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Do I have MS?

At age 12, I developed a tingling feeling all over. It wasn't localised to a particular spot, I just felt it everywhere. Around this time, I also developed fasiculations all over. This continued, eventually I stopped caring about the tingling and it wasn't there unless I decided to try and look for it. I did consult a doctor at age 14 and she did some blood tests and an EKG and found nothing, so told me it was "stress".

I'm now 22, and in the last 6 months I've developed paresthesias all over, in random spots on my body. A prickling feeling somewhere, a burning feeling somewhere else. Rarely in the same spot. They appear at random, come and go throughout the day. I've had this for 6 months on and off (a week on, two weeks off, another 3 weeks on, etc).

The other thing is I have very tight calf muscles, and have had so for many years, perhaps decades. I have flat feet and my podiatrist notes I have extremely tight calf muscles. One thing I can't do is walk on my heels (like, walk forwards with solely my heels touching the ground). I can flex and extend my foot fine, I don't seem to have foot drop in the classical sense, my ability to pull the end of my foot up towards me when sitting or standing is normal and I feel the muscle has normal strength, but I just can't keep it up when I deliberately try and walk on my heels. This is the symptom that scares me most, yet I am sure I have always had it or have had it for a long time (but I only tested it recently).

My strength is good, I have never felt stronger. I am better at walking up hills than I have ever been. My balance seems to be better than it's ever been - I can stand on one leg with my eyes closed for as long as I want, several minutes easily. I have never had numbness, only tingling and other odd paresthesias, many painful.

What do you think I have? I would assume I have BFS and perhaps small fibre neuropathy, but this thing of me not being able to walk on my heels scares me a lot. I am too scared to go to a neurologist.
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5265383 tn?1669040108
The all-over stings and burning pain are definitely not ms related.  Nothing that migrates all over the body is caused by a central nervous system lesion.

Get that bloodwork done.  I can't emphasize that enough.  Get outside.  Engage in the present.

It wouldn't hurt to get a urology consult -most urology issues stand on their own and aren't part of bigger issue.  Could be something as simple as a uti though, which your Gp can investigate.

It might also help you to speak to a counselor.  Mine has been invaluable.  There is no shame in having someone help you walk through scary situations.



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987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
Health related anxiety can escalate the symptoms you experience when you google, and escalate your anxiety and fears. The researching of medical conditions instead of reassuring you and reducing your anxiety, it actually feeds your anxiety and you can start experiencing more and more of the symptoms you've been reading about.  

Typically there is a medical related trigger eg a pinched nerve, migraine, pulled muscle etc etc to explain their symptoms but the more problematic medical issues is their high level of anxiety, which continues to escalate and make their situation worse and worse if left untreated and they continue to research medical conditions they are fearful of...

I'm not saying that is your situation just that you've mentioned your anxiety and it might be helpful to you if you're aware of what health related anxiety is known to do to people and try if you can to step back and focus on lowering your anxiety so it doesn't lead you to worry about medical issues you probably don't have.

See your doctor, try to keep an open mind and stop trying to diagnose your self online if reading about medical conditions is in any way making you feel scared or escalating your anxiety....breath!

Hope that helps......JJ
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6 Comments
Thanks for the comment. I may see a doctor, we will see what happens. I have not been diagnosed with any mental illness but I do have extreme fear of going to doctors. One thing I noticed is that I can now walk on my heels for quite a while (although in a fairly awkward fashion). Why would that have just improved over a few days of trying to do it? Maybe it was stretching my calve muscles out?
It's very unnatural to walk on your heels, try and come up with any situation you'd ever need to do it, so yes it's expected to be a bit weird, awkward and wobbly but still doable..

Maybe stretching helped a tiddly little bit in a couple of day, though it's very unlikely to of done much if anything at all in that type of time frame but another 'maybe' is more to do with your level of anxiety; the more you do something the easier it is right, so if you had high levels of anxiety the first time you tried to walk on your heels and as anxiety can make just about anything seem a lot worse than it actually is, 'maybe' the repetition and a reduced anxiety level has helped you walk on your heels better.

btw usually only a few steps is necessary to bring out subtle gait abnormalities in the heel part of the gate and balance test, so if you are cable of walking on your heels for quite awhile along with everything else related to balance and gate you've mentioned, it really doesn't sound out side of normal to me...

Hope that helps....JJ  

I also have this thing recently where my legs are crawling and tingly quite a lot when I try and go to bed at night, but it usually goes away after about 10 or 15 minutes. My legs, arms and often the rest of the body too have this odd feeling that prevents me from sleeping until it goes away. Is MS known to cause that sort of stop and start thing like that?
All over symptoms like that are not ms-related, but again, more likely due to vitamin or mineral deficiencies.  Please consider that as your first step.

I also agree that walking on heels is awkward and calf tightness would magnify that.  If you can "practice" and improve, that's wonderful and I'm very happy for you because it definitely moves you away from having a neurological disease such as ms.

I have extremely outward pointed feet. I think that may be part of the problem. I have always had them due to tight hip rotators and tight calves. My feet both point outwards at a 45 degree angle and have done for many years. I think this might be part of my problem with heel walking. I can only heel walk if I "shuffle", I can't take big strides, only tiny little shuffles.

Thank you for the response aspen2. I want to describe some of my symptoms more exactly so you can tell me if it sounds MS related or not. I assume not but at the same time I can't really tell.

I have bee sting sensations, burning sensations and other odd sensations that can occur literally anywhere on the body including anywhere on the head and neck. At any one time, several different areas could be feeling strange. For example, today the bottom of my left foot burned for a few seconds, and then stopped burning and the burning sensation may not return in that exact area for weeks or ever. Also today my shoulder areas burned and I had bee sting sensations on my neck, right hand, left hand, and under one of my thighs. This is a totally random distribution and tomorrow it will be completely different, although some areas that burned or stung today may burn or sting tomorrow. A week ago my right lower side on my torso burned for about 10 minutes. It hasn't returned there but it returns there every few weeks. There is nowhere -- absolutely nowhere -- on my body that it hasn't once upon a time stung or burned or some other odd often unpleasant sensation.

Right now also both of my arms are lightly tingling. The tingling can occur anywhere but it occurs on my arms and legs most. The tingling can occur on my back, front, legs, head, neck, buttocks, penis, any part of my body. It usually occurs on all these parts at least once throughout the day.

Does that sound at all like MS or can MS be ruled out because of that? I am very scared I might have like 100 lesions on my brain causing all these odd symptoms (I have never had an MRI and am too scared to get one).

Over the last few days I've also had some urinary retention and a feeling like I need to pee even when I don't. This is the first time it has happened. I have read this can be caused by small fibre neuropathy but it can also be caused by MS. It is very scary.

Can you please help me and reassure me this pattern of symptoms is likely not MS? Please, I am scared out of my wits with my condition. Whatever I have has been with me since age 12 when the tingles and fasiculations started. Since then it has waxed and waned but never left me, and honestly it has got worse since in the beginning it was only tingles.
Also I self tested my knee jerk reflexes and they seem normal to me, definitely not brisk. It was difficult to elicit them but I am good at eliciting them now. The intensity of my knee jerk reflex does seem to vary depending on how hard I hit the area below my knee that I need to hot to elicit the reflex, but comparing it to Youtube videos I would say I have a normal knee jerk reflex, which is good. I cannot elicit other reflexes like the arm one myself, I would need someone else to do it for me.
5265383 tn?1669040108
Ronald, I had body wide tingles and fasciculations for months. In my case, I turned out to be very deficient in magnesium and vitamin D.  This can also cause spasms and cramping .. magnesium is a very important mineral and a cofactor in many important body processes.

It also tends to go hand in hand with a low vitamin D.  If you haven't had a vitamin and mineral panel done, now would be a great time.  As you know, all over symptoms are not typical of ms, and this might be your ticket.

See if your gp will do the necessary blood work. Once you've established your levels and supplemented if necessary, you might be in the clear.  I rarely twitch now unless I get lazy with the supplements.  

Just one idea.
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3 Comments
I don't leave the house a lot and am very pale because of it. Vitamin D deficiency is something I may well have. I have been taking Vitamin D for the last week so we'll see if that does anything. I have also been supplementing B12 and B6 (although I do eat foods like red meat that those vitamins come from, so I doubt I'd be deficient in them).

I did get a blood test done by the doctor back when I was 14 that checked for some vitamin deficiencies, but which ones I have no clue. She also did a urine volume test for some reason.

The blood tests you had assessing you for any vitamin deficiencies years and years ago when you were '14' have absolutely nothing to do with you today, they wouldn't be relevant unless they were very recent like in the last few weeks!

1 in 3 Australians are estimated to be vit D deficient, deficiencies in iron and vit B's are also common, you could be taking unnecessary supplements, a simple blood test is all it takes to find out but if you are truly fobic about seeing a dr, you could keep a food diary and consider seeing a dietitian instead

  
Old tests aren't helpful.  It only takes me about a month to become deficient in magnesium and D if I stop supplementing.

There is now well established research linking low magnesium to anxiety and depression.  One article: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/m/pubmed/16542786/

I believe this is something you and your Gp should address right away.


987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
If your thinking you might have MS because you can't walk on your heels, please try not to jump ahead and assume more than you know to be true if all it's doing is terrifying you. There is a heck of a lot more to MS than heel and toe walking, seriously even perfectly normal disorder/disease free people can have issues with these type of balance tests. I was a gymnast and have been very sports orientated through out my entire life, DS and DH dont have an athletic bone in their body, even at my worst, i'd still expect I could out balance them, now falling over whilst standing still is another story entirely...

It might be helpful to put it into perspective if you keep in mind the other related information you have stated about your gate, balance and strength...

"I can flex and extend my foot fine, I don't seem to have foot drop in the classical sense, my ability to pull the end of my foot up towards me when sitting or standing is normal and I feel the muscle has normal strength.....My strength is good, I have never felt stronger. I am better at walking up hills than I have ever been. My balance seems to be better than it's ever been - I can stand on one leg with my eyes closed for as long as I want, several minutes easily...."

There are usually 3 parts to the basic gate assessment, walking on heels is the most sensitive way to test for foot dorsiflexion weakness but you are saying you don't have any of the other elements that interrelate and would typically be more suggestive that something significantly abnormal is going on. It's not particularly common for people to watch neurological assessment clips and test themselves, which btw is very hard to do with any degree of accuracy but it's very common to misinterpret what you come across googling symptoms and medical conditions and becoming fearful, so please, please consider you really could be wrong, and go see your doctor!  

Hope that helps......JJ  
Helpful - 0
3 Comments
Thanks for the reply, much appreciated. I should go and see the doctor, but I'm just too scared. Most people can't understand this. It's a very stupid mental illness I seem to have. Something deep inside me says "it's better to be ignorant than know for sure you're ******". I really do appreciate your replies though, and you have calmed me down a lot. I'm also in Australia, btw! :)
Sorry, language too strong (I wish I could edit comments). My brain has always (stupidly) told me that it's easier to just live with the possibility of something than go and potentially get it confirmed (even though I could go the doctor and they could rule it out). I have always envied people with the ability to go the doctor when they fear something is wrong with them, my ability to do that ended as a child.

I wish I could just press a button and it would tell me what I have. I don't think I could survive waiting weeks for an MRI report, for example.
Hello fellow Ozzie :D just so i'm under standing you....Are you saying you are diagnosed with Health Anxiety or conversion disorder?

Cheers....JJ
987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi Ronald and welcome,

Your much more likely to be reading more into this and unnecessarily becoming fearful of a condition you more than likely don't actually have.....breath!

You have become concerned that your unable to specifically walk on your heels for very long and believe it is a significant abnormal neurological symptom, right?

To be honest i'm not sure you could say it's even abnormal to not be able to walk on your heels when you have a developmental history of tight calves and flat feet.....the achilles tendon connects the calf muscles to the heel, and if this tendon is too tight it very common causes flat feet.

Keep in mind that flat footed people's tendons on the inside of the ankle work a lot hard than normal just to pull the foot up when walking, running etc, and walking on your heels for any length of time is expected to be even more difficult when you have flat feet and tight calves because your trying to prolong a rigid pose without the normal flexibility you need to do it.

You also stated..... "6 months I've developed paresthesias all over, in random spots on my body. A prickling feeling somewhere, a burning feeling somewhere else. Rarely in the same spot. They appear at random, come and go throughout the day. I've had this for 6 months on and off (a week on, two weeks off, another 3 weeks on, etc)."......which isn't suggestive or consistent with a neurological condition like MS because MS isn't known to cause an all over, random, moving from one location to another etc symptom pattern, the on off on off again time frame wouldn't be typical of a relapse/remitting pattern of MS either...

Honestly from everything you've mentioned there isn't really anything to suggested what your dealing with is neurological in nature......i would suggest you see your general doctor to get some basic tests done eg blood tests etc and 'consider' discussing the level of anxiety you are currently dealing with.

Hope that helps........JJ
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1 Comments
Thanks for the comment supermum_ms, much appreciated. I wish it could be possible that my being unable to walk on my heels is not neurological in nature, but my Google searching hasn't revealed that possibility. You have put my mind at ease a bit though.

I think I do have a neurological problem, the question is which one. I just hope to God it's not MS. The tingling, that starting at age 12, never really went away. There are long periods when I don't notice it, but it's always sort of there in the background if I look for it. I also had some episodes at age 19 and 20 where the tingling got much stronger (all over the body - in my legs, arms, back, shoulders, etc) and prevented me from getting to sleep easily. These episodes came on like relapses. They were there for a few weeks and then left.

I have read from multiple sources that all over body symptoms and symptoms that move from place to place are not typical of MS, and this comforts me. However, I got very scared when I was watching a neurological test video recently and they asked the person to walk on their heels. I tested it for myself and I couldn't do it! That's the source of my most recent terror.

I should also note the fasiculations I suffer have been present ever since I was 12 and present in almost every body area and occur at random times. I know fasiculations all over are not a symptom of MS and point to a problem with the peripheral nerves, so I am not scared about them.
Avatar universal
Let me just clarify that this odd thing of not being able to walk on my heels (my forefoot just goes right down onto the ground when I try) is in both feet, not just one.
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