This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

I was diagnosed RRMS 18 months ago , (am a 51 yr old grammy) and have not had a serious relapse in that time. Mainly numbness, facial pain, etc. I am very fortunate in that regard. (I was diagnosed from an mri that showed the lesions and also from a spinal tap.) However I am now in day two of what my might be my first serious exacerbation. I am posting this to see if anyone else has had this experience. It began with intense pain in my right hip, it has spread to my right butt cheek and the right side of my abdomen 24 hours ago. I now have numbness in those areas. Not just tingling but "its not there" numbness and seems to be spreading. There is still deep pain. My GP, who is stumped, is consulting with my neurologist this afternoon. Neuro is in another town, I live in a rural area.) I will see my GP first thing in the morning. I am very frightened. I am new to this website but I have noticed that there is a wide array of ms experience checking in and commenting. Also, that there is a lot of great discussion and information sharing and a lot of kindness and compassion. This is a great website and I am going to a lot of the links I learn about on here. I am just posting this to see if anyone else has been here, if they have experienced this as a relapse and can give me some thoughts on what to expect. I have been on rebif for 6 months. Had to go off three weeks ago because I developed hives. But am now back on. I know this is rambling, sorry. I would appreciate any thoughts.

lynn, thank you for your kind words about the site and welcome to the community. I trust you will get good feedback from our members with respect to your question.

Hi lynn45,

I am sorry to hear you are having problems.

When I was initially diagnosed with MS my attack consisted of novacaine like numbness that started on the rt side of my head and went down the side of my neck, my arm and three of my fingers (all on the rt side). I had a hard time handwriting. I also had a painful earache in my rt ear. My symptoms did not happen gradually, I woke up one morning and they were all there. My symptoms eventually went away within about 3 months.

I hope that you feel better soon!

Alicia

Hello Alicia,
Thanks for the reply...I was trying to think of how to describe the numbness..Novacaine is how it feels. When your symptoms went away was it a gradual thing? I hope you are doing well now. My initial symptoms were a really bad pain in the neck and 1/2 of my face having numbness. They thought I had a disc problem in my neck and did a ct scan and found the lesions (brain, not spinal) . After many months of being with the wrong neuro....many mris and a spinal tap that went badly, I finally found a good doctor. I have been really fortunate symptom-wise thus far. Mainly fatigue and some neck pain about once every three months. This new thing is really scary.

Again, thanks for your post and hope you continue to do well!

Hi Lynn and welcome, please keep us updated and hopefully Nuero will be able to give you more definative answers, hang in there..


Philip

What you describe is what I've been experiencing for the past few years. I had pain in my left hip, outside left thigh, and left abdomen. The symptoms increased over time with pain in my inner thigh and finally spasticity. This prompted me to go to a dr. where I was finally diagnosed with MS 20 months ago. The pain peaked around 6 months ago. I can't diagnose you but you are doing the right thing in pursuing professional help. Best wishes.

hi xenova
I got an answer today on this problem. To make a long story shorter, I have been diagnosed with shingles. I am starting a round of prednisone and antiviral medicine. Hopefully it was diagnosed in time for the antiviral to lessen the symptoms. I am relieved that it is not a relapse but it is very painful. At least there is a treatment. Thanks for the post. I hope you are doing well. This has been my first experience of my regular gp doctor talking to and coordinating with my neurologist and that has been very positive. best of luck to you