Introduction Post - After months of lurking....

[Ness78]

...it's nice to finally meet all of you.  Thanks to Lulu for the warm welcome and suggesting I introduce myself. Thanks for all your input on this forum.  It has been informative and comforting.  

I am a thirty-two year old mother of two (ages 1 and 3). I do not have a diagnosis.

In October of 2010 I had a sudden onset neurological weakness in my arms and legs.  It was alarming. At the time, I was living on 2 hours of sleep a night because of my insomniac baby son, so I figured my body just had enough.  After a week of that - the numbness and weakness started and has not stopped since...  (4 months later)

I went to my gp who sent me for an MRI.  The brain MRI showed 3 hyperintense foci, one subtle one was an atypical shape in the deep left periventricle. Cervical MRI showed no lesions. Evoked potential came back normal.  (the reproductiblity on the left leg was excellent...my most concern was there.)

It is almost four months later and my symptoms are still around..... they come and go several hours at a time and they don't all come at once...it is like they are taking turns throughout the day, how polite.  

My symptoms are:
-numb left pinky
-clumsy left hand
-numbness in wrist
-occassional tremor in left hand
-band of numbess around left calf muscle (haven't had that in a while)
-stiff ankle (feels like it's not flexing well)
-numbness in different parts of  left foot, ankle calf (again...not all at once)
-weak feeling in leg(s), or arm(s)
-in the beginning I recall numbess and buzzing on the right leg, but have not had that for a while.

So I am left wonder if this is MS? Sometimes I think I have googlitis because I will read about a symptom and voila! it appears....I was even incontinent once.....no kidding....

So again, thank you for all the input on this forum.  I am looking forward to getting out of limbo one way or another.

[addicted2harleys]

Hello, Ness.  :)

Welcome to the absolute best forum on the Internet!  Grab a soft cushy chair and join our circle.  Lol.

I am sorry that you are having some scary health issues.  Quit googling!  Do you have a neurologist yet?  What were you told about the results of your MRI?  Is there a plan for any other tests?

Addi

[Ness78]

Hi Addi, I do have a neurologist. She said the atypical shaped  spot may me a sign of MS or may Just be an atypical spot. Then she asked if I had migranes.

I will quit googling! I am trying. Although when I google a keyword and add quix's name I get some great stuff!

[rendean]

Welcome Ness,

I am sorry that you have these symptoms of weakness, etc. Must be even more alarming to a mother of young children worried about caring for them. You said you had a neurologist. Is she/he an MS neuro or a general neuro?

Is there some kind of plan for further testing or visits to this neuro? If you have read and seen a lot of posts on here you probably have seen the importance of a timeline which documents for you and your doctors which symptoms happened when and the length of duration, etc.

If you haven't seen mention of one, there is a Health Page on this topic as well as many others. The Health Pages can be found at the upper right side of this page, next to the yellow icon.

Again, welcome and feel free to post any questions or concerns.

Ren

[jensequitur]

Welcome to the forum!

Well, those could be symptoms of MS.  With your MRI, it's a possibility.  I would start looking into it, because the longer you wait, the more damage is done - if it's MS.  

Have you ever had an MRI of the spine?  With your leg symptoms, it sounds like something's going on down there.  I have several lesions in my spine, and leg symptoms including banding around both knees, weakness in my right and sometimes left leg, and myoclonus of the back and legs.

[Ness78]

Thanks everyone. I do have an MS specialist. I have more MRIs coming up. I am really scared. I will do a timeline. Thanks for your responses.

[addicted2harleys]

I have found having a timeline as extremely beneficial.  My PT, pain doc, counselor and neuro were all happy to see it and they all kept a copy.  

Definitely a wondrous tool.

Addi

[Ness78]

Does RRMS follow a pattern? Do symptoms come and go and move around. I am worried because there has been no remission period? I am worried it's progressive.