MRIs and SEP

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Earth
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MRIs and SEP

Post by Earth »

Hello everyone, I would like to ask one or two questions regarding my current situation, and I would be very grateful for any information.

Basically, not long after some form of little localised rash on my chest in January, I started to develop plenty of sensory symptoms throughout my body. It started with burning sensation on my upper back (it lasted two weeks), then burning sensations on my right leg (it lasted about two weeks), then some form of spacity in both my legs and left harm (for like a week; it was only present when walking, but not when not doing anything or even cycling, weirdly enough), then plenty of nerve pain (like pulling violin strings and little burning on my skin) all around my body without any specific patterns (each pain would last between 1 to 4 seconds; and it would come every minute or 30 seconds), and finally my right leg has intermittently felt like a bit more "lazy", meaning that I have no probable what so ever to use it, and yet many time it felt like "less normal" (a bit more tired), but that came and go; I also had facial pain (but I am not sure whether it qualified for typical trigeminal pain, as it was not abrupt and intense, but rather radiating pain that would last and then go away)... Anyway, all these symptoms have gradually resolved, and now I don't have much left at all for the moment, if the really rare occasional burning pain there or there or my right leg feeling sometime a bit more tired than the left (like little muscle ache)...

I had two sensomatory evoked potential tests (SEP), one EMG, as well as one brain MRI, which all came back clear. I have a spinal MRI scheduled for tomorrow, and should hopefully receive my results by the end of the week. I was wondering what is the likelihood of not having brain lesions at the onset of MS, but rather only having spinal lesions? I saw somewhere that about 20% of people have this pattern of initial clinical presentation... Also, would SEP tests easily find a spinal lesion, considering that the spine is rather narrow and therefore lesions would be hard to miss?

For the info, I am a male in his mid-20s. I also was found to be Vitamin D deficient four months ago (i.e. 13 in my first blood test), and now since I take supplement it has risen to probably around 30 or more (my last Vitamin D test showed 23 about one month and a half ago).

Thank in advance for any information :)

Earth
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lyndacarol
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Re: MRIs and SEP

Post by lyndacarol »

Earth wrote:For the info, I am a male in his mid-20s. I also was found to be Vitamin D deficient four months ago (i.e. 13 in my first blood test), and now since I take supplement it has risen to probably around 30 or more (my last Vitamin D test showed 23 about one month and a half ago).

Thank in advance for any information :)

Earth
Welcome to ThisIsMS, Earth.

Please research vitamin D deficiency. There are vitamin D receptors on virtually every cell in the body. Vitamin D is used by every system in the body. Vit D deficiency can result in ANY kind of symptom.

Your initial vitamin D test result (13 ng/mL) was dangerously deficient. The Vit D test result of 23 ng/mL was still frankly deficient. Even your latest test result of 30 ng/mL is inadequate according to GrassrootsHealth (http://www.GrassrootsHealth.net), whose 48 vitamin D experts recommend that serum vitamin D should be at least 40-60 ng/mL. (Although many local labs use a reference range of 30-100 ng/mL, the "basement number" – a.k.a. lowest possible number on the scale – is not at all the optimal place to be when it comes to the status of the nutrient, Vit D.)

Many neurologists recommend a Vit D level between 70-100 ng/mL for their patients who have neurological symptoms.

If you have had a long-term vitamin D deficiency, raising your blood level is not a quick fix for symptoms resulting from the deficiency. It simply takes time for the active vitamin D form to reach the cells and allow them to heal and function properly – it does not happen overnight.

I am encouraged that your doctor found your vitamin D deficiency and is treating it with supplementation. What dosage did he prescribed? And how often do you take it? Every person absorbs and makes vitamin D at a different rate. The only way to know if your level has improved at all, or how much, is by testing regularly.

I suggest that you keep your own file of your vitamin D test results, so that you can keep track of your progress. As jimmylegs (our "nutrient guru" here at TIMS) will teach you, it is important to optimize the other nutrient cofactors (e.g., magnesium, zinc, selenium) along with Vit D.
Snoopy
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Re: MRIs and SEP

Post by Snoopy »

All normal testing and all over symptoms does not indicate Multiple Sclerosis. MS doesn't cause all over symptoms such as you have described, MS doesn't work like that. Your D level should be checked (blood work) every 6 months to a year. D levels increase slowly so it is impossible to assume yours has increased without current blood work.
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