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Hi, I have some concerns and am hoping I can get some guidance and or answers here. I have had some strange symptoms and every time I google them, MS comes up. Its come to the point where Im not sure I am just so worried that I am paying attention to every little thing and maybe these are just normal things that happen or not? Sorry if this goes long. First I am a 41 yr old mom of 5, pretty heathly, no major health issues. about 2 mths ago I was sitting on the couch had a strange feeling in my left arm and when I lifted it, it was shaking. A pretty major tremor, I guess you'd call it. My right arm was fine. I thought it was pretty weird, showed my husband and older son and asked if that ever happened to them, they said no. Looked up tremor online, got things like MS, ALS so i shut it down and told myself i was being silly and to forget about it. It lasted about an hour, than over. A few days later I noticed a twitch in my right hand and a tingling feeling in both hands,like on top of my thumbs and wrists and going back over the forearms. Also had a tremor in my thigh one night at dinner. Started paying closer attention ( ok, getting a little freaked out) Also had pain in the arch of my left foot, especially at night, which I have had for quite a while and didnt think anything about it untill now. Started getting what I call "jumpy" muscles all over. Just random jumps or twitches ALL the time, on my hands thigh, leg, face , lips which was weird. Started keeping a journal of my symptoms. Than on Sept 10th I got a "jump " on the front of my left shoulder. A big one that was pretty constant. My husband could see it twitching from across the room. It never hurt while it was twitching, just very annoying. It lasted until the 23rd, for 13 days. When it finally stopped it was extremely sore. I hurt to move it at all, driving and turning the steering wheel was very painful. It still hurts now although not as bad, over a month later. The tingling and pins and needles on my forearms had become pretty constant. Would also get the tingling on my outer calves and thighs. Also the pain in my foot every night and a hot feeling on the bottom of my foot and on the palm of my left hand would come and go. That made me remember about a year ago waking up feeling like a curling iron was touching the bottom of that foot. It was so strange I remember searching on the internet at the time, but found nothing so forgot about it until now. One day I got a shooting pain in the back of my head, just real quick and then a tight feeling around that spot, hard to describe without sounding crazy. While driving on Oct. 8th I suddenly felt this buzzy vibrating on the tip of my nose which radiated over my face and blurred my vision for a second. I got scarred and pulled over. The next day I videoed a twitch happening on my hand with my phone. I feel like I need proof that Im really experiencing this. So during this time I was also very tired, but I had alot going on, planning a birthday party so that could explain it but then one day I woke up with more energy than Id had in a while and i noticed the tingling had gone and the twitches where not as often. I was so relived. But yesterday there was more tingling on my arms and my leg woke me up in the middle of the night with a major twitch, I think its called muscle faciilations? Ok, thats it. Am I crazy, paranoid or should I really be concerned and go see a Doctor? I have gone to the Dr. on and off over the last few years with fatigue, concerned about my thyroid because my mom has hypo thyroid-ism, but my blood test always came back fine. I have always had perfect vision but 2 yrs ago I suddenly couldn't see up close anymore. The eye dr. just says that's normal with age, and Im guessing with MS they can tell if its something different going on? Do you see how Im getting paranoid and now attributing every thing going on with me to this. Ugg, sorry. So if any of you have time to give your opinion I would appreciate it. Thanks so much for listening. Cathy

Cathy
This could be a lot of things. You need to make an appt. with your doctor so that you can begin to get answers. If I were you I would insist on being seen in a timely manner. There is no need to panic but there is also no need to continue to worry without working to get answers.

Your doctors are your best option for medical opinions. However, my doctors had me pegged with something else for 10 years...

I must admit, I sped read your post (its not you, its me... I am in a rush right now...) but it seems your symptoms may come and go very quickly. For me personally, when a symptom starts (usually during a relapse) it normally gets worse until I take steroids, it just doesn't disappear the next day, which sounds like it may be happening to you.

If there was one thing I wish I knew back when I had my first symptoms, is that you can get an MRI without enhancement (which is an injection) which may be uncomfortable if you don't like small spaces, but is otherwise 100% non invasive and there is no radiation as there is in an X-ray.

Have you by chance ever been prescribed prednisone (oral tablets 25-1000mg) for your symptoms by your Dr? Although they also help for a LARGE number of conditions, I dont think I have heard that they work for ALS, but I have no real basis for that.

When I had my first symptoms (tingling) I was sent for peripheral nerve conduction tests as well (the diagnosing MRI didnt come till 10 years later...)

You do not fit the high risk category in some ways because of your age, but thats just a "norm" and some people here talk about looking back 20 years realising what they had ignored. Even if it was, you appear to have VERY mild symptoms, so with even some very minor treatment, you should be good. And the more I think of it, ALS is normally a lot more aggressive and fast acting so you should be OK. See your doctors, get a second opinion, push for something they can either prove, or get them to disprove anything they say you do not have. Thats their job! Good Luck.

Welcome, Cathy.
I second the suggestions by Loriyas. With the hypothyroid problem in your mother, and with all your other problems, it would seem to be appropriate to schedule a thorough physical exam and blood tests (all the usual, plus tests for cortisol level, all the thyroid hormones, fasting blood INSULIN level); ask for copies of the results – keep your own file; to feel you are doing something may dispel your paranoia/worry.

Even your GP can check the optic nerve in the back of your eye. He can tell you if it is a healthy pink color.

I think your worry is a little premature (I tend to do the same thing.), you need more information from the doctor. With your doctor, establish the baseline and proceed from there. Come here with your questions, we are all willing to help answer them if we can. Wishing you all the best.

You are not blowing it out of proportion. You are just in the wrong chatroom. You are describing Lyme Disease and Bartonella which both have been known to mimic MS, the problem is that MS treatments make these infections worse...so you want to investigate Lyme first. Then you need to realize that it takes time with lots of ups and downs to recover. Check out Lymenet.org and ask the people over there. By the way this is the most controversial medical issue in the history of medicine, you should educate yourself about this controversy. Google your symptoms and Lyme disease and you will get hits. Check out Dr. Burrascano's guidelines and find a good doctor. An MS doctor will diagnose you with MS and likely dismiss Lyme and give you a Lyme test completely unreliable and designed to fail. Lyme patients have lesions also that look like MS.
Why do I know what I know- because I have a cousin who was misdiagnosed with MS in 1995 and we discovered he tested positive with Lyme Bartonella and Babesia, Cpn, Mycoplasma Pn. and a few others in 2008. He shouldn't be alive, He was brutally sick and now he is getting better with the proper antibiotic treatment. I wish someone had told me/him about this initially like I am you now. Please take this seriously and educate and research these infectious diseases. These infections mimic over 200 other diseases. Hope I was helpful. It is my opinion that MS is really caused by these infections based on my real life experience...and by the way there is a growing amount of scientific literature supporting this and doctors starting to recognize it more so. I wish you the best and a speedy recovery. Check out the antibiotic section of this forum also.