This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Knowledge & Support Community

I've been trying to track down the route of my symptoms for quite a while (hence my username MrE, get it Mystery?)

On Christmas Eve 2008 I fell on an icy driveway and caught myself in a push-up position, two weeks later I had a stomach flu so severe I was laid up on my Grandma's couch for 3 days (I commuted from her house to college).

My doctor was pretty unhelpful. I had a weird variety of symptoms ever since those two events such as weird bouts of crushing fatigue, it seemed like my heart would wandomly race, which culminated in an anxiety attack in 2009 that felt like I was having a heart attack. In the hospital they ran mostly cardiac tests, kept me overnight gave me Xanax which brought my heart rate down and then eventually diagnosed it as anxiety and sent me home.

This basically made it a barrier to get any of my other symptoms investigated. I've since had periodic numbness, a throbbing feeling in my legs, muscle twitching. In the last two years I've developed some visual symptoms including seeing yellow speckles when looking at lights and in the dark I see a round dark disk in my right eye. I get weird eye pain. Eye doctor had no suggestions.

I also used to get migraines almost daily from the time I was a kid until about 20, now I get auras but no longer get a headache.

Most recently I've had a lot of pain, fatigue including new ankle pain and I've felt like a belt is placed around the bottom of my ribcage and tightened. I've always been quite heat intolerant but this summer was extremely hot and even when it wasn't that hot while trying to go shopping a few times I felt as though I became severely overheated almost like an anxiety attack but not and felt I was going to pass out. The times this happened I had to sit down in the car and cool off before I was even capable of driving.

This eventually culminated in another severe anxiety attack in November which again felt like a heart attack so they did the whole nine yards and once again ruled that out.

The real problem is I can't seem to convince the doctor's that the anxiety attacks are a result of the physical symptoms that I never had before. So getting them to look any deeper into it seems impossible. I ended up having to leave a job I had for 15 years because I could no longer physically perform it.

I'm currently trying a new doctor to work through this but I'm not sure I'm getting anywhere, after seeing my records I was given more Xanax.

Does anything I have sound like it could be MS related and how can I get them to test for this?

The anxiety mess don't do a darn thing for any of the symptoms which I'd believe they should if it was anxiety like they claimed. I've gone from being able to be physically active to basically able to do virtually nothing and it's getting frustrating for me and my wife.

hey there, has anyone referred to a dietitian? good thing to rule out would be any issues achieving essential nutrient requirements from food fluids, meds, supplements, activity level, possible antinutrient choices/combos, etc.
if you track activity and everything you put in your body for three days, and put that record in front of a dietitian, they can probably make some recommendations, then you can see which if any symptoms clear up.
i personally think when the status quo does not equal good health, then it's a smart idea to direct at least 50% of efforts where health inquiries are concerned, to pursuit of optimal health - vs pursuit of 'diagnosis' per se.

Hundreds of people end up in the ER each year believing they are having a heart attack and find out it was anxiety. Anxiety can cause chest pain/tightness. Anxiety can also cause body wide physical symptoms.

Do you take any medications to treat your anxiety? If not I would suggest doing so.

Many conditions, medication side effects, vitamin/mineral deficiencies and mental health problems can cause symptoms that might be neurological in nature but is not Multiple Sclerosis. The only way to know if a person has Multiple Sclerosis is to undergo testing. The diagnostic criteria relies heavily on MRI evidence.

Symptoms are those things which we feel or experience. Symptoms are subjective and would need a Dr. to correlate your symptoms with signs that would indicate something is wrong.

Signs are those things found objectively upon exam/evaluation and testing. When everything comes up normal there is no sign of any problem. Your Drs. and testing do not currently indicate a medical problem.

Have any of your Drs. done a Neurological exam/evaluation? Those with MS will show some deficits upon exam/evaluation.

Consider looking into Lyme disease, too. I'm currently undiagnosed with weird stuff too and their investigating this possibility. If you are in the US you can look at this site to see Lyme prevalence in your area, just put in your zip code. These are national surveillance on dogs as part of CDC I believe. Unfortunately they don't routinely test humans because of false negatives and rely on outdated data to diagnose. Look at all of the above suggestions too. Good luck to you! Hope you and I both find resolution.

http://www.dogsandticks.com/