23 Year old male, worried about MS. Please help!

[BurkeAJ]

Hello,

I came down with shingles on my left forehead about three years ago. Since then I have had horrible migraines that come and go. Sometimes they are constant for days, sometimes a month my go by without anything. I often get muscle twitches on the left side of my body, along with odd sensations in my extremities on the left side of my body. Occasional pain in the lower left leg.

I have had 2 MRIs w/o contrast over the past three years. Both were negative. Numerous CT scans both with and w/o contrast, all negative.

Two weeks ago I moved to a much hotter climate and I now have migraines and or numbness/tingling in my left hand and foot almost constantly. I am seriously worried about MS. I don't have weakness and my numbness isn't total numbness, I can still move and feel everything. Sometimes I will have the symptoms in my extremities without the migraine -sometimes they go together. Recently, I've started to have odd sensation along the left side of my face.

So far, every neurologist I have seen believes it to be residual pain and effects from the shingles along with classic migraines. I am due to have another MRI (this time with contrast) because of the recent flare up.

I'm hoping with two clear MRIs my chances of MS are diminished? Could this really still be due to shingles and migraines?

Any suggestions or help would certainly be appreciated.

[Sparkysarah]

I have had shingles twice..once on my face above my eyebrow and once on my back. I experienced tingling up my spine on and off whenever I felt unwell and always put  htis down the post herpetic neuralgis that Tonya mentioned. However I am now not so sure and will never know.

So as Lulu said some of the symptoms from shingles can appear to mimic MS. If your MRI is clear again this time then I would be pleased and hope that the symptoms are related to the shingles and migraines and may not hang around forever. I do beleive that it is important to listen to your body and if it is shouting it is not feeling great, listen and rest if that is what you need.

Hope you get some answers soon and feel free to come back and ask anything else..there are lots of very well informed members who will be happy to help.

Best wishes

Sarah

[tonyad]

   Hello there and welcome as I do not think we have chatted yet!
Are you currently being followed by a Neuro now?  Do you have this Pain in the same local area that you had shingles?

   If so then you should know that Once the shingles rash has healed, you may experience significant pain in the area. This pain is called postherpetic neuralgia (PHN), or after-shingles pain. Out of the 1 million people who develop shingles1, about one in five people will go on to develop PHN.

    What other test have you had done (besides the MRI) to rule in / out other possible casues of your sx?

     No Worries,
Stick around and we try and help you figure this out :)

Peace,
~Tonya

[Lulu54]

Hi and welcome.  it's too bad you are going through this difficult time - these types of symptoms can be quite frightening.

to get straight to your question - we know migraines can come through our bodies in many different ways and aren't exclusively headaches.

We also know that a virus, such as the herpes zoster (shingles) can do all sorts of nasty things to the nerve endings and cause tingling, zapping and numbness much like ms.

The clear MRIs are a good sign but don't necessarily give you a free pass  from MS. Take some time and learn more about MS - it should put your concerns to rest a bit.  

welcome again and feel free to ask all the questions you would like!
Lulu