location, nonspecific demyelination as described.

So with that he kind of brushed it off saying it is probably no big deal but made me a referrel to a nuerologist for peace of mind and just to be safe. I made my follow up appt with the neuro and the scheduler did say that he only sees patients with MS. So now I am somewhat confused because he sounded unconvinced it was anything serious but is sending me to this type of specialist.

So now looking back, I have had chronic back issues and sciatic pain since the age of about 17. For the past 5 months I have been experiencing rather intense left hip pain. It hurts to lay on my sides and getting up from a sitting or laying position is extremely painful and difficult. From time to time my fingers go numb and I have facial "twitches" of my eyes and lower lip. I also at times have flar ups of wrist pain to the point where making a fist is difficult and I can't bare any weight. I am also experiencing fatigue. All of those things I tend to just try to push through and deal with it thinking it will pass and I must have just done something to injur myself but now looking back I am wondering if it was all part of a bigger problem.

Thank you to anyone taking the time to read this lengthy story. Any insight is so very much appreciated.

hello, i'll answer very simply to say that i would look closely at several important nutrients (all of which are well known in science - if not in practice - to be low in ms patients).

now. first and foremost, serum zinc. as soon as you said 3 boys in the last 8 years, my thinking went there. aim for 18 umol/L serum zinc.

given the nature of aneurysm and the importance of zinc to membrane integrity, i looked for a study on zinc status and aneurysm. found this:

Diet and content of zinc in serum of patients with brain aneurysm
http://www.cabdirect.org/abstracts/2010 ... E80C4F676D
"The average content of Zn in serum of patients with a brain aneurysm was statistically significantly (p<0.03) lower (0.651±0.20 mg/L) than in the control group (0.761±0.19 mg/L)."

(if you convert to SI units, the serum zinc level here was just 9.96 umol/L in aneurysm patients, barely half what you'd see in reliably healthy controls)

then re the pain, tics and fatigue, two things:

serum magnesium (aim for at least 0.90-0.95 mmol/L)
serum vitamin d3 (aim for at least 100-150 nmol/L).

if your docs don't use those units you can ask me if you need conversion info.

hope you can get some testing done if you'd like to read more there are links in my automatic 'signature' below.

keep your chin up! lots you can take charge of between now and that dec 20 appt. esp if you have ready access to a little bloodwork. i'll be around if you have questions.

_________________
my approach: no meds so far - just balanced whole foods (partial 'paleo', much less outright elimination), science, supplements, & bloodwork
my regimen - www.thisisms.com/ftopict-2489.html
www.whfoods.com, www.nutritiondata.com

I can certainly understand your concern with your recent health issues. The symptoms that you described can be caused by any number of things so until you see the neurologist you really can't jump to any conclusions. Diagnosing MS is difficult at the best of times and the docs usually rule out all other causes of your symptoms before coming to that diagnosis.

At this point I would probably be more concerned with the aneurysm on your MRI. Although very small, aneurysms can turn into larger problems later on. But this is just an opinion and you need to be properly examined by a neurologist to be treated for whatever ails you. Best of luck.

Harry