Normal MRI but symptoms...

[rdc81]

I have been having these symptoms for the last 4 months:

Lhermitte's sign when turning head or rolling eyes, optic neuritis with eye twitching, numbness, tingling, extreme fatigue, spine and low back pain, muscle weakness/fatigue, stabbing ear pain without infection.

I had an MRI, brain and cervical w/wo contrast and both came back normal. My neurologist wants to see me back in 6 months to check things again. I had a feeling that this would happen. I would have symptoms without the lesions. So I am going back to my eye dr to try to get a handle on the optic neuritis. I have had all the normal lab tests for fatigue and all came back normal. Any suggestions on how to get a handle on the fatigue? I started taking a vitamin b complex so hoping that will help a little.

Should I just wait until my next checkup or should I bug her about a lumbar puncture? Is it possible to have the oligoclonal bands in CSF and not have the lesions?

Thanks!

[Youarethecure]

To your last question I believe yes that is possible... but don't hold me to that.

Do you have any family history of MS? How old are you? male or female? Do you feel like the symptoms are slowly getting worse? better? staying the same?

Fatigue is hard to fight against but I find that working out only makes me feel better. Exercising is hard to consider when fatigued but over time it will make you feel better. Start with whatever you can and work your way up.

Also I have found that my supplement regimen has also made me feel much much better overall. Vit d, magnesium, b12, zinc are all things you should make sure you are at the proper levels for.

I wish the best for you,

Chris

[lyndacarol]

I have been having these symptoms for the last 4 months:

Lhermitte's sign when turning head or rolling eyes, optic neuritis with eye twitching, numbness, tingling, extreme fatigue, spine and low back pain, muscle weakness/fatigue, stabbing ear pain without infection.

I had an MRI, brain and cervical w/wo contrast and both came back normal. My neurologist wants to see me back in 6 months to check things again. I had a feeling that this would happen. I would have symptoms without the lesions. So I am going back to my eye dr to try to get a handle on the optic neuritis. I have had all the normal lab tests for fatigue and all came back normal. Any suggestions on how to get a handle on the fatigue? I started taking a vitamin b complex so hoping that will help a little.

Should I just wait until my next checkup or should I bug her about a lumbar puncture? Is it possible to have the oligoclonal bands in CSF and not have the lesions?

Thanks!

Welcome to ThisIsMS, rdc81.

Since your symptoms are commonly found in people with a vitamin B12 deficiency, it is my opinion that your GP, neurologist, or eye doctor (ophthalmologist) should have screened for that possibility. But now that you have "started taking a vitamin b complex", blood tests will be skewed and not give an accurate picture of your situation. (By the way, oligoclonal bands can exist with a B12 deficiency.)

Any person at any age can develop a B12 deficiency. A B12 deficiency is easily and inexpensively treated. There have been several malpractice cases won (for several million dollars each!) when doctors did not look for vitamin B 12 deficiencies and patients went on to develop irreversible neurologic damage.


I highly recommend this 50-minute documentary featuring Sally Pacholok, RN, BSN, & her husband Jeffrey Stuart, D.O. (authors of the book, Could It Be B12? An Epidemic of Misdiagnoses); Lawrence Solomon, M.D., hematologist with Yale Medical School; Ralph Green, M.D., hematologist at UC Davis; and Donald Jacobsen, PhD, at the Cleveland Clinic (Homocysteine Research Lab).

"Everything You Want Your Doctor to Know about Vitamin B12"



I have never had a lumbar puncture, and after hearing the experiences of people who have had them, I would not "bug" my doctor to order one for me.