After 1 year and 11 days I finally got diagnosed!!!

[Gaucho25]

Hello to everyone. Yes, after the onset of a 'space out' feeling that came from nowhere, and eye pain, dizziness, brain fog etc... and after a year of exams, MRIs of head, neck, spine, bloodwork, evoked potentials (ear, visual, etc)...visual field test, optic nerve tomography.etc... I got diagnosed TODAY. As MS got completely ruled out today (no lumbar puncture needed), and thinking I was a case of subclinical MS, as well as Lyme... NO, none of that... none of the crazy hypotheses like lupus, etc.... mine was a case of migraine. Yes... can you belive that???? So if you guys are going through the same horrible limbo path as me... you might want to consider that. Migraines are NOT always headaches...(i didnt know that). you can have occasional headaches but also can suffer from persistent aura, visual disturbances, halos around lights, all sorts of visual things (visual snow included), pins and needles, dizziness, confusion, sense of depersonalization, burning feelings, tired arms and or legs, face pressure, numbness, occasional slurred speech, probloems with concentration, anxiety and panic attacks, and the list goes on.
I am happy to have a diagnosis, finally I can rest in peace... It doesn't mean I do not absolutely hate the symptoms, but at least I know what it is and there are things I can take or do to make things better.
Hope you guys find your diagnosis soon, because I know how horrible it is to be in limbo land not knowing what is wrong.... and guys, when doctors tell u u need to see a psych, please do not stop on your search for a diagnosis...I did go to a psych who told me I had psychological issues...isnt it obvious that if you go to one of them and tell them your roblems they are going to say ''oh, thats the cause..."?.....
Cheers
Gaucho

[Aquarianisces]

Wow. Thanks for the post. I am sorry you went through so much!!

[Udkas]

Hi there,
Thanks for sharing this info, I am glad that you have your answers and it's not MS.

Migraine Aura can cause many symptoms and you don't always get the headache and there are many different types of migraine aura too.

You can experience like you said burning sensations, numbness, weakness, tongue numbness, stroke like feeling, brain fog, slurring of speech, pins and needles, visual disturbances, pressure behind the eye, even blindness.

Who would think a thing like a simple headache could do all this.

I am curious how are they managing your migraines?  What do they attribute your migraines too? And what type of migraine are they saying that you have?

I get symptoms all the time when I get migraine, but my headache pain is always mild not requiring tablets but you can get aura without the headache.  I notice the shimmering of my eyes then I get the nerve pain etc. etc. and I now wonder sometimes if all my problems are migraine but in my case my neurologist has said no it is not migraine but the migraine makes my symptoms worse.. just like having a fever or illness etc.

I am sort of in limbo so I do kinda wonder but I give a very abnormal examination with apparently very strong evidence to spinal cord lesions, and my neuro says TM but I do get migraine and I do sometimes wonder about it... for me migraine just complicates the isssues.

I am so pleased that you have a diagnosis..

Cheers,
Udkas.

[wadeheather]

I recently posted that I refuse to accept the headache dx....Interesting that you would get this dx now. I have not been dx with migraine, just chronic daily headache, which has since subsided (thank goodness). I tried many many many things for the headaches, none of which worked. I hope they can give you something that works for you!

Feel Better,
Heather

[PastorDan]

Docs have been trying to tell me that what I am experiencing is an unusual form of migraine, but it makes no sense to me.

I had classic migraine with aura several times in the summer of 1997, and once this February.  I can't understand how the group of symptoms I've been exhibiting (terribly off balance, many widely varied vertigo-like sensations, vibrating sensations in peculiar places, steady area of my vision that is grayed-out, hot & cold spots, brain fog, fatigue) could suddenly change back to the pattern I experienced in 1997, and then a half day later suddenly return to the pattern I've been experiencing for months on end.

In addition, they've prescribed many so-called migraine treatments, each of which made things worse for me and provided no relief at all.  Some of them have explicit warnings not to use them in patients with certain histories and conditions such as some of those that I have.  When asked about that, the prescribing docs get very defensive.

All of the neuros I've seen so far seem to have grabbed onto the migraine diagnosis simply because it was there, not because it fit, and they won't bother doing the testing it would take to see if it could be anything else.

I hope that they are right in your case, and that whatever treatment they prescribe provides the long-sought relief.  In my case, I can't help taking it all with a strong dose of skepticism.

[Gaucho25]

Haha yeah it is odd. But migraines, from what the doc said, its not a headache, it does come with headaches sometimes (probably mos of the time) but it relates to the nervous system, and /or the caardiovascular system. That is why sometimes im off balance, have slurred speech, problems concentrating, pins and needles, etc.
He is the only one that ever came with a diagnosis.. since I have SO many symptoms, I forget to tell docs ALL of them even though I write them down... well he said ''your symptoms are so varied, it doesn';t fit in just one category of a possible disease, specially if you have all normal results...just to know, did u ever experienced headaches when everything started?"..I realized I completely forgot to tell him about the headaches..... so thats one point for him...and another one is that he asked if in my family there's someone with headaches...and my mom does have chronic migraines (not the ones I have, she has the ones that affects her stomach also), well then he said that now everything is more clear thanks to my mom... it kinda does make things clearer. I would have never guessed that migrain es have a genetic thing also.
Well so there are apparently many treatments, so we  need to start trying different ones. The medicine im bout to start taking needs to be taken for at least a mon th in order to see results. The drug is called Sibelium and it is anti-migraine, anti-vertigo. Hope it works eventually I will start on it next monday.
I wonder why nobody really stated that migraines can also mimic MS. I am in shock.
Cheers to all

[Gaucho25]

Udkas, whenever I get headaches, they are also mild... not really mild, it bothers but they are not like what they say about migraines (that are just a horrible torture)..Mine are more like tension headaches, sometimes they can get really irritating, and they last a long time...at least 5 hours... I notice they can go away if I sleep.
As I said I will be taking Sibelium and see if I can improve.
I always have visual disturbances, but seems like if I have the migraine attack, its worse because I feel worse, sometimes I have to think a lot to speak, feel fatigued, one of my pupils gets bigger, etc.... I do have chronic symtpoms though. Theres also something called Persistent Migraine Aura, some of you can check that out...

[Ufrustrated2]

Great you got a dx and are on to treatment!! Good luck with it.

I must add, that i agree with wadeheather & PastorDan in their sketicism and continuing search. I saw a neuro once who was so insistent on my issue being migraines that when i was leaving the clinic he got in my way and face just to keep strongly making the point. I probably get migraines, certainly mind numbing headaches but I never thought them to be the "root" of the issues. I triend some of the migraine medicine, didn't really help my headaches. The warning list on one of the migraine medicines was so downright funny i thought i would be better off drinking RAID. LOL

For some odd reason he didn't or couldn't see that latest MRI and LP. Once they were seen, the clinic hasn't had me see that particular neuro since.

In your case Gaucho25, you state your tests came back normal, for the others here, I say keep searching ... it is [your] health ...

[Deb61]

Gaucho--I'm so glad that you finally found answers to what was wrong.  I'd find the best neurologist that specializes in headaches as possible.  There are many good treatments to prevent migraines and reduce their severity.  From what I understand from an explaination from my neurologist is that they can be a precurser to stroke, which I never knew.  Also, they can cause lesions in the brain.  A good neuro can usually distinguish demyelinating lesions from ischemic type lesions on the MRI that can be caused from mini stroke or migraine.    

The symptoms that you've described are more common for me after and during a migraine attack than before I get one.  After a hideous migraine I will have a weak arm, slurred speech, and some pins and needle feelings, but it always goes away within a few hours after an attack.  My MS symptoms have never gone away or take weeks or months to go away.  

I'm happy that now you can get the treatment you need and have some hope that your symptoms may be a thing of the past.

Warm regards,
Deb

[sllowe]

Hi Gaucho -

Congrats on your dx! Hope the migraine meds help you out, bigtime!

Thanks for coming back and taking the time to tell us all about it.

Hope you'll stick around let us know how you make out.

-shell

[Udkas]

Hi there again and thanks for sharing this info, I am tempted to try some migraine tablets and see if it works for my symptoms.

My MRI, LP, Nerve Studies are all NORMAL but 1st neuro diagnosed MS but then when it didn't get worse changed his mind and second neuro has diagnosed Transverse Myelitis and reckons that my migraines are part of the cause of having a wacked nervous system and attributes them to lesions in my brainstem or cervical.

My headaches do make things a lot worse and I get terrible nerve pain and it lasts for weeks and weeks and weeks, like my last bout of tongue numbness and vertigo lasted for about 5 weeks?  So I was never sure if this was headache or TM related.

Keep me posted on how you go on your meds, I have been prescribed some heart med to try for the migraine when my tongue was numb but I never did as I get nervous about taking new drugs.

Take care,
Udkas.

[Erin0313]

Congrats on your dx! It is always such a relief to finally get an answer. Thanks for sharing your news. Maybe someone here like Udkas will find relief by asking and trying migraine meds.

I hope that your treatment takes away your suffering and helps you get back to a normal life.

Erin :)