First onset symptoms of MS

I'm curious about this and would like to hear from my brothers and sisters out there...what were your first symptoms of MS that sent you to the doctor?

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42%

 (24) 

Numbness/tingling

17%

 (10) 

Vision problems

14%

 (8) 

Balance issues

5%

 (3) 

Dizziness/Light-headedness

8%

 (5) 

Fatigue

12%

 (7) 

None of the above

57 Members voted

[jujuminx]

Numbness/tingling, lower left side. Never had any of the other symptoms even almost 20 yrs later.

Julie

[doublevision1]

Lhermitte's.

[beema36]

Dizziness,balance, L"hermittes, vision

[Lulu54]

right leg numbness from the knee down.
that's a good poll to ask.  
Lulu

[COBOB]

I had burning pin in my left rm for about 5 years that the docs could never figure out.  When I went blind in my right eye and the optometrist, ophthalmologist and neuro-ophthalmologist said ON and found a lesion, the pieces started to come together.

Bob

[Needhelp16]

Numbness and tingling

[Sumanadevii]

Back pain

[RedFlame]

L'Hermittes, balance, dizziness and pain.  

[jensequitur]

What, no all of the above?  I had all of those problems, although the only thing I felt it necessary to check out was my electrified chin.

[RedFlame]

I forgot my inability to taste.  For me, symptoms seemed to keep coming very quickly.  It was a scary time

[macaroni68]

Originally, I had extreme eye pain, but it wasn't until my right arm and side from my neck to my hip went numb a month later that I went to the doctor.

[Jifr]

The entire side of my body went numb.  They thought I had a virus at first...then they thought it might have been a stroke.  Then a doctor I despise to this day said, "You're young, you're healthy, you're fine."

That doctor is NOT a good person.

[Lulu54]

If I had gone to the doctor when my M S probably started up about 20 years ago, it would have been for dizziness/balance problems

[nancypants1280]

My very first symptom was the electricity down the spine feeling when I looked down, though I was 12 and we didn't do anything about it. At age 17 my feet went numb. Looking back I see that I had symptoms when I was even younger, but they didn't seem to bother me or become worrisome so we just ignored them. Age 17 though, it hit hard.

[RazCarver]

I went to the doctor because it seemed my right leg was huge and heavy. like an elephant leg. I couldn't move it right and my leg would just collapse. i kept falling and land on my knee, but only feeling was the jaming in my hip.

before that I had a few  periods of 8 to 10 weeks of not being able towalk straight. always vering into walls and such.finally an ENT doctor thought it might be meniere's. I still walk into walls and walk like a drunk. my right leg still gives out and now my left is worse. things let up a tad but not much.

limbolander still so who knows.

[bairdy]

i had all sorts of symptoms for years !!! but because i got knocked down by a car at 16 i put it down to that fact ...
but when both my hands went numb i had to go to my gp and at the time thay put it down to carpull tunnel !!! yea right it only lasted for two weeks and then went away ....

now im waiting for official dx soon off my ms specialist
regards bairdy

[tammy197238]

Nystagmus, tremors, speech.  

[Cosmobirdy]

chest pain and tightness, some shortness of breath at times as well as some dizziness.  Initially everyone thought it was a cardiac problem, but all those tests were negative.  By the time I got to the neurologist, he said it was the MS Hug - was also starting to have some issues with numbness and tingling by that point.

[Doll555]

Right side of body numb....felt swollen like after you go to the dentist. Also worse headache of my life behind my right eye. Weak,pale fatigued,couldn't lift my arm.

[littlelawbear]

Thanks for all of the responses so far!  My onset symptom was numbness and hypersensitivity in my right hand and arm.  As the attack went on I got some mild pain behind one eye then the other along with development of floaters.  2.5 months later the floaters are still there, as is about 20% of the numbness.  This is my first attack and my dx is CIS with high risk of conversion to MS.

[kelly97]

My first symptoms were spasticity in my left leg - particularly my hamstring. It had severe tightness and pain and my muscle wouldn't stop contracting on its own.

[Karen99]

Fatigue.  It's never left.

[Guitar_grrrl]

I ticked "Balance Issues", but I was also having big time muscle spasms in my legs.  I'd had tingly, burning sensations, depression, pseudobulbar stuff, - all relatively mild, and I basically blew them off, for 20+ years.  It's when things started demanding answers that I presented to my neurologist.

[sllowe]

You forgot an "all of above, and some" button, hahah

I can't pick one - went to the doctor because my whole system was TU
-shell

[cainer]

eyesight- double vision - blurred- and might i add the eye dr- told me it was my hormones!! so i went 4 a few years till something else happened before i knew -whats going on here with me- ya crasy drs!!

[jen673]

numbness in my right hand fingertips and L'hermittes.

[beachcomber13]

What do you mean by hypersensitivity? When I described one of my symptoms someone called it that. I called it "haywire nerves," and it makes me want to tear my skin off. Do you mind describing what yours feels like?

[littlelawbear]

Hi there - by "hypersensitivity" I mean that my skin felt sunburned.  It was really only sensitive to extermal stimuli - I think the doctor called it allodynia or something like that.  I didn't get much tingling.

[littlelawbear]

Bairdy, how are things going?  Did you get your dx yet?

[littlelawbear]

Hey - you're totally right.  I forgot the "all of the above" option.  Thanks for your reply and hope things are going well for you!

[Sumanadevii]

Bump. Another good poll.

[Mike_Shuswap]

My first sx was numbness, but I voted balance issues because that's what scared me enough to go to emerg.

Mike

[kwarendorf]

First numbness experience was 20 years ago, then no symptoms for 18 years. Got my diagnosis 3 weeks ago.

[beachcomber13]

Kwarendorf, welcome to the forum. I only just joined it--got my diagnosis six weeks ago. Others here say we are now in the club no one wants to be a part of, which is true, but there are a lot of wonderful people in the club. The ones on this forum have helped me immensely over the past few weeks.

Will you start a thread to introduce yourself?