Hello...newbie..not sure where to post..

[danielashell]

Hi everyone! I'm sure your forums are BOMBARDED on the reg with people asking....'Does this sound like MS?'.
....here's another one.. lol
I'll try to keep it short.
So, I'm a personal trainer and a body builder and up until about a year ago did very heavy Olympic and other types of lifts, every single day on my own, and while teaching. So of course I would become injured on occasion. It started about 3 years ago with low back pain and always being 'crooked' . Me hating doctors the wat I do, would opt out of being seen by a physician and would go to a physical therapist who is a personal friend of mine. Anyway she told me my hip was dislocated (this is 3 yrs ago now) and she'd pop it back in and I'd go about my business. I'd return every few months with the same problem and she'd correct it. Fast forward to about a yr ago...it is happening more and more frequently to the point where I am seeing her pretty much once a month or 2 w thus problem.
Now...starting abt a yr ago, it is happening when I am not even working out...I can barely work out because I am just SO TIRED ALL THE TIME. ...and I get hurt easier and easier. I popped a rib doing fricken JUMPING JACKS over the summer that she had to put back in. My hip become dislocated again last week doing NOTHING, I just woke up with it like that. I went to her but it is still no better.
So I started researching, and low and behold I have the following symptoms...
I want to sleep...ALL THE TIME.
A lot of morning my hands just don't seem to 'work'. I like, fumble around.
Numbness in tips of pointer, thumb, and middle finger...both hands...almost all of the time.
Eyesight...I've always been near sided, I wear contacts... The other day my daughter needed some Tylenol and I could NOT for the LIFE of me read the dosage close up...I just COULD NOT SEE IT. Constant blurriness in one eye, it's basically useless at this point.
Seeing weird spots, sometimes it looks like silver snow falling that isn't even there. It's really trippy. Lol
Legs get tired just walking up stairs or hills at times... (this shouldn't happen 2 yrs ago I was squatting 200 lbs while weighing in at 125) I have gained weight since then and now I'm too exhausted to squat at all. My legs are just tired and they hurt.
Also I recall being on a whiskey trail in August (wasn't drunk or even tipsy) and I COULDN'T pick up the little cups they put it in. My hand would shake sooooooo bad and I could NOT make it stop. It was actually embarrising.
Again...I just want to sleep all the time even after a good nights sleep.
I am only 37 years old, I have 3 children and even the simplest tasks make me tired even thinking about doing them.
I have muscle spasms a lot but never really paid much attention to them, because I mean...who doesn't yanno, kind of a common thing.
No problems holding my bowels, but I mean...when I have to go...I HAVE TO GO...or there may be a problem..lol. But again I'm a trainer...I eat a lot of greens, yanno.
Urination...I have to pee constantly and I notice now that from time to time I can JUST get done peeing, and then some trickles out...I'm like wtffff?? But again...I'm 37 w 3 kids.. so yanno?
Anyway, I said I'd make this short.
If you've read this far thank u, and do u think I should bite the bullet and see a doctor?

[ElliotB]

" I should bite the bullet and see a doctor?"

Why don't you want to see your doctor?

And welcome to TIMS!

[danielashell]

Hi, thank you for the welcome!
I don't even have a family doctor. I don't think I've been to a GP since I'm like 17 yrs old.
I don't even know what I'd say to them.

[ElliotB]

Since you don't have a GP and have not seen one in a long time, it may be time to find one or just go to a local clinic - I wouldn't delay.

You should probably do comprehensive age appropriate blood work as well.

Print out what you posted here and review the info in it with your Physician. You described things here quite well! Good luck, hope you feel better soon...

[danielashell]

Thank you, I will. I have found a doctor that I'm going to call tomorrow and make an appointment with.
I guess what my question is also, what are some of the odd and not so common symptoms found with MS?
I have a lot of odd things that have been happening going all the way back to my 20s that I never paid attention to. Stupid stuff like not being able to lift my arm when I wake up. Doesn't happen all the time, but it would occur for a period of time then go away then come back.
Stuff like that.

[lyndacarol]

If you've read this far thank u, and do u think I should bite the bullet and see a doctor?

Welcome to ThisIsMS, danielashell.
Yes, it would be a good idea to see your GP or family doctor. Ask for a vitamin-D blood test (the "25-HydroxyD" test). You should also request your own copy of the test results-it is important to have the actual number.

[danielashell]

Oh, this is another thing that's weird. I know....I'm sorry, scattered, just typing as I think. But sometimes at night I wake up in pain because my underwear or whatever it is I'm wearing to bed is literally hurting me. Not because it's too tight or anything like that, but because just the fabric touching me feels like I am being burned or stabbed. It's NUTTS!
I'm sorry. I'm sure u guys get nonsense questions all the time but I'm just so exhausted. I'm so tired. My kids will be home any minute and I haven't even gone to the store for a dinner to make because just thinking of doing it makes me tired. I'm just sooooo tired, I don't want to do anything. I want to look pretty when my boyfriend gets home....and the thought of getting up to put eyeliner on has me literally needing a nap.
What is this??? I've always been do hyper and loved living life. I can barely get out of bed anymore.

[ElliotB]

I know you are not feeling well and are looking for quick answers and solutions but at this point, you need to see a doctor. A 'guess' is just that, you need real answers.

[danielashell]

You're right. I will call the doctor first thing Monday morning. Thanks for your patience. I'm sure it's annoying having people popping in and out of here trying to self diagnose all the time.

[ElliotB]

Glad to help!

[danielashell]

Well I got the news today. The doctor was SURE it was going to be MS. It was not, from what they saw...
I have a broken L1...she says it's an old fracture and she can't even believe I'm still functioning and train people. And a fused c4 and c5. Annndddd they are sending me to a neurosurgeon. Apparently this is what is causing all of the symptoms and neurological damage.
I am DEF not down with surgery. I am not!!!
Anyway thank you for all of your help.
I just feel doomed right now.

[danielashell]

.....now they're sending me for an mri. They said the CT scan isn't enough and that they are still not ruling out ms.
The tops of my thighs felt like they were being squeezed and stabbed all weekend but yet numb to the touch. Now it's gone??
Doesn't that "feeling" stay with ms?? Or does it come and go?

[jimmylegs]

OMIGOSH i hadn't seen the L1 post!?!!
was there a trauma you can associate with that fracture? is the c4/5 fusion congenital?

re an autoimmune aspect, i can't personally relate to passing squeezing/stabbing feelings on top of the thigh. my thighs/pelvis were only ever involved right at the beginning of my dx process, after a snowboarding crash. that said ms is different for everyone

yes relapsing remitting ms symptoms can come and go. eg transient electrical shock feelings can occur through the body when the head and neck are moved, if there is an active lesion in the c spine. some things stick around eg i have some evidently permanent nerve damage but otherwise no subjective progression over the last decade.

[danielashell]

I don't know that I would call it an electric shock feeling, but yes when I touch my chin to my chest there is definite pain running down my spine.
The L1 fracture...I have a few theories. I "was" a power lifter. I weighed around 120 lbs two years ago and would over train and would squat around 200lbs twice a week...sometimes until I could no longer stand.
They told me L1 comes from blunt force or trauma. I have never had and accident or anythi bf like that...so it must be from lifting???
The fusion they told me is either from an old injury healing itself or I could have been born that way.
I did have a popped rib a few months back??? (Again work related)
I go for more testing in december.
It's just so odd...looking back I've had off the wall symptoms here and there that I have overlooked.
But the last two months....they came in like a wrecking ball...
I'm already convinced in my heart that it is ms...