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Hi, I'm 23 years old female and I have suffered with RANDOM symptoms since I was 15 years old. I've never had an MRI but have had my spine looked at. I have like a buzzing sensation sometimes I use to have it alot but not so much now, i get a sudden feeling of heat in my rt knee but to the touch its fine, I have always fallen (i'm the only person i know who falls at the zoo and sprains BOTH ankles) and my ankles are so messed up my left ankle is wasting away pretty much, every morning I wake up I feel like I'm 80 and have a hard time walking because I'm so stiff, I have low b12 and iron, horrible joint pain and swelling, My hands go numb and tingle if I use them for any amount of time.. especially writing and Im a nursing student so there is alot of writing lol, I have wet the bed since I was 15 years old, its the most embarrassing thing, I get constant UTIs and have alot of pressure when i urinate, I have horrible fatigue.. today alone i've slept 19 hours because My whole body just aches!, I also have RLS. I tested positive with an ana 1:160 titer, and my sed rate is high, I also blue fingernails that come and go, I also have PCOD which none of these symptoms are related too, I also have headaches which I've had since I was little they come and go, as soon as I eat i have to go #2. I get forgetful alot and kinda have to think awhile while im speaking its like im tongue tied.I was having a conversation with my mother. My grandmother use to fall ALOT, and had some of the same problems I have, they said it was an autoimmune but didn't find it til she was in her 70s so they decided not to investigate. The neurologist said that if she was younger with her MRI he would say that she had MS but since she had had mini strokes and her age he wasn't sure. I've come to my breaking point. I've suffered for so long I don't know how much more I can take. I've been searching and studying for awhile and this seems to always come up...sad thing is I have no insurance so there for no MRI or rheumy. Can anyone give me any advice or if you have suffered these same things please help me. I'm getting fed up!!! Thank you!!!!

My advice would be to go see a chiropractor and then see what symptoms are left after a year. Try to avoid the MS diagnosis.

hi gresham, sorry to hear you are having such a rough time

if you are interested i can tell you which nutrition levels are poor in ms patients, and you can ask for some bloodwork to see if you need to adjust your diet and/or get a supplement regimen in place.

re the low b12 and iron, are you taking supplements to address these problems? do you have a serum ferritin result?

re your joint pain, have you ever had your vitamin d3 level tested?

re stiffness, aches, RLS, PCOD, headaches, and fatigue.. for me these all raise a red flag on your magnesium status. has anyone ever tested your serum magnesium level? can you get that test done? having better magnesium status may even help reduce your problems with recurrent UTIs.

also re constant UTIs, have you tried using probiotics? and/or antiviral/antibacterial supplements like zinc and selenium? i used to get recurrent UTIs too, but not since i got off the abx and onto some decent probiotics and nutrients. it is such a relief.

the forgetful thing i can also relate to - i was an absolute moron about 4 years ago (eg couldn't keep track of conversation topics, couldn't remember if i locked the door, couldn't remember what show i was watching when the ads were on, almost lost my driver's license due to really poor cognitive function, etc etc) but then i asked for a zinc test, was deficient (long vegan history), fixed it, and got better. it's awesome. i also worked a fish oil supplement into my regimen and i think that helps too. before i realized the zinc problem, at one point i used gingko biloba to increase blood flow (with the intention of increasing oxygen and nutrient levels to cells), and it made me REALLY SMART i highly recommend it for a short term quick fix! but you would need to keep working on the underlying nutrient status - your body doesn't use herbs for basic biochemistry right..

anyway hope you find something to help sort you out! if you are interested in taking on the nutrition approach, there are some links in my signature below (ie not the ones i wrote but please feel free to read those too) that i have found to be helpful resources.