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Do I have MS, Fibromyalgia, or other condition?
personal data: female, 27years, single, dental hygienist
medical history: a little bit weakness on the right side of my face after a car accident(since1995) ,gasteritis(2010),constipation(2009)
previous surgeries:broken nose surgery(1995) ,tonsillectomy(1996),sympathectomy(2001 and 2004),ganglionectomy(left hand 2005)
current medications:neuro-B,lyrica, celebrex,rocaltrol,diclomax,ca
symptoms:started gradually before more than 9 monthes(during winter), pain,burnning,numbness,tingling ,weakness, malaise, stiff muscles, recurrent visual disturbances(foggy vision)...
(right side from head to foot),4 flu attacks before starting of symptoms and 2 after that...now the pain starting on the left leg since 2 monthes and i have vibration feeling(legs\arms) and pain(legs\around spine in the middle of my back when i bend my head forward :
1st doctor:blood test(normal), x-ray (neck) normal,DX was Neuritis
.
2nd:x-ray lower back(normal),DX:Migraine+acute muscle strain(right leg)
3rd: DX:cervical spondylosis, referral to physical therapy(1st visit was neck and shoulder exercises,after less than 24 hours the pain extend to fingers of my right hand)
3rd:C.T(right brian)=normal.
4th:MRI(brain)=normal
5th:normal
6th:DX peripheral Ischaemia
7th:third molar removal
8th:ear,nose,throat=normal
4th:MRI request for the neck,blood test(to present)
please, can you know what is my problem?
i can't sleep from the pain
can someone help me?
This discussion is related to Is this MS?.
medical history: a little bit weakness on the right side of my face after a car accident(since1995) ,gasteritis(2010),constipation(2009)
previous surgeries:broken nose surgery(1995) ,tonsillectomy(1996),sympathectomy(2001 and 2004),ganglionectomy(left hand 2005)
current medications:neuro-B,lyrica, celebrex,rocaltrol,diclomax,ca
symptoms:started gradually before more than 9 monthes(during winter), pain,burnning,numbness,tingling ,weakness, malaise, stiff muscles, recurrent visual disturbances(foggy vision)...
(right side from head to foot),4 flu attacks before starting of symptoms and 2 after that...now the pain starting on the left leg since 2 monthes and i have vibration feeling(legs\arms) and pain(legs\around spine in the middle of my back when i bend my head forward :
1st doctor:blood test(normal), x-ray (neck) normal,DX was Neuritis
.
2nd:x-ray lower back(normal),DX:Migraine+acute muscle strain(right leg)
3rd: DX:cervical spondylosis, referral to physical therapy(1st visit was neck and shoulder exercises,after less than 24 hours the pain extend to fingers of my right hand)
3rd:C.T(right brian)=normal.
4th:MRI(brain)=normal
5th:normal
6th:DX peripheral Ischaemia
7th:third molar removal
8th:ear,nose,throat=normal
4th:MRI request for the neck,blood test(to present)
please, can you know what is my problem?
i can't sleep from the pain
can someone help me?
This discussion is related to Is this MS?.
thank you so much for ur replies ... i've seen untile now 10 doctors 2 of them suggested these symptoms are related to the sympathectomy which i had because of idiopathic hyperhydrosis before about 9-12 years, my neurologist gave me cympalta 60mg but it was horrible, then she asked me to take 30mg and i could not tolerate it even 5mg was horrible and i don't know why! ...also, i noticed my hands sweat again but not too much ....anyway my doctor told me it's mononeuritis multiplex i don't know if the reason is the sympathectomy or the car accident which i got in the past ....now im on lyrica 150mg, baclofen 40mg, and vitamin b12 im
Hi and welcome. I hope you find a doctor to work with you and find some answers to your problems and relief for your pain.
There are a few things stated here that need to be corrected so you have the right information to talk with to your doctors -
CT scan will do nothing for the diagnosis of MS, you will want to have an MRI (which you have had ) and preferably on a closed MRI machine. Whether you have contrast or not really does not matter - the contrast is only used to indicate if you have new disease activity (less than about 40 days old) and even without contrast, those newer lesions will still be visible on MRI. What is important is the MRI be done according to the MS protocol.
With MS we do not have an increased risk of infection, it seems to work just the opposite. Our immune system is working overtime and if you ask most of us, we rarely get a cold or any other infectious disease. The infections that can get us are the ones like a bladder infection, which can set off a pseudo-relapse.
A pseudo-relapse is totally different than a true relapse. Increases in body temperature (from weather or infection) are almost always a pseudo-exacerbation (same as pseudo-relapse) . The same with infections. Once the source of the spike in temperature is removed, the pseudo-exacerbation stops
As for starting treatment, it is great to start it as soon as possible. But you want to be sure you are treating the right disease. If MS is still a question, then you would not want to be doing the MS drugs. Many people go years without treating their MS becuase the diagnosis process can go on a long, long time. There is no hard set rule of starting treatment within one year.
Your area of the world used to be 'immune' to MS and it was rare to see it in the Middle East. that has changed dramatically in the past ten years or so and I believe you will find more doctors in Saudi Arabia interested in treating MS. I hope you can find one of them and have a thorough neurological exam.
Please come back and ask all the questions you want, we are more than happy to discuss them and other ideas that might be of help to you.
be well,
Lulu
There are a few things stated here that need to be corrected so you have the right information to talk with to your doctors -
CT scan will do nothing for the diagnosis of MS, you will want to have an MRI (which you have had ) and preferably on a closed MRI machine. Whether you have contrast or not really does not matter - the contrast is only used to indicate if you have new disease activity (less than about 40 days old) and even without contrast, those newer lesions will still be visible on MRI. What is important is the MRI be done according to the MS protocol.
With MS we do not have an increased risk of infection, it seems to work just the opposite. Our immune system is working overtime and if you ask most of us, we rarely get a cold or any other infectious disease. The infections that can get us are the ones like a bladder infection, which can set off a pseudo-relapse.
A pseudo-relapse is totally different than a true relapse. Increases in body temperature (from weather or infection) are almost always a pseudo-exacerbation (same as pseudo-relapse) . The same with infections. Once the source of the spike in temperature is removed, the pseudo-exacerbation stops
As for starting treatment, it is great to start it as soon as possible. But you want to be sure you are treating the right disease. If MS is still a question, then you would not want to be doing the MS drugs. Many people go years without treating their MS becuase the diagnosis process can go on a long, long time. There is no hard set rule of starting treatment within one year.
Your area of the world used to be 'immune' to MS and it was rare to see it in the Middle East. that has changed dramatically in the past ten years or so and I believe you will find more doctors in Saudi Arabia interested in treating MS. I hope you can find one of them and have a thorough neurological exam.
Please come back and ask all the questions you want, we are more than happy to discuss them and other ideas that might be of help to you.
be well,
Lulu
Let me correct a statement made in previous post. It is imperative to start treatment within a year of your first episode to "slow" further progression of the disease.
Body temperature variations of +/- 2 degrees Farenheit can cause relapses. My daughter has relapsed both times in the heat of summer, almost a year to the day apart. Have you checked your vitamin d and b12 levels. They are really low sometime with MS patients. Do you have severe vertigo at times; brain fog; difficulty concentrating, anxiety, depression? Also a fairly common symptom. My daughter says the thing that helps her most is deep tissue massage.
Best wishes to you!
Body temperature variations of +/- 2 degrees Farenheit can cause relapses. My daughter has relapsed both times in the heat of summer, almost a year to the day apart. Have you checked your vitamin d and b12 levels. They are really low sometime with MS patients. Do you have severe vertigo at times; brain fog; difficulty concentrating, anxiety, depression? Also a fairly common symptom. My daughter says the thing that helps her most is deep tissue massage.
Best wishes to you!
My daughter was diagnosed with MS last year, Relapsing and Remitting. Some of your symptoms are similar to what she was experiencing when diagnosed. You MUST get a CT with contrast of the brain and spine to check for lesions in the brain that "light up" with contrast and/or areas of the spine with demyelination of the spinal cord. If you are not seeing a Neurologist now, that would be my next recommendation. With MS, the most frustrating symptom is severe fatigue.
Your immune system is compromised with MS so you would experience a lot of recurrent infections as you have described. We were told that because my daughter had Mono and Bell's Palsy as a teenager they could have predicted with 99% accuracy that she would develop MS later in life. One or the other of those illnesses wouldn't necessarily predict an outcome of MS but both together most probably would.
She has a lot of gastrointestinal issues as well and has been put on a gluten free diet and decaffeinated. That has helped with the fatigue and stomach ailments as well. She has minimal numbness and tingling in her arms and legs, usually on one side but when she "remits" is it almost incapacitating for her for at least a week. She can't move her head or neck and the pain and weakness/tingling in her arms and hands increase as well.
Sleep is never an issue with her unless she is experiencing a relapsing episode and then the pain prevents her from resting well, even with medication
I would recommend you see a Neurologist that specialized in MS at a teaching hospital if you can. My daughter lives in Dallas and has a wonderful Neuro specializing in MS. Get the CT with contrast and a lumbar puncture. My daughter was told in the beginning she had torticollis of the neck whe she experienced her first acute episode of MS.
It is imperative to start treatment within a year of your first episode to prevent further progression of this disease. My daughter just had her first year reevaluation since going on Copaxone injections and luckily she has no progression of the disease, no new brain lesions over the course of the last year.
I wish the best for your speedy recovery. If it is MS and you catch it early, you're a step ahead of it hopefully. All th best.
Your immune system is compromised with MS so you would experience a lot of recurrent infections as you have described. We were told that because my daughter had Mono and Bell's Palsy as a teenager they could have predicted with 99% accuracy that she would develop MS later in life. One or the other of those illnesses wouldn't necessarily predict an outcome of MS but both together most probably would.
She has a lot of gastrointestinal issues as well and has been put on a gluten free diet and decaffeinated. That has helped with the fatigue and stomach ailments as well. She has minimal numbness and tingling in her arms and legs, usually on one side but when she "remits" is it almost incapacitating for her for at least a week. She can't move her head or neck and the pain and weakness/tingling in her arms and hands increase as well.
Sleep is never an issue with her unless she is experiencing a relapsing episode and then the pain prevents her from resting well, even with medication
I would recommend you see a Neurologist that specialized in MS at a teaching hospital if you can. My daughter lives in Dallas and has a wonderful Neuro specializing in MS. Get the CT with contrast and a lumbar puncture. My daughter was told in the beginning she had torticollis of the neck whe she experienced her first acute episode of MS.
It is imperative to start treatment within a year of your first episode to prevent further progression of this disease. My daughter just had her first year reevaluation since going on Copaxone injections and luckily she has no progression of the disease, no new brain lesions over the course of the last year.
I wish the best for your speedy recovery. If it is MS and you catch it early, you're a step ahead of it hopefully. All th best.
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As far as any of your other issues I am not going to be much help. You are going to have to just keep working with your doctor. I am sorry to hear that you are having the issues you are. I hope this helps,
Tom