Is it normal to pick up so many new symptoms in 2 weeks?

[BondyinOz]

Hi there,

Just wondering if anyone out there has had a similar experience. I'm a teacher and have recently had 2 weeks of school holidays. Needless to say the time off did not help me and I came back to school feeling almost exactly as bad as I did at the end of the term. What was the most interesting was the amount and type of new symptoms that I picked up only since the beginning of the holidays. These are:
-   dropping things (more pronounced), apparently I have been doing this for a couple of months
-   numbness/tingling (noticed mostly on the left side, but I do get it on the right)
      * often only a few particular toes and fingers, not all of them
      * also numbness in opposite hand to the one I'm writing with at the time
-   severe muscle spasms
-   occasionally missing mouth when drinking
-   trembling in muscles
-   fine tremor in hands

I have yet to tell my Doc - I'm still waiting for my Neuro appointment on the 26th Nov, but I'm toying with the idea of telling my Doc these new symptoms and maybe asking for them to send me for films now. They can do this here in Oz. What do you think?

I've also just found out that apparently my writing changed a couple of months ago and got really small - I had noticed that my hands are cramping more with tremor and hard for me to write at times, but I hadn't noticed the writing had gotten small. Apparently now it's very difficult for students to read my writing now.

I have put my timeline on here as well to give you an idea of the other symptoms I have. I am also going to put the results of a student survey I did.

Mel

[BondyinOz]

Hi there,

Thanks for your reply. Yes, I'm sorry, you're right - my timeline is very one dimensional and looks rather ridiculous at the moment hehe If this was given to me by someone else I would probably think they were a hypochondriac, except for the fact that I am living it. I will have to adjust it so that it is more meaningful.

I had a Dr appointment today where I showed the timeline to her because I wanted to point out the symptoms that have come on since I saw her 3 weeks ago and she said it was a lot more helpful. She has now said that, whilst there really is nothing she can do as a General Practitioner, she is starting to piece the bits of the puzzle together. She said they all sound more neurological and that she would tend to think MS is a definite possibility given that and the other things I have told her over the past 6 months. I guess it's a step closer.

She didn't tend to think the micrographia was a big deal - she was focusing more on the bigger picture - but did say that again the Neuro will check it out. The tremor presents itself in a couple of different ways - with my hands in particular it's like I can feel it most of the time, especially when I'm not moving them, and I can definitely see it happening, especially if they're 'at rest'. My friend said to me today that she gets hand tremors a lot and it's probably from caffeine - I don't drink coffee, as it makes my heart palpatations worse, and I haven't had problems with tremors in the hands until recently. I also find that my hands kind of cramp up on me a bit and seem quite stiff - it annoys me, especially when I"m trying to write or type.

Whilst I notice the 'frequency' of the tremor in my hands more when I'm not using them, I am aware of them kind of vibrating when I'm writing or trying to do something with my hands like hold a glass and playing the Tenor Sax. This has made pouring drinks difficult sometimes and I wonder if that's why I've spilt drinks before. Makes me wonder if the reason I dropped an expensive perfume bottle the other day was because my muscles spasmed or my perception was wrong and just thought I had the bottle lined up right on the shelf.

Today I felt like my whole upper trunk was trembling but I don't think you could see it - my hands shaking you could see and my arms as well, but the arms seem to have calmed down a bit now. I find when I'm writing on the whiteboard I try to 'shake it out', of course this doesn't really help but I do it anyway. Only a few of my students had noticed the tremor/shaking.

The tremor seems to 'calm down' at times and isn't as pronounced. For example at the moment I'm not too bad, it's 11:22pm here. I am watching my arm muscles spasm away but at least other things are dulling down.

I hope this answers your questions? Thank you again for your comments, they are much appreciated. Do you think that I'm far too young to have more PD symptoms? I'm only 24.

Thanks again,

Mel :-)

[Quixotic1]

Hi, you're on my list for a discussion of your symptoms and your story/timeline.  The sudden onset of writning much smaller is called, appropriately enough, "micrographia."  It is typically associated with Parkinson's Disease, but has been described in MS.  It is categorized as a "movement disorder."  What is your tremor like?  Does it occur as you are doing things or happen mostly at rest.  Is it limited to a certain area or involve a large limb or part of the body or the head and neck?

Also, long lists of symptoms are fairly useless for a doctor to see.  The longer the list - no matter how accurate it is - the more it looks like hypochondria.  However, if the symptoms are presented in a way that shows when and how they appeared, how they affected your function, how long they lasted, if and when the went away.  They actually tell the story of a disease or disorder. The trick is to keep it clear and as simple as possible.

For instance, dropping things more frequently is not a new symptom, from what you said.  It is something that started earlier and was more intermittent.  Then it became for frequent.  Discuss that way, it is more understandable than if you list the two phases of it separately.  Does this make sense?

You never told us you have a "drinking problem."  lol

Is the trembling in muscles a sensation that you perceive or visible from the outside?

Quix

[crystaly]

Your welcome ! Hope you get more out of your Dr than I do mine. Apart from referring me last wekk to musco skeletal; clinc for problem with hands usually looks at me like I,m nutt!!!! and mutters when do you next see your neurologist ? Hmm well mention it to her Arrrgh !!! is the answer to that one. I am going to do atimeline I think where I went wrong was just writing down symptoms instead of what happened at what time !  Hehehe ! fishbrain thats what I always say got the memory of agoldfish 3 sec span or not at all chris

[BondyinOz]

Exactly!!! I forget to mention things to the Dr all the time! That's why I have started to compile a massive timeline - it's grown so big now hehe I try to remember to keep it up to date but you know hehe Fish brain.

Wow... yeah I have some of your symptoms too. The ones from this year. I will definitely tell my Dr then. Will have to make an appointment tomorrow.Thanks.

Mel

[crystaly]

Hi mel yep I'd agree with the new symptoms stuff in short periods of time last year I got problems with chest wall muscles felt like someone had broken my ribs, dry eye syndrome reflux,
This year Ive got breathing problems , problems with hands ,headaches , durr brain, can't remember how to spell things sometimes or find the right word !
Then when you go to the drs youve got that much going on you cant remember what to mention first ! Is that what you find or is it just me ? Id definately mention new stuff if you can remember too write it down. I think thats my mistake i did at first and then as I got more and more symptoms I stopped which is probably a big muistake
chris

[BondyinOz]

I knew I'd forget something - duh, this is Goldfish brain here - new symptom of muscle weakness too.