Am i being silly?

[confused9656]

Hi c:
In the last 12 months or so i noticed a spasm in my eyeballs when i look down sometimes, the optician said that it was nystagmus when mentioned and said to say it again if it was still there when i next go. its goes through stages of being really bad or when i barely get it at all.
I have also noticed that i sometimes have problems speaking, my words come out slurred or i forget the word altogether. i feel like my short term memory has got worse as well, and i feel tired a lot.
i remember noticing the speech and a balance problem about 2 years ago but then it disappeared so i forgot.around this time i would get L'hermitte's sign,the electric shock feelingdown the neck.
in addition, i sometimes get muscles cramps or spasms , especially after exertion.
on wednesday when walking up a hill for dofe in the 30 degree celsius heatwave, i had a minor "seizure" as it was described by the others there.
I've self harmed for the past year and felt downa lot.
I've not seen a doctor or anyone but after googling some of the symptom MS came up a lot, but im scared that im just making it up? like a placebo effect. before the nystagmus started ms never crossed my mind to be honest.
Im a 17 year old female with no current diagnosed health problems

[jimmylegs]

hi and welcome to the forum.

can i ask how well you're taking care of yourself health-wise? do you know what the recommended daily amounts for various essential nutrients are, and do you know how much each of your food choices contributes to your basic daily needs?

there are certain nutrients that one might consider particularly important when it comes to mood and potential for self harming behaviour. some of these also have links to the nystagmus you describe, and are also ones that are known to be on the low side in ms patients.

i don't imagine you're inventing the constellation of symptoms you describe. they all sound very consistent with quite specific and quite common but poorly tested nutritional problems.

can you tell us anything about what your meals are typically like, what kind of non-alcoholic beverages you consume most often, how often you're exerting yourself, and whether you routinely consume any drugs (prescribed or recreational) or alcohol? this info can help point up whether there could be reason to pursue action on the nutrition front.

there's lots of beneficial stuff you can do before zeroing in too closely on ms and none of it will prevent the doc from conducting assessments on you should you eventually wish it

[confused9656]

I mostly drink water or tea, have one or two cups of coffee a day
Probably eat more fruit and vegetables than most
I have a very all round diet I eat a lot, I've probably put a bit of weight on in the last four months from snacking more on junk food (about half a stone)
I don't feel like I'm lacking anything in diet as my mum is a very good cook and health conscious

[jimmylegs]

hi there. i think many of us here would have said we were healthy eaters before we got here :S i'm a very good cook as well.. didn't mean there weren't some serious deficits in the total nutrition picture in my case.
a short survey taken here last yr:
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... 24214.html

[confused9656]

Genuinely I think the only thing I could be lacking is iron
I looked at the survey I don't really understand it sorry

[jimmylegs]

hi again, so why might you be low in iron? it makes sense that of all possible culprits you might be aware of that one - it's pretty much the most common nutritional issue out there.

the very informal survey was only answered by a few people, but all of them said they felt smart and healthy about food before they got sick and before they started learning on the forum.

after getting here and learning more about nutrition and health, they realized they hadn't really known that much and needed to make quite a few changes.

[confused9656]

I don't know I just feel like I don't eat any of the food that are high in iron and as a female that's probably quite important!
I'm pretty clueless about nutrition anyway I just eat what my mum gives me Haha

[jimmylegs]

well, if you feel like learning more, your symptoms look like they have a lot of potential to be manageable via a nutritional approach. i get that it's harder to make changes when you're not making the shopping and food prep decisions though.

healthy iron foods info
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/artic ... f-iron.php

healthy magnesium foods info
http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/artic ... nesium.php

also fyi
Downbeat nystagmus with magnesium depletion.
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/7295110

Downbeat nystagmus: aetiology and comorbidity in 117 patients
http://epub.ub.uni-muenchen.de/14975/1/ ... bidity.pdf
in that study, magnesium levels in all patients was 'normal' - but magnesium tests are notoriously useless and if their levels were anywhere in the lower half of the normal range then they probably weren't good enough!

Muscle cramps and magnesium deficiency: case reports
http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2146789/

[confused9656]

Thank you!

[jimmylegs]

no worries! have a think about omega 3s as well

http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart
http://www.healthaliciousness.com/artic ... -foods.php