Hello,
I'm a 25 year old female who's generally been in good health except for the past year or so. The first sign that something was wrong was April of last year when I developed two nodules on my ankle. One was the size of a quarter, the other was a bit smaller. The skin on them was thick, scaly, and slightly pink. They weren't in areas rubbed on by my shoes. I went to a dermatologist where I was seen by a physician's assistant who said it was just "thick skin". They went away after a couple of months and didn't scar.
In August, I developed the first of my red eye episodes. They weren't painful, itchy, watery, or full of pus and would go away after a couple of days. One eye at a time was affected at a time but my left eye was affected more often. This was happening at least once a month. I went to an opthamologist and had the Schirmer's test which was very abnormal. I use drops frequently which helps a bit but doesn't entirely solve the problem.
The worst thing happened in December. I developed fever, a really large mouth ulcer, arthritis, painfull sore throat and numbness on the right side of my body from the shoulder down. Most of the symptoms went away except for the numbness which stayed for a few weeks. I went to a neurologist where I had a MRI that showed a lesion at C3-C4 and lesions in the brain. Neurologist called it MS even though such an episode has happened only once. I had a CSF analysis that was unremarkable and normal visual evoked potentials which would be a bit unsual for MS but the neuro insisted on putting me on Copaxone.
A couple weeks later, I developed a systemic rash that consisted of small, pinpoint, red dots that was on my forearms, legs in the area on the inside of the knees, abdomen, and face. The rash lasted about 2 days. I also developed low grade fevers (101-103 using an ear thermometer) and mouth ulcers that would come and go. This lasted for a month or so and I'm now asymptomatic.
I've had losts of blood tests including CBC, ANA, lyme, VRDL, chest x-ray, and B12 that were all negative. I still feel like my symptoms would be better explained by a more systemic disease than MS with the skin and eye involvement. My questions are:
1) Could I still have a rheumatologic illness even with a negative ANA?
2) Would you advise a rheumatology consult in my case?
3) I realize that you can't diagnose me over the internet, but are there any other tests you would recommend? Can anything account for the symptoms I have?
Thank you and I apologize if this is so long. I just haven't been able to find a doc yet who is willing to consider my whole clinical picture.