Does this sound like MS? really worried

[Surruh]

Hi everyone

Starting in October I noticed slight tingling of both feet and both hands. After a few weeks my hands got better but my feet were still tingling. Along with the tingling I've had painless muscle twitches randomly all over my body. It was really bad for two days but now it comes and goes. I still have the tingling but it is geeting much better.  I also went to an opthamologist becuase I was seeing starbursts while driving at night (no pain/blurriness). He said my eyes are perfect. Before all this happened, I experienced my first panic attack (my family has a history of anxiety).

I went to my GP before this happened for some blood work/checkup. No diabetes or thyriod problems. My mom has had a thyriod problem for most of her life...could the test miss something pertaining to my thryriod levels?

I am also on birth control for endometriosis. I've had no balance issues, vision problems (besides the starbursts), no fatigue, no weakness. All in all I feel great...just the annoying tingling and muscle twitches. Any idea what this might be?

Thanks in advance!

[Surruh]

I never considered Lyme disease. I live in California which I believe is not a big tic area. But your right..anything is possible. Is it possilbe to have Lyme without a bite/rash? I havent noticed any rashes or things of that nature on my skin. Did your tingling get better before you finally got the diagnosis?

Thanks for the information. I will look into it. :)

[wonko]

Hi Surruh,

I'm sorry these symptoms are discomforting you.  Don't apologize for being concerned, it is of course upsetting to have these things appear.

I wanted to comment that the onset of your symptoms have some strong similarities with mine.  I (thankfully) do not have MS, I have Lyme.  In me, the tingling started in my face and then later in hands and later in feet, but it was always bilateral, which as Quix notes is atypical for MS.  I also had the painless twitching.  That started in my legs but then appeared randomly in my arms and back as well.

Like you, other than these odd sensations I felt otherwise fine.  I didn't see a doctor until months after it started.  Unfortunately, because I didn't have a more classic presentation of Lyme, it went untreated for about 1.5 years.  

Please do pursue all avenues.  Lyme testing is tricky and disputed, so please take the time to research it a bit.  Sometimes, Lyme patients are told they don't have Lyme, only to find out much later that they do.  

Of course I can't tell you what you do or do not have, I can only hope that if you do have Lyme, it is identified early.

It's a great idea to try and relax in the meantime.  Feeling unwell puts a lot of stress on us emotionally and stressing out too much about it doesn't do much good.

Good luck and be well.

[Surruh]

Thanks alot for the reassuring reply. I feel silly worrying about MS but I can't help it. But this certaintly makes me feel better. My mom recently went to her doctor..she has the same one has me...and he said it was most likey anxiety since I complained on my last visit of heart palpatations and some chest pain. It was just scary becuase out of no where my feet (mostly bottom) and hands started tingling constantly and are just now starting to subside. It was also wierd becasue the tingling would lessen when walking around. It was the strangest thing. And the muslce twitching was something I never felt before.

Also of note (althought this has nothing to do with MS) I had emergency surgery for a burst ovarain cyst in July. I'm sure this has nothing to do with tingling.

Anyways, thanks again for the post. I'm going to try to relax and see what happens. :)
And I will deffenantly check out the anxiety forum. Thanks for listening to my ramblings.

[Quixotic1]

Hi, and Welcome to our place.  what you have happening sounds miserable and bothersome, but it does not sound like MS to me.  It would be very, very unusual for tingling in the beginning of MS to begin simultaneously in both hands and both feet.  The very beginning of MS is more asymmetrical than that in almost all cases.

That kind of tingling is much more often caused by a problem throughout the body, like an infection (viral or Lyme Disease), a deficiency like a Vitamin B12 deficiency, or some other illness or hormonal problem.  The tests your doc ran for the thyroid should pick up the majority of thyroid disease.

The history of your panic attack (what a miserable and terrifying thing to go through!) may give some clues here.  You may be developing an anxiety condition.  these often run in families.  One thing that certainly "can" happen is subtle hyperventilation.  One of the earliest symptoms of mild hyperventilation is tingling of the hands and feet and often tingling around the mouth.  That is a possibility.

If an anxiety disorder is not the first cause of your tingling, then it may accentuate the tingling as stress (worry), nervousness, fear, caffeine use will all make tingling worse.  Anything that heightens the level of adrenaline in the body can make tingling worse.

The muscle twitches are a similar story.  I don't know that anxiety will "cause" twitching, but tense contracted muscles are more likely to twitch.  Also, several types of infections can cause twitching - such as viral infections and Lyme disease.  Things that irritate the muscles can sent twitching off.  Now, once the twitching starts certainly anxiety can make it worse, as will caffeine and alcohol.  You should also read online about the Benign Fasciculation Syndrome - BFS.  This is a common, and most annoying, problem with all over muscle twitches.  Wikipedia gives a nice description of this common disorder.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Benign_fasciculation_syndrome

Nothing you said in your post made me think of MS - which clearly is a worry for you since you posted on an MS forum.  No one can diagnose or disprove anything online, but MS is not very high up on the list of things in my mind.

If you feel anxious a good deal of the time, you might seek some treatment for it.

Also, you might seek some help on our "Anxiety Forum."  They have been really great at telling people what various things can be caused or made worse by anxiety.

The only thing that you have told us that I don't have a good answer for is the visual starbursts at night.  I'm glad that your exam was normal, but there are some problems that can happen with the eyes that are not visable on the physical examination.

My gut feeling is to advice that you might seek treatment for anxiety, if you feel that it is a growing problem, and once it is treated you can see which of these symptoms improves.

I hope this helps.

Quix