Newby- not yet diagnosed
Posted: Fri Jan 28, 2011 6:46 pm
Hello all. I am a 33 year old wife and mother of 4 children ranging from 11-3. I work part time with our church. I first started experiencing strange symptoms in Spring of 2010. I went to the doctor with the worst headache I had ever had. I had had some neck stiffness at the same time. They took x-rays of my neck and put me on muscle relaxers and migraine medication. I took maybe 3 doses of each and didn't have any more symptoms. Shortly after, we got pregnant with our 5th child and lost her at 13 weeks gestation during the summer. We had genetic testing done on her and there were no abnormal chromosomal problems detected. (From what I understand, there is no genetic test for MS anyway). I had cluster headaches during my pregnancy and currently still have them, but they are nothing like the one last spring and that advil and a small amount of caffeine won't take care of. In the fall of last year I started experiencing some instability in my neck. Almost as if I had to balance my head on my neck. I even complained to my husband that I felt like my head was going to fall off. About the same time, I started having "pins and needles" in my neck, left shoulder and upper back that radiated down my left arm. Over Christmas, my mother and sister did an intervention of sorts. They asked if I knew that I had tremors in my head. I had no idea that my head was even moving. My mother had noticed it since early fall, but thought it was some sort of weird mannerism I was exhibiting. When my sister ,who is a veterinarian, visited, she recognized it to be a neurological problem and suggested that I see a neurologist, especially after she discovered all of the other symptoms I had been experiencing. (Of course we laugh about being diagnosed by a DVM) I saw my GP, who confirmed my head tremor, and sent me for an MRI of the brain. It came back normal. Blood work also came back normal. He scheduled me to see a neurologist this Tuesday. Since I've seen the GP, I have noticed that my increasing pins and needles feeling, and sensations down my spine are worse when I hold my head forward and am looking down. I've googled and learned that this has got to be L'hermitte's sign or something very similar. Just last week I experienced weakness in my right arm, like I had a ton of bricks tied to it. It felt like extreme muscle exhaustion after a strenuous workout, but this was in the evening, and I had only performed light exercise that morning. I am experiencing a small amount of weakness in both arms today, but I did carry my three year old while out shopping for a short time. Any feedback on these symptoms and suggestions for my doctors visit would be greatly appreciated.
Veterinarians... ha ha ha ha