This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I am recently new to wondering if I have MS. I am 40 years old and have some issues. One issue is my back. In 2006 I had back surgery because of a bulging disk in my lower back. I have been diagnosed with severe DDD in my lower back. I have never had upper back issues until recently. I have recently had a spinal MRI with and without contrast of my lower back and it does say no spinal lesions.

My back doctor is an Orthopedic Surgeon so he's not a neuro. When I had my back surgery I had severe back pain along with severe left leg pain. After surgery back and leg pain is better. Starting sometime in 2012 I start having left leg numbness and pain with left foot tingling and such horrible sensitivity that I cannot even let the sheets touch it when I sleep. They perform a spinal MRI and that one noted no spinal lesions along with my current spinal MRI. I was told by the ortho that the numbness and sensitivity would go away. It hasn't.

Anyway to get to my point, I do believe that my left leg/foot pain/numbness/sensitivity is related to my lower back problems. Now I am having some upper back pain mostly between my shoulder blades and in my neck. I asked my ortho is my upper back having problems. He told me he thinks it due to poor posture (recently in the past year I noticed rounded shoulders so it could be). The pain comes and goes. I am also having some tingling in my fingertips. Left and right fingers, and not at the same time. My arms fall asleep when I lay flat on my back, and today I have upper arm pain under my arm in both arms. I also get weird feelings in my legs that I feel like a part of my leg is wet when it's not. Today I had that feeling in my upper right thigh, but the thing that worries me the most is the fact that I'm having problems with my speech sometimes.

I never had problems with speaking before. I noticed it a few years ago when I started substituting words, then I noticed I was forgetting words. Mostly really common words but I could not remember it. Now the past few months I notice when I try to tell a story about something that has happened, my mouth does this weird thing where I'm trying to say the word and it won't come out. It happens often now so I try to limit my talking. I know I have a weird look on my face when it happens because people look at me funny. I feel my mouth pop open and nothing comes out but a stammer etc. and I feel like my face is contorting? The other day I was reading something to my son, and I could not pronounce a long word, but it was not a difficult word. I remember trying about 3 times and laughing before I finally got it right. That has not happened before. I am a strong reader and I have a large vocabulary.

Also I never thought these issues could be ms until I googled it. I know I shouldn't but I did. I also read about lhermitte's sign so I tried it out myself by trying to touch my chin to my chest. My back hurt from trying. I got pain that started from my shoulders to my lower back. Then I felt it tingle in my foot. Don't know for sure but could be from back problems. Oh one more thing. I have this weird thing with my eyes when I go into a store and I'm looking for something all over a shelf and I find my eyes going all over the place. It make me dizzy sometimes and I have to close my eyes to make it stop. It doesn't always happen though.

Like I said I have an appointment with my regular doctor next week and I am hoping he will order a brain mri but don't know if he will, or if he will be one of those doctors who chalks my symptoms up to anxiety, stress, or depression which I don't have any of those.

Olivia23 wrote:I am recently new to wondering if I have MS. I am 40 years old and have some issues.
...
Like I said I have an appointment with my regular doctor next week and I am hoping he will order a brain mri but don't know if he will, or if he will be one of those doctors who chalks my symptoms up to anxiety, stress, or depression which I don't have any of those.

Welcome to ThisIsMS.

Although you have not asked for opinions or suggestions, I hope you are open to them.

MS is a diagnosis of exclusion, made only after other more likely possibilities have been ruled out. One of these possibilities is a vitamin D deficiency. If you have not already been tested, ask your regular doctor next week to order the "25-hydroxy D" blood test. Request your own copy of the test results – it is important to have the actual numbers.

Please let us know how it goes.

I know this past year I had my vitamin levels checked and they said they were good. Of course I didn't get the numbers on the vitamin d levels so I'll ask about it. Of course I am open to suggestions. That's why I'm here to learn what's going on with me. I know nobody is a doctor on here but I'm just hoping there would be someone who maybe experienced some of these symptoms.

Hi Olivia23,

Since you already have a history of back problems it would be a good idea to have a MRI of your cervical and thoracic spine just to be sure there aren't more back issues.
The most common MRIs done for MS is the cervical and brain.

Lhermittes sign is not exclusive to MS but when related to MS, Lhermittes is caused by lesions on the cervical spine. Lhermittes can cause abnormal sensations such as vibrations/buzzing, tingling, and electrical shock. These sensations will only last seconds but can be repeated each time you bend your head down.

My arms fall asleep when I lay flat on my back

MS isn't positional.

I don't know if what you are experiencing is MS or not. There are numerous other conditions, some medications, vitamin/mineral deficiencies and mental health issues that can cause the same type of symptoms as those seen in MS and would need to be ruled out.