I'm so confused. Could I have MS?
Posted: Mon Jul 14, 2014 9:57 am
Hi everyone,
I'm a 23 year old guy and for the past year I have been having some problems with sensation on my entire body. My skin sensation almost feels slightly muted. It's not a tingling pins and needles type numbness. I can still feel pain. I also have fatigue, brain fog, mild depression and occasional dizzy spells (I've had these symptoms for a long time).
So this started about a year ago. It seemed to come all of a sudden. Like I noticed it one morning. The first thing I noticed was that my penis was not sensitive anymore. I compared the sensation on my penis to my lower stomach and it felt the same. It was like my whole body sensation was slightly muted. I was pretty worried so I made an appointment with a general practitioner.
First thing I asked about was the loss of sexual sensation and my doc suspected low testosterone. He then ordered a complete hormone panel and everything came back in range. My total testosterone was about 450, but my free was just barely over the within range point. Doc said this was fine and shouldn't cause the loss of sensation down there. He then referred me to a neurologist.
The neurologist suspected MS as a possibility for my symptoms. So first thing he ordered was an MRI of my head and spine. Both showed up fine. Then he had several blood tests done to rule out other things such as Lyme, syphilis, and B12. All came back fine.
Neurologist then ordered an eye test that tests for things like MS. I had that done and it came back normal.
My neurologist is now pretty confused and says he is not sure what to do now. He said he could try one more test called a spinal tap (lumbar puncture?) or he could try referring me to the Cleveland Clinic. He said he wasn't confident that the spinal tap would show anything because the MRI tests are about 99% accurate in diagnosing MS (his words, not mine). But he said it wouldn't hurt to check a spinal tap anyway.
I'm now really confused on what is wrong with me. I'm not sure if its even worth trying the spinal tap now. Is it worth trying?
The main symptom that has me down is the sexual sensation loss. I saw one other guy on this forum complain about a symptom similar to this, but I think he wasn't clearly diagnosed with MS either. I'm not sure what his progress is now since he hasn't been back in a few years. Anyone have experience with a symptom like this?
Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice on my situation. Thanks.
I'm a 23 year old guy and for the past year I have been having some problems with sensation on my entire body. My skin sensation almost feels slightly muted. It's not a tingling pins and needles type numbness. I can still feel pain. I also have fatigue, brain fog, mild depression and occasional dizzy spells (I've had these symptoms for a long time).
So this started about a year ago. It seemed to come all of a sudden. Like I noticed it one morning. The first thing I noticed was that my penis was not sensitive anymore. I compared the sensation on my penis to my lower stomach and it felt the same. It was like my whole body sensation was slightly muted. I was pretty worried so I made an appointment with a general practitioner.
First thing I asked about was the loss of sexual sensation and my doc suspected low testosterone. He then ordered a complete hormone panel and everything came back in range. My total testosterone was about 450, but my free was just barely over the within range point. Doc said this was fine and shouldn't cause the loss of sensation down there. He then referred me to a neurologist.
The neurologist suspected MS as a possibility for my symptoms. So first thing he ordered was an MRI of my head and spine. Both showed up fine. Then he had several blood tests done to rule out other things such as Lyme, syphilis, and B12. All came back fine.
Neurologist then ordered an eye test that tests for things like MS. I had that done and it came back normal.
My neurologist is now pretty confused and says he is not sure what to do now. He said he could try one more test called a spinal tap (lumbar puncture?) or he could try referring me to the Cleveland Clinic. He said he wasn't confident that the spinal tap would show anything because the MRI tests are about 99% accurate in diagnosing MS (his words, not mine). But he said it wouldn't hurt to check a spinal tap anyway.
I'm now really confused on what is wrong with me. I'm not sure if its even worth trying the spinal tap now. Is it worth trying?
The main symptom that has me down is the sexual sensation loss. I saw one other guy on this forum complain about a symptom similar to this, but I think he wasn't clearly diagnosed with MS either. I'm not sure what his progress is now since he hasn't been back in a few years. Anyone have experience with a symptom like this?
Anyway, I'd appreciate any advice on my situation. Thanks.