In hospital, could this be MS?

[scoracek]

Hello everyone,

I've been having a lot of problems lately so I'll just summarize the past few weeks then list all symptoms I've been having.

Ok, so I saw a cardiologist for chest pain (constricting/squeezing) and she did EKG's, stress test and an echo and everything came back normal, she said that she thought it was neurological. So I then saw a neurologist who said everything looked fine. So on Sunday night I got extremely dizzy and everyone I talked to said that I sounded like I was drunk (sounded normal coming out to me)  and was slurring my words or taking seconds to either say the word or complete it. Well it happened again yesterday around 7pm so I got taken to the ER. In the waiting room area for awhile, then in the actual ER until about 6am this morning. I didn't believe that my speech was messed up so I asked everyone I saw if I sounded funny and they all said that I sounded like I just came from a bar. So they did bloodwork (not sure what they were testing for), a urinalysis which both unsurprisingly came back normal. I got admitted for observation around 6:30am, I saw a neuro at 9am, who did the routine questions and usual neurological exam. During the exam she kept checking my eyes with that thing that lets you see the insides of them or something. She didn't say anything was wrong (I'm not one to ask anyway, which is probably a bad thing), but she did it multiple times in a row and repeated a couple of the other tests multiple times as well. She said it could be MS so she ordered an MRI with/without contrast of my head and my spine. So now I'm waiting in my room till tomorrow because they don't have any openings for the MRI machine today.

So here are my symptoms:
-Tired ALL the time
-Chest pain - Constricting/Squeezing (Happens every day)
-Headaches
-Itchiness (sometimes)
-Memory impairment (really embarrassing sometimes)
-Difficulty in word finding (sometimes)
-Slurred speech (new)
-Dizziness (new)
-Heat sensitivity (new)
-Hot pins and needles all on right side, right hand and fingers and right foot (frequent, lasts on average 10-15 mins)
-Chest and back pain (Squeezing/Constricting starting from the edge of my right ribs ending at my spine) accompanied by hot pins and needles feeling, all on right side of body. (new)
-Trouble starting urination (new)
-Diarrhea

Probably a few other things I forgot to list. Any replies would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks!

[Jjewelz1987]

Asking for a Lyme Disease test would be a good idea. MS and Lyme Disease can present with IDENTICAL symptoms. I know from personal experience. Definitely give it a look into. It's worth checking out. Testing can be very inaccurate for Lyme, so ask for multiple tests to be done.  Always get a copy of the results too.

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

It's genuinely too soon to even speculate what could be causing what's happened, it could be due to a neurological issue like MS but the odds are that it's something else entirely so try not to worry about MS at this stage. Your only 19 but it is definitely in your best interest to learn to ask questions, you'll at least  have a better understanding of what's going on and it should help lessen any growing anxiety and minimise the unknown...  

Hope that helps.......JJ

[immisceo]

Locating the optic disc with an ophthalmoscope can be tricky business. It can often take multiple goes to correctly visualise, so I wouldn't necessarily read into that.

"I'm not one to ask"... LEARN! They are there to help you and you have a right to know what's going on. If you find that it's tough to recall what you meant to ask, write it down. A lot of us go to appointments with our own notes/questions. The face-to-face time we have with the pros is limited, so making the most of it is vital.

I hope your MRI will help clarify things.