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Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 10:06 am
by SDGirl13
Man, this has been a rough, rough road. I know you all are not doctors, but I am really having so much trouble getting a diagnosis.

Over the past year I have had intermittent neck pain, radiating down my neck. Stiff for a few days, often when waking up.

Then about three months ago - I was on a plane and noticed my right thumb twitching, some neck pain and stiffness in my wrist and some numbness in my hand - a little stiffness on left arm side but primarily right - from there all downhill. I admittedly went online and saw all kinds of posts about scary neurological diseases. Anxiety went sky high, had some stressful life events happen, insomnia - the works.

During the past month, I've had numbness/buzzing for three days in my face. The part that is scary though is that I now have severe neck/back pain between my shoulders - down both arms and into my hands. Fasculations in legs, my hands feel weak and clumsy and I feel like cement is weighing down my arms - my forearms ache - I have had many days where my forearms down to my hands feel like they are asleep - all pins and needles feeling. Clinically there isn't any real weakness - I can still perform functions, I can run- but it feels forced when I am trying to do things like button a shirt. The pain though comes and goes, sometimes I feel like I can't move. Sometimes I feel like my mouth is buzzing - I am in pain all the time now - this pain wasn't there when this first began. The fatigue is new too.

Testing: I had an EMG to rule out Carpel Tunnel - no irregularity there, I had an MRI of my neck and brain w and w/out contrast - CLEAN w/ exception of slight protuding disc - but Neuro said it was too small to cause anything other than some neck pain. All of my blood work has come back clean - protein levels, all of my vitamin/mineral levels, thyroid, and even ANA, and CardioCRP -all normal. Two visits with Neuro who did the basic in-office tests. So basically, the neurologist says this is not neurological - he says no MS, no parkinsons. But why am I twitching - why do I feel like I can't move my arms and why am I getting so much worse every day- why do I have numbness? I am so so scared of what is happening. I have a 3 yr old and a 10 month old - and I am so scared that I am going to be crippled or worse, but so far no one can tell me what is happening.

Even though my MRI's were clean - is there a chance this is MS? thank you for reading my story.

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 11:09 am
by Anonymoose
Hi sdg,
Sorry you are going through such a rough and scary time. We all know what it's like...no fun and it usually takes a while to get a definitive diagnosis. Try not to stress though. If it is MS, stress can cause exacerbations.

Some people have symptoms of MS before any lesions appear on their mris. So, yes MS is unfortunately a possibility for you. However, I think if I were you I would assume it is not MS for now and pursue chiropractic care. If it helps you relax at all, the presentation of your symptoms doesn't sound at all like mine, especially in regards to the length of time your "flares" stick around. You might find uprightdoc's thread to be of interest. Even if you don't have MS some of the therapies and explanations he offers may be applicable to your situation. http://www.thisisms.com/forum/chronic-c ... 14005.html

You may also find relief in nutritional work...b12 etc. Jimmylegs is great with helping people out with this aspect. She should charge for her services.

Keep calm and carry on. :)

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 11:39 am
by SDGirl13
Thank you anon for your kind reply - I am trying to not operate on fear (even though most of the time I fail at that!)- I got a Chiro appt. set up today - need something :)

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 1:09 pm
by jimmylegs
hey there, which vitamin and mineral tests did they run? do you have your results? or did they just tell you they were 'normal'?

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 2:49 pm
by SDGirl13
Hi JimmyLegs,

So far they did:
Thyroid, Hemoglobin, Folate, and the comprehensive Metabolic Panel (sodium, potassium, calcium, Albumn, Protein etc.) - I have numbers for those -then I was just tested for ANA, ESR, CardioCRP, RF - no official results just told NORMAL - oh and I had the Celiac disease panel - also "Normal"

I should mention that this week I started taking, magnesium, vit D, calcium and fish oil, I also take a prenatal vitamin, and I am doing a lot of smoothies with kale, probiotics etc.

Anything in particular I should look for? I know Vit D and B12 are two to watch for - my B levels were very good - not sure about vitamin D - but I have started supplementing

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 5:37 pm
by lyndacarol
SDGirl13 wrote: Over the past year I have had intermittent neck pain, radiating down my neck. Stiff for a few days, often when waking up.
...
I have a 3 yr old and a 10 month old...

Even though my MRI's were clean - is there a chance this is MS?
Welcome to ThisIsMS, SDGirl13.

There is always the possibility that your symptoms could be due to MS, but take the advice of anonymoose and assume that they are not. Worrying about it will only cause stress, and stress is known to aggravate MS (if, indeed, that is your diagnosis).

You mention having symptoms over the past year and having a 10-month-old child. The insulin level in a pregnant woman rises in order to put weight/fat on the fetus. (Are you aware that MS symptoms can improve during pregnancy and often flareup in the months soon after delivery? –I believe this is due to the excess insulin being used up by the fetus.) After the child is born, some women continue to produce this excess insulin. I think this explains why some women experience an MS flareup after giving birth. Could it be that your insulin level did not return to normal after the birth of your 10-month-old?

You and your physician have begun a good, logical program of testing. In addition, I suggest you request your physician to order a "fasting blood insulin test" – NOT to be confused with a glucose test. (An optimal result will be below 3 UU/ML. My first test result was 12 UU/ML; no test that I have had since that time has been below 9.)

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Thu May 16, 2013 7:59 pm
by jimmylegs
heya! was your hemoglobin 13 or higher? can you tell me what magnesium product you are using? is your vit d, vit d3? and if so, how many IUs per day are you taking? you may not need to take calcium. fish oil is a great one. can you tell me more info about your prenatal vitamin? if you have a link so that i can look at the label info that should be useful. you are right - b12 and d3 are important ones. so are zinc and magnesium. if you can get serum tests for vit d3 (the serum 25(OH)vitD3 test) as well as serum zinc and serum magnesium, that's excellent info to have available. i'm on the move right now, not using my own computer and it's late. i'll be back with more detail but it could be monday night before i get back on with much info. i will keep an eye out for any info you can send. it will be easier for me to read than to type on this unfamiliar keyboard!

Re: Is this MS? Many tests and dr. visits unanswered - help

Posted: Fri May 17, 2013 12:31 pm
by SDGirl13
Thanks all -Jimmylegs - I'm taking a Nature made pre-natal plus DHA, then I'm taking Trader Joes brand Magnesium, Vit D and Calcium - one pill 2xs daily. Hemoglobin was a percent - 5.1?