New Here. Could Use Some Help

[tom21]

Hey all. Like many here, I'm wondering about the possibility that I may have MS. I'm aware that there's a lot of anxious scared people like me that come on here begging for answers and I know I shouldn't expect any answers nor a diagnosis of any sort. With that said, I'd still like your guys' honest opinions. I'll keep my background/story short. For awhile now I've been experiencing what I'd say are "neuropsychiatric" symptoms. It's been going on for at least a couple years and initially started after a bad drug experience and seems to be getting progressively worse. It got worse after a car accident that I was in about 2 years ago. Don't know if that makes much of a difference or could possibly cause MS though. My symptoms as of late though are VERY concerning and I'm in a bit of despair and at a loss as to what to do. My doctor(s) keep referring me back to psychiatry but now that I'm experiencing more neuro/physical symptoms I really don't see how this can be a psychiatric issue only that's behind all this. My symptoms are strange vision (colored spots, blurriness, etc), eye pain, hypersalivation (excess saliva), trouble swallowing at certain times or FEELING like it is hard to (maybe like a pseudo-dysphagia). In general eating is just not the same and my mouth feels strange when chewing and swallowing food. At times it feels hard to walk and move around and I feel dizzy, (This isnt that severe yet and not very frequent but it is noticeable) facial numbness/tingling, numbness/tingling in hands fingers and arms head and eyebrows and neck, weird slight pains in toes and fingers, slight burning feeling every once in awhile in arm (feels like an indian burn), depersonalization/deralization (psychiatric symptoms), horrible short term memory and long term is being affected now too, feeling randomly fatigued for no apparent reason, horrible depth perception that sometimes makes it hard to walk up stairs, etc. I could name more but I feel that this is enough for now. Can anxiety cause all of this like my doctors imply? Could the car accident have done something to me? Or did the clean MRI (without contrast) and EEG that I had recently rule this out? Should I get an MRI with contrast? I just need some opinions. Even though I had an MRI and EEG recently that both came up normal like I said, I feel that I should get further neuro testing. Please just let me know what you think. Not asking for much of anything else.
-Thanks

[NHE]

Should I get an MRI with contrast?

The MRI without gadolinium contrast should show lesions if they are there. The use of the contrast agent allows distinguishing active lesions from old ones which is helpful in assessing disease activity. If the regular MRI was negative for lesions, then there's little reason to get another using contrast.

[tom21]

Can i get more opinions on this? Just trying to get as many opinions as possible. Thank you NHE by the way.

[NHE]

Can i get more opinions on this? Just trying to get as many opinions as possible. Thank you NHE by the way.

In addition to the MRI, what other diagnostic test have you had done and what were the results?

[tom21]

Can i get more opinions on this? Just trying to get as many opinions as possible. Thank you NHE by the way.

In addition to the MRI, what other diagnostic test have you had done and what were the results?

Yes like I said I also had a clean EEG, although I'm not sure that is even something that is used to diagnose MS? Other than those two (MRI, EEG), I haven't had any other tests done. Any suggestions?

[ironmanswife]

I'm curious to know, are you on any psychotropic medication? Several of the symptoms you are describing could be consistent with psych meds. Particularly those used for anxiety, derealization, and depression.

An EEG is typically used to rule out seizures, and an MRI is used to rule out any structural abnormalities. These are the first two things they typically look at with any mental status changes (I went through both of these in the very beginning; was initially referred to neuro by psychiatry, who stated "Uhm. These symptoms don't look like anything I've seen.") Was seeing a psychiatrist for a period after some traumatic stuff happened.

[tom21]

I'm curious to know, are you on any psychotropic medication? Several of the symptoms you are describing could be consistent with psych meds. Particularly those used for anxiety, derealization, and depression.

An EEG is typically used to rule out seizures, and an MRI is used to rule out any structural abnormalities. These are the first two things they typically look at with any mental status changes (I went through both of these in the very beginning; was initially referred to neuro by psychiatry, who stated "Uhm. These symptoms don't look like anything I've seen.") Was seeing a psychiatrist for a period after some traumatic stuff happened.

Nope not on any meds although I was recently prescribed some by a psychiatrist and I'm supposed to take them soon but first I'm investigating the neurological side of things before going the psychiatric route.

And ya, that's what I had initially figured. I just thought I'd throw it in that I had an eeg done anyways despite eeg's being pretty unrelated to diagnosing MS. Right now I'm currently trying to rule out alot of things and MS is one of them. I will be seeing a neurologist more often hopefully, because its obvious I need to. Two suspicions of mine lately have been either temporal lobe epilepsy or MS. If I can't get diagnose with either of those then perhaps my problems really do stem from a psychiatric issue. I don't really know. We'll see I guess.