Stressed and Depressed

[Electrodle]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, I'm a 37 year old woman who is currently undiagnosed and playing the waiting game. I do have a family history of MS in my mother and also my maternal uncle.
My symptoms officially started in late spring with back and hip pain. Eventually it was discovered that I do have a bulging disc and pinched nerves in my lumbar area. I've had injections, and that alleviated some of my pain, but not in the hip area. I went to pt, etc, no improvements. Then, I had a numbness of my upper lip. Not only the actual lip, but from the lip up to the nose. It started in a narrow space, but spread across most of my lip, then subsided after a week. My gp sent me to a neurologist after that. Then, I started noticing other things that were going on. Fatigue, new anxiety, depression, weakness in the left leg, minor headaches, muscle spasms and cramps, mental cloudiness (I struggle to find my words and frequently say something completely different than I meant to say), forgetfulness, inappropriate emotional reactions, and most recently a burning sensation on the top of my right foot.
The neuro dr ordered a bunch of tests, so far I've had a contrast brain mri, EEG and EMG. Went for follow up after those, idk what to think. First, he said my hip pain and leg weakness are from Meralgia paresthetica. I'm overweight, he suggested weight loss and that I wear only dresses to keep pressure off the area. My mri did show nonspecific curvilinear flair hyperintense signal in the pulvinar nucleus of the right thalamus. Dr said basically that the radiologist is an idiot for suggesting CSF, nonspecific basically means nothing, he's going to order another mri in a few months "just to prove it". He said nothing about my EEG or EMG, but wants blood work and a sleep study done next.
Idk if anyone whee has had a similar experience, but I really believe this is MS. Dr said many of my symptoms could be sleep apnea but my hubby says I never stop breathing in my sleep, he always stays up late watching TV in bed.
I just want to know what's wrong so I can move forward.
Sorry about the long vent!

[jimmylegs]

hi and welcome sorry to hear about your symptoms and lack of answers. i don't suppose the docs have ever referred you to any kind of nutrition specialist? if not, that could be a useful avenue to explore..

[lyndacarol]

Hi everyone! I'm new here, I'm a 37 year old woman who is currently undiagnosed and playing the waiting game. I do have a family history of MS in my mother and also my maternal uncle.
My symptoms officially started in late spring with back and hip pain. Eventually it was discovered that I do have a bulging disc and pinched nerves in my lumbar area. I've had injections, and that alleviated some of my pain, but not in the hip area. I went to pt, etc, no improvements. Then, I had a numbness of my upper lip. Not only the actual lip, but from the lip up to the nose. It started in a narrow space, but spread across most of my lip, then subsided after a week. My gp sent me to a neurologist after that. Then, I started noticing other things that were going on. Fatigue, new anxiety, depression, weakness in the left leg, minor headaches, muscle spasms and cramps, mental cloudiness (I struggle to find my words and frequently say something completely different than I meant to say), forgetfulness, inappropriate emotional reactions, and most recently a burning sensation on the top of my right foot.
The neuro dr ordered a bunch of tests, so far I've had a contrast brain mri, EEG and EMG. Went for follow up after those, idk what to think. First, he said my hip pain and leg weakness are from Meralgia paresthetica. I'm overweight, he suggested weight loss and that I wear only dresses to keep pressure off the area. My mri did show nonspecific curvilinear flair hyperintense signal in the pulvinar nucleus of the right thalamus. Dr said basically that the radiologist is an idiot for suggesting CSF, nonspecific basically means nothing, he's going to order another mri in a few months "just to prove it". He said nothing about my EEG or EMG, but wants blood work and a sleep study done next.
Idk if anyone whee has had a similar experience, but I really believe this is MS. Dr said many of my symptoms could be sleep apnea but my hubby says I never stop breathing in my sleep, he always stays up late watching TV in bed.
I just want to know what's wrong so I can move forward.
Sorry about the long vent!

Hi and welcome to ThisIsMS, Electrodle.

I think you will find all your symptoms listed in the following video (although your case has not yet reached the extremes found in the four featured patients): "Diagnosing and Treating Vitamin B12 Deficiency"



I highly recommend you watch 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).


@22:23 David Carr, M.D., pediatrician says, "Knowing what I know now, yes, it seems very odd that B12 levels are not routinely checked. I can only assume that it happens much more commonly than we would ever have imagined."
@25:50 The statement appears on the screen: It is medically negligent not to rule out B12 malabsorption in symptomatic patients.

You have not mentioned that your GP, neurologist, or any doctor has ordered the testing mentioned in the video (The serum B12 test alone is not adequate to determine a deficiency.) This is the first possibility that should be investigated. (Do not take any vitamin B supplements before blood testing, as this will skew results.)

[jimmylegs]

and just for some perspective, there are close to 30 essential vitamins and minerals, several of which are of particular concern to ms patients in particular, and chronic disease patients in general...

[ElliotB]

Jimmylegs, do you have a list?

Adding to that 'essential' list of things required by most for good health should be EFAs, essential fatty acids.

[jimmylegs]

hi sure

list of essential vitamins and minerals
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Essential_ ... t#Vitamins

the fatty acids are on the macronutrient side of things:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_macronutrients

here's one ms-targeted list (which i would call incomplete however.. not a fan of ignoring basic essentials in favour of things like NAC)
http://www.lef.org/Protocols/Neurologic ... is/Page-02

[NHE]

and just for some perspective, there are close to 30 essential vitamins and minerals, several of which are of particular concern to ms patients in particular, and chronic disease patients in general...

Can you list the ones you think are "of particular concern to MS patients?"

Which of that list other than B12 will, when deficient, strip myelin out of the spinal cord and cause periventricular lesions and white matter atrophy that mimics MS?

Histopathology of subacute combined degeneration



Plasma vitamin B12 status and cerebral white-matter lesions.
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/natural-a ... ml#p226718

Associations between elevated homocysteine, cognitive impairment, and reduced white matter volume in healthy old adults.
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/natural-a ... ml#p225969

[jimmylegs]

ah yes the link didn't make it through. of course you know there are plenty of lists of nutrients of concern for ms patients out there, NHE. i've edited my post above with one example. here's another http://www.direct-ms.org/supplements.html (again, i have some issues with those recommendations, given that not everyone will need the same dose of everything, and there is a certain amount of disregard for balancing and interactions evidenced there).