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Neurology  (Expert Forum)
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MS and Floaters?
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MedHelp Member's Question

MS and Floaters?

by St26, Aug 03, 2006 12:00AM
I have written on this website before, and just have a quick question.  I have had a number of neurological symptoms over the past year, including some numbness, headaches, weakness(or at least i think so), muscle twitching (which continues all the time) etc.  I am extremly worried about MS, you could almost say paranoid.  I had a clean MRI of the brain at the end of December.  I also have a huge number of floaters in my eyes.  I went to the eye doctor to have it checked out and he said there were no problems with my eyes, and that they'd go away themselves in 12-24 months.  I am wondering if there is, in fact, any correlation between floaters and MS.  Websites say conflicting things.  Shoud I be worried about this, or about the muscle twitching?

Thanks!
Doctor's Answer

by CCF-Neuro-M.D.-SH, Aug 04, 2006 12:00AM
First of all, keep in mind that I am unable to diagnose you because I am unable to examine you, this forum is for educational purposes. Floaters are caused by debris in the vitreous humor of the eye (the jelly like fluid in the eye).  This debris then causes shadows on the retina that may appear as spots or lines in the vision.  These are most often "normal" findings, get better with time and do not suggest any other underlying disease.  However, on rare occasion the debris is caused by inflammatory cells (a condition called Pars Planitis), causing floaters and may be a presenting symptoms of multiple sclerosis.  The typical macular edema/optic neuritis can follow Pars Planitis.  Warning signs that floaters may be more concerning are a sudden increase in floaters, floaters associated with flashes of light, or loss of peripheral vision.  It is encouraging that your MRI was normal, but there is MS and MS varients (Devic's) that can show up in the eye and spinal cord without much brain involvement.  With the symptoms you describe, I would reccomend an MRI of the Cervical spine and visual evoked potentials.  If there are concerning features of these tests you may need a lumbar puncture to look for inflammation in the spinal fluid.

   As far as the twitches go, that is not a presenting symptom of MS.  From your description yhou likely have fasiculations that are multifocal, and most often benign (sometimes the reult of a viral infection)  Sometimes serious muscle/nerve diseases can present with muscle twitches, so if you are concerned than an EMG will evaluate you for any concerning causes of fasiculations.  I hope this has been helpful.
Member Comments (11)

by patsy10, Aug 03, 2006 12:00AM
Have you been checked for lyme?  Everything you have described is classic for lyme disease.  It can cause all sorts of neurological symptoms with all "normal" test results.  I have everything you describe and more with all normal tests  MRI's, lumbar puncture etc... too much to list.  Not for sure if I have lyme or whatever but I had the bullseye rashes years ago.  My lyme tests are negative but lyme is diagnosed clinically as test results are unreliable.

by St26, Aug 03, 2006 12:00AM
To: patsy
i haven't specifically been tested for lyme.  I recently had a lot of blood taken, however, b/c i'm going to nursing school and they had to test for all sorts of things. would lyme have come up in my blood test?

by patsy10, Aug 03, 2006 12:00AM
To: st26
I'm a nurse too.  No, they would not test you for it.  They usually check your titers for meales, mumps, rubella, chicken pox to see if you have immunity.  If not, they require you to be  vaccinated before giving any pt. care.  Lyme is not a routine test.  Have you had any weird rashes?  Do you live in a lyme endemic state?

by SET8, Aug 04, 2006 12:00AM
To: patsy
not sure if i live in a lyme state? I'm in Mass?

by patsy10, Aug 04, 2006 12:00AM
To: SET8
The northeastern states are lyme endemic states as well as PA.  So yes Mass. is a lyme state to my knowledge.

by johnflox, Aug 05, 2006 12:00AM
To: St26
All the symptoms that you describe correspond too to a toxic delayed reaction to a fluoroquinolone antibiotic. Floaters precisely show up between 6 and 12 months after taking the antibiotic. To this class of antibiotics belong cipro, levaquin, tequin, floxin, and others.

by johnflox, Aug 08, 2006 12:00AM
To: hikerunner
If your symptoms get worse when you take an antibiotic, specially some that are quite toxic...Why can't it be a sign of an adverse reaction instead of a "herx" reaction?

by WorriedinAZ, Aug 12, 2006 12:00AM
I,too, have all those symptoms: mine started one day with tingling in my feet, then a feeling like my left leg/foot couldn't catch up to my right. Over the past 10 months I've had tingling/numbness/creepy-crawly/burning/and buzzing sensations from my head to toes periodically.

About 3 months ago I started having little twitches that make me move if they hit the right spot (the middle of my palm makes my fingers move, etc). I really get them when I'm trying to lie still like to go to sleep. My muscles have now begun getting stiff or tightening in places mostly my chin and lips and I feel like my lip, chin or hands are moving like trembling but, their not.

I have had tons of CT