New, curious and worried

[Kevin26]

Hello all, My name is Kevin, I'm 37 years old and this is my first day here and i'm seeking information mostly. I have been an EMT on a volunteer basis for the past 20 years so naturally I tend to research my ills and such. Through looking up my few and vague symptoms I happened to run into a family history situation. So lets begin at symptoms i suppose. Mostly I keep getting a numbness/tingling sensation in various areas of my face although it seems to be focused around my eyes mostly. I don't think that my vision is different but I have notice that in the past few months i have been tending to close one eye while reading and writing...not just often...every time. My bladder does seem to be normal but i keep questioning myself on intake vs output...that is more than likely out of this new paranoia that i'm feeling over my suspicions. I have not contacted my family doctor yet but plan on making an appointment in the morning. Often times i get muscle cramping in the forearms and hands while using tools at work(electrician) or drumming, I have always been a very physical person and in fact enjoy physical labor and consider such very fun. Family history, My grandmother (mother's mother) had been diagnosed in the 70's. I never really met her that either of us would have remembered. The stories are scary coming from my aunts and mother on her condition. I have much confidence in the medicine and treatments since those days but I believe that this new found paranoia is certainly attributed to that. My Mother has Chronic Auto Immune Hepatitis. This is a disease very similar to MS, very rare but where in MS the immune system attacks the CNS, in CAIH the immune system attacks the Liver as if it is foreign. To the best of my knowledge that is all of the immune diseases in the family...but also enough to spark my concern.

My own medical history is pretty boring for the most part, I have arthritis in my thoracic spine, an L5-S1 Fusion of the spine and I recently found out the first week of this year that i have a severe allergy to some sort of spider bites. (its impossible to determine a species as there are too many potential tests that would need to be done). Otherwise I have no other medical history to explain these things. Looking at the list of things to rule out on the MS Society's web site it is VERY unlikely that i have syphilis because i have no other symptoms that i am aware of. I have been tested for HIV via my volunteer work on the ambulance on several regular occasions and am negative. I know very little about the other things on the list but am confident that i have no physical damage to the brain or spinal cord or nerves from any trauma.

While i understand that this is going to be a long process, I believe that everyone here has most likely been where I am. When i contact my family doctor what kind of specialist will / should he refer me to? Are the test painful or uncomfortable? How long is this process? What should i expect? What should I do?

Kevin in PA

[jimmylegs]

hi and welcome kevin

re

I have always been a very physical person

i wonder what you think of the notion of athletic nutrient depletion? recent related discussion:
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/search.ph ... mit=Search

possibly of interest:
Zinc supplementation therapy improves the outcome of patients with chronic hepatitis C (2012)
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3491241/
Alopecia in autoimmune hepatitis: Association with zinc deficiency (2010)
http://www.annalsgastro.gr/index.php/an ... ew/800/590
Zinc and Liver Disease (2012)
http://ncp.sagepub.com/content/27/1/8.abstract

[Kevin26]

Thank you for the links. I'm certain that my liver is good. I've been tested on several occasions to be a living donor. The Zinc, Magnesium and B-12 thoughts are also noted and on the top of my list when i go to the Dr this coming Thursday. Are there any specific questions I should ask or specific concerns i should voice besides the above listed?

while i'm at it I should mention with my past medical history...I had forgotten that I have Circadian Rhythm Disorder, although I haven't found any links between MS and sleep disorders yet...but again I only started looking into this all over this past weekend.

[jimmylegs]

hi the liver info was sort of more to do with what you said about your mum.
but, the liver is something to pay attention to in ms as well.

as for what to ask the doc, i'd say just be specific re the tests you're asking for, ie

serum magnesium - result target: aim for .95-1.1 mmol/L. (or 2.3-2.7 mg/dL)
serum zinc - result target: aim for 18.2-18.4 umol/L. (~120 ug/dL)
serum vitamin B12 - result target: aim for at least 370 pmol/L (500 pg/mL)

note that those targets will be nothing like the 'normal' ranges that come back from the lab. do get your own copy of the results to make sure you're now low normal (similar to many different kinds of patients) or high normal (similar to healthy controls)

if the doc says no to your request for these tests, if you're in the states you can get a requisition done online instead and take that to the lab. it will be interesting to watch for potential improvements to your CRD if nutritional issues are identified and corrected