Mom of 31 year old daughter in diagnostic process....

[carMom]

So I am going to post where we are in this scary process and would apprciate any thoughts or suggestions...anything we are missing or should ask.
Daughter (31 years old) is mother of three in very good physical health, very active, teaches full time. A Long history of migraines...about 2 months ago started having visual symptoms left eye only..floating black spots and 'bubbles' ad some double vision that never goes away or lessens. (She has no other symptoms that she is aware off.)
Optometrist referred to Opthamologist he ran vision field tests and various other tests...eye looked normal other than slight enlarged nerves, which has always been that way and watched (familial). Field test showed a 'pattern in both eyes.' He referred for various blood works (B12, blood sugar, cbc etc.) all these came back normal.) He then reran field test same pattern results. The referred for MRI. MRI showed numerous white brain lesions. He then referred her to UCSan Francisco Medical Center. On Monday we went to the MS Clinic much more blood work run (Lyme Disease, etc.) those results were all normal, all examinations of the eye were normal, evoked potentials was normal, her motor and sensory tests were normal, She had a lumbar puncture and we are waiting for the results (sometime next week).
He says if that also comes back normal he will order and Spinal MRI.

He said the 'numerous lesions' would not be so abnormal for someone older but that two of the lesions were large and would be a concern no matter what her age

If that is normal we'll look at her migraines again

In the mean time her visual symptoms are quite disturbing. She ha considered wearing a patch over one eye under her sunglasses because the spots are so distracting even to the point she gets nauseous or virtigo.

Are we missing any questions....any similar experiences??????thoughts??????

[jimmylegs]

hi there do you have the actual b12 result? 'normal' just means 'under a bell curve' when it comes to bloodwork, it can be very misleading. lots of other suspect nutrients etc to test if you're interested. i can tell you which tests to ask for and what the results mean.
thanks for coming on here to help your daughter. IMHO if there's a positive to be found in the process, it's the awesome learning curve once you start reading, so welcome, and read away

[civickiller]

i would suggest she goes and sees a Upper Cervical Care Dr to just get tested to see if she could benefit from UCC.

has she experienienced any kind of head or neck trauma in her life, like any kind of whiplash or fall or something?

[patientx]

Carmom:

I've never experienced optic neuritis as a result of the MS, so maybe someone else could comment if your daughter's symptoms are typical of ON.

Is the opthamologist still the lead doctor, or a neurologist at UCSF? Who looked at the MRI images or report? Usually MS lesions will show up in some characteristic spots, and the neurologist uses this to try to make a diagnosis.

Also, it's not clear why they would order the spinal MRI based on the LP. I would think they'd want a spinal MRI regardless, to see if there's damage to the spinal cord.

Hopefully you get some answers, and your daughter gets some relief from her visual problems; they sound pretty annoying.

[dlynn]

Hi carMom,
My double vision came on suddenly, I was 18yrs. old, no MRI back then, I still have double vision. 18yrs. later, I was diagnosed (MRI)
with ms, (second symptom) my whole right side was tingly sensations even though my lumbar puncture result was normal, I had brain stem lesions. Ten yrs.later and my third symptom was ON (right eye). I've had floaters a long time but not for the past 2 yrs or so, and an occasional migraine. I was diagnosed RR (for 15yrs) these past 4 yrs. I've progressed,SP. My ON symptoms were, loss of vision in right eye, pain in both eyes when I moved them, loss of color in my right eye when my sight gradually returned. I've never taken migraine meds.
I hope this has been helpful. God bless!!

[fee001]

Hi!

[/quote]
Patient's have reported improvement in: fatigue, cog fog, eye pain (ON), numbness, tingling and weakness in the arms and legs, muscle spasms, tremors and twitches, migraines, blurry vision, trigeminal neuralgia, tinnitus, poor balance etc., The degree of improvement is as individual as each case. Many cases are associated with permanent damage. Sometimes the permanent damage occurs during trauma. Permanent damage can also occur slowly such as from upper cervical misalignments.

Get her cervical spine (neck) checked, by a reputable chiropractor. Uprightdoc on here can help point you in the right direction yeah! He made the above statement yesterday answering a poster's question.


My eyesight eyesight changed after Chiropractic treatment, I did not realise how bad it had become, until it seemed as if someone had fixed my telly without telling me. it isnt perfect yet but I expect it to improve yet again when treatment is complete.

An Atlas can become misaligned through physical or psychological trauma/tension caused by stress

Fiona

[want2bike]

My double vision stopped when I started my detoxification program. Do not know if your daughter has amalgam fillings but if so might want to see a mercury free dentist. Amalgams can cause MS.

http://www.videosurf.com/video/multiple ... s-81761590

http://www.hugginsappliedhealing.com/st ... t=0&page=1

http://www.flcv.com/ms.html

[jimmylegs]

re the long history of migraine, you could try google scholar searching (filtered for articles only, no patents) terms like:

migraine copper
migraine zinc
migraine magnesium

some search results:

Disturbed liver function in migraine patients
"Over 50% of the migraine patients had copper:zinc ratios significantly greater (>1.8) than the control value (1.4), 30% of these having a copper:zinc ratio greater than 2.0 These high copper:zinc ratios were not consistently due to abnormal levels of one of these metals."
(read that last bit as you can be sick even when 'normal')

Copper as a factor in the dietary precipitation of migraine
"Substances such as chocolate and glutamate are triggers of migraine... This paper suggests that it is the effects that these substances have on the copper pathway (ie its absorption and utilization) that is the primary consideration in the precipitation of migraine. Chocolate contains high levels of copper..."

Magnesium prophylaxis of menstrual migraine: effects on intracellular magnesium
A clinical, electroencephalographic and trace element study with special reference to zinc, copper and magnesium in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) in cases of migraine.
"...a lower migraine threshold could be related to magnesium deficiency."

[Cece]

Welcome to the forum. Some thoughts...migraines can cause white matter lesions, but they tend to look different than MS lesions. Do you know if the lesions were periventricular? That is a common location for MS lesions. I've had a lot of optic neuritis and eye issues. But I believe double vision can be from a cerebellar lesion, not the eye itself.

[CanuckChick]

Both times I have had Optic Neuritis, I have intense pain behind my eye, loss of colour differentiation and blurring. Hope that helps. Best of luck to you, your daughter and your entire family.
Jen