This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

Hi everyone, I don't have an appointment with the neuro for another three weeks and my doctor isn't very apt with ms. I have been getting some new symptoms on top of my old ones and wonder if if it is part of ms. They are:

Constant buzzing in my head, seems to be in the back lower part of my head. I have had it for a couple of weeks and it never stops. It is very annoying when trying to get to sleep, I keep the tv on for distraction. I also get occasional ringing, it is definitely not in my ears but in my head.

The other one is excruciating bladder or Bowell spasms, can't tell where it is. I go to the toilet every ten minutes, always an urgency to go but don't seem to empty properly. The spasms though are so painful it has me doubled over and although I feel an urgent need to go nothing happens. This has only happened a couple of times. The urgency and frequency I have had for months. I don't have any infections and am not on any medications.

I have not been diagnosed but my neuro thinks I may have ms due to medical history. I am waiting for MRI results and he will schedule me in for lumbar puncture when I see him.

Is it also normal to have constant leg and lower back pain, I don't have any spinal issues.

My usual symptoms are
Killer fatigue
Migraines
Pain
Weak right arm
Pins and needles
Numbness
Itchiness
Feelings of water running down leg
Feelings like my clothing are cutting right through me
Went through a period where I couldn't wear a bra because it felt like it was suffocating me
Bladder problems
Diarrhea explosive, sudden
Dizziness
Nausea
Once lost vision for ten minutes and vision becomes fuzzy at times for days
Internal body tremors
Shaky legs
I can go on........this is what I remember, which reminds me foggy brain all the time

I am really concerned and having to wait to see neuro for answers is frustrating. My spirits are high and am ready to deal with whatever it may be.

Thank you so so much in anticipation for any comments you may have regarding the symptoms......

hi there sorry to hear you're not feeling well :S

many ms symptoms are potentially linked to ms patients' particularly low nutrient levels. the average ms patient is low normal in zinc, magnesium, vit b12, vit d3, and more. in contrast, healthy controls are high normal. for a variety of reasons, most people's diet is less nutrient dense than it needs to be for optimal or even middling health.

your symptoms, some of which are consistent with ms symptoms, could be linked to the nutrition issues seen in the average ms patient.

could be prudent to get rid of as many symptoms as you can by optimizing nutrient status, and then have a smaller list of issues to take to the doc. i have dealt with pretty much all of these symptoms at one time or another. i've been able to deal with pretty much all of it by taking better care of myself nutritionally

Killer fatigue (possible iron and magnesium issues)
Migraines (possible magnesium issues)
Pain (possible magnesium and vit d3 issues)
Weak right arm (possible vit b12 issues)
Pins and needles (possible vit b12 issues)
Numbness (possible vit b12 or vit e issues)
Itchiness (linked to neuropathic pain, various possible nutrients involved)
Feelings of water running down leg (not sure)
Feelings like my clothing are cutting right through me (hypersensitivity - i had to buy all new clothes when i was first dx'd. had multiple serious nutrition issues as it turned out)
Went through a period where I couldn't wear a bra because it felt like it was suffocating me (similar to the above)
Bladder problems (possible muscle spasticity / magnesium issues; or infection / zinc issues)
Diarrhea explosive, sudden (are you on magnesium supplements? if so, possible poor absorption from an inorganic form; if not, probable zinc issue)
Dizziness (possible zinc issue)
Nausea (could be a lot of things)
Once lost vision for ten minutes and vision becomes fuzzy at times for days (strong links between zinc status and vision)
Internal body tremors (not sure, but if it's muscular, possible magnesium issue)
Shaky legs (possible vit b12 issue, or cal/mag imbalance issues)
foggy brain (possible zinc and/or magnesium and/or b12 issue)

so to sum up, yes many of your symptoms are typical for ms, in that many of them are consistent with a typical ms patient's nutrition issues.

hope that helps here's more reading if you are interested.. http://www.thisisms.com/forum/regimens- ... c2489.html

Just wanted to add I had shaky legs, brain and body fatigue, and numbness from low iron/ferritin. Even if you do wind up with an ms diagnosis, as Jimmylegs said, a LOT of your symptoms can be eased with proper nutritional work. It's still shocking to me how much we can do with the right combination of diet and supplements (I'm not a nutrition purist. I mess with meds too).

Hope your MRI and LP are clean.

Thank you both for your comments. I have been taking the supplements and my diet is very healthy.
My blood tests showed normal levels of vitamins etc, it may be however that they are not being processed correctly......who knows. I have tried massage, supplements and acupuncture, not sure what else to do now but just wait. Once again, thank you very much for your time.

hi again, it can be challenging for the average doc to interpret serum nutrient results, if they've even ordered all the tests you'd be interested in as an ms patient.

see:
Adams, K. M., Lindell, K. C., Kohlmeier, M., & Zeisel, S. H. (2006). Status of nutrition education in medical schools. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 83(4), 941S-944S.

Ismail, Y., Ismail, A. A., & Ismail, A. A. (2010). The underestimated problem of using serum magnesium measurements to exclude magnesium deficiency in adults; a health warning is needed for “normal” results. Clinical Chemistry and Laboratory Medicine, 48(3), 323-327.

Rosser, W. W. (2003). Nutritional advice in Canadian family practice. The American journal of clinical nutrition, 77(4), 1011S-1015S.

Wynn, K., Trudeau, J. D., Taunton, K., Gowans, M., & Scott, I. (2010). Nutrition in primary care Current practices, attitudes, and barriers. Canadian Family Physician, 56(3), e109-e116.

also, there are folks here who thought they had a healthy diet before they got here, and have learned differently since...:
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p221256
http://www.thisisms.com/forum/general-d ... ml#p221264

if you like we can have a look at your diet, supplement regimen, and levels to see if there are any possible tweaks that might be helpful.

for one thing, did your docs run a serum magnesium test? if so, what was the result?
does your diet deliver 500-600mg of magnesium daily?
easy resource to help you tally up your daily mag intake in milligrams: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tnam ... #foodchart

if you have tried magnesium supplements in the past, may i ask what form you took? magnesium is one of the most troublesome nutrients to deal with via supplements.