MS, West Nile Virus, and possibly Psoriatic Arthritis

[Krisco74]

Hi, I am a 41 yr old man. In June of '14, I blacked out in the shower after a long day of work. When I came to, I had very bad vertigo and tingling in my arms and legs. I thought I had a cardiac episode of some sort. Two subsequent visits to the ER lead to several visits with specialist (ENT, Cardiologist, Neurologist, Infectious Disease, etc) over the next several months. I was eventually diagnosed with West Nile Virus. After a while, and with various neurological symptoms persisting, a LP was ordered to determine if the virus was present in my spinal fluid. Good news: no evidence of WNV in spinal fluid. Bad news: I was diagnosed with MS. I have also had skin rashes that look like psoriasis and joint pain. This has lead both my PCP and Neuro to believe that I may also have Psoriatic Arthritis. I've yet to see a Rheumatologist for an official diagnosis. Is there anyone else that has experienced any combination of these issues? Advice and guidance would be appreciated if so.

[HVAC]

You just need to treat each illness. Let all the doctors know of each. There may be over laps and some not. I have MS and ovarian cancer. The MS discludes me from some cancer treatments. The cancer discludes me from some MS treatments. Other than that they do not effect each other.

Alex

[kwarendorf]

Hi Krisco- I'm sorry to hear of your medical travails. One thing is absolutely certain about MS. It does not excuse you from having other medical problems, often completely unrelated. So it is quite possible to have both MS and psoriatic arthritis.

I'm curious about your MS diagnosis. It seens that it was made on the basis of your LP results. MS is rarely, if ever, diagnosed based on LP results. Have you had an MRI studies done? Is your neurologist an MS specialist?

Kyle