Not Fibro, RA, or Lupus... so now maybe MS?? What do you'all think?

I figured I should ask people with MS what they think. Maybe someone out there can relate to what I am dealing with.

For almost a year now I have had new and strange symptoms develop. It all begain about 6-9 months after I had my son.
It started with loss of concentration, extreme fatigue, dizziness in the morning. I am usually full of energy, and as my husband says " on top of ****". I started letting my housework and work at the office slip. EVERYONE noticed somthing was wrong and asked me what was up. I have always been in PERFECT physical health all my life so I assumed it was something mental wrong. Eventho i was very happy with my husband and 2 beautiful kids, and was very successful at work... i though it was possible I could be depressed an not know???

I saw a phsyciatrist who talked to me for 10 min and handed me a RX for ADD medicine ( LOL.. i guess to help me focus since my brain turned to MUSH) and Anti Depressants. I started taking them and they did nothing but make me lose 20lbs ( nice bonus but probly not healthy)

THEN the scary things started happnening. The loss of concentration got worse ( even with the amphetamines they pumped me with) I started forgetting EVERYTHING. I would drive home and forget where i was going! and i drive the same way every day for 3 years.

THE PAIN started. It started with my joints, then muscles. It feels like all my joints have arthritis.. and my ARMS AND LEGS ARE SO WEAK. When I wake up in the morning I cant hardly put on makeup or do my hair anymore. Trying to blowdry my hair feels like I am trying to run a marathon??? I even get out of breath..  I can't hardly hold my 18 month old son... thank god he knows how to walk really well. I can't open his sippy cups or and jars anymore.

I get numb and tingly and have weird feeling in my arms and legs. My arms are ALWAYS numb when i wake up. Sometimes legs too... but its not the same feeling as if i slept on it wrong and the blood is rushing back in... its more like just NUMB... and then NOT NUMB after i wake up a bit.

ALL DAY LONG I feel like there is a tournequit tied to my arms.. they are always sorta numb.
sometimes random fingers will tingle.

I have pain in my FACE, like under my eyes and around by my jaw..WORSE ON THE LEFT SIDE

SEVERE EAR PAIN
BACK PAIN
ARM AND LEG PAIN ( worse on the left side for some reason)
NECK PAIN

The newest and scariest symptom of all is I can't FUNCTION at all in the morning. I feel like I am Brain dead until about noon and I get up at 6 am. I can't walk very well in the AM.. i am all stumbly like I am drunk or somthing. and I do not drink.

I have gone to the doctor.. who tested me fore various Auto Immune diseases.. and basically told me " It could be Fibromyalgia but I really have no idea"  and gave me a bottle of Lyrica and kiked me out of the office.

She never even mentioned MS... but my husband's mom was diagnosed with MS when he was about 14 ...and he remembers her having all the same problems as me. He says I sound just like her and so now I am going to A NEW DOCTOR.

What are your opinions? Is my doctors appointment going to be another waste of a copay? Can they even give me any medicines to help cope? are there any medications for MS and the pain???

[uk2]

its so hard to say till you have had the tests but looking at it i'd say fibromyalgia as its so simular to my sx.

[Quixotic1]

Hi and welcome to the forum.  You have some glaring features to what you are suffering that speak AGAINST MS.  There is NO association between MS and arthritis.  Period.  You have begun to suffer a type of widespread, inflammatory arthritis and it seems, if I have read your other posts correctly, to have started with a suspected Parvo B19 infection.  Did I get this right?

You also have recurring rashes and those are not in anyway associated with MS either.  So, to me this sounds either like an infection or like a primary arthritis problem.  When you add the pretty severe cognitive problems on it, one has to worry about those diseases that can cause CNS infection or vasculitis.

Now I am very aware that Parvo B19 can have a severe arthritis associated with it in older girls and women.  I had that infection, in the middle of a little epidemic in our town, and developed arthritis in my wrists and ankles.  This was in 1999.   Though I read, and was told, that this arthritis was never permanent.  It has remained permanent in my right ankle and wrist.  I did not have the recurring rash, which is a lacy, pink rash over the torso and upper legs and arms.  This rash, stays in those places when it recurs.

To all my reading, ParvoB19 is not assoicated with MS, but it has been assoicated with RA (I believe).

Your spasms and twisting of limbs is not consistent with Fibro.

I will say, as a physician with MS, that the disease that leapt to my mind as I read this and other posts from you is Lyme Disease.  First screening tests are often falsely negative, and it is often hard to pin down.  I would recommend that you be tested by two different labs for Lyme disease using the test called the Western Blot - and by labs that report the bands associated with tick-borne illnesses.  MS would be one of the last things I think of for you.

Lyme Disease is known forn its affinity for attacking the joints and causing rashes and for everything else you have told us.  I suspect that the test your doctor ran to rule it out was one called the antibody test or the ELISA.  This is notoriously inaccurate.

I also realize that you have made your way through several MedHelp Forums.  But I am going to recommend that, in addition, you also go over to the Lyme Disease Forum and tell them your whole story.  List ALL of the symptoms you have had.  See what they think.

I really don't think you have MS.  But, I am curious to know what your MRI looks like.  Surely with your cognitive decline, that was done and maybe repeated.

I hope this helps.  I am not chasing you away from here.  You are welcome to hear what others have to say.

Quix

[jensequitur]

Hey, chica, it sounds like maybe you were responding to a different poster?  I don't see anything about spasms, twisting of limbs, or rashes in this post.

She does mention feeling like her joints have arthritis...  but I can relate to not having the words to describe what's going on.

[jensequitur]

Hey, your symptoms sound neurogical to me, but at this point it could be something as simple as your thyroid or B12 deficiency.

You definitely need to go to a new doctor to figure out what's going on.  I think it's definitely worth the copay - if it's something that's easy to fix, you'd be silly not to go.

The only thing that doesn't sound specifically like MS is the pain in your joints.  I experience pain, but it all seems to be related to my muscles - especially the ones in my arms.  They stiffen up and spasm.  Sometimes they're just really sore, and sometimes it feels like a bad cramp.  

Something that will help the new doc is a timeline of your symptoms - keep it on one page, so you won't scare him/her off.  

[Quixotic1]

I went to her other posts on other forums to see what I could understand better.  I referred to some of that stuff.  I mentioned this, but sorry to confuse people.

Q

[jensequitur]

Ah-hah!  Sorry, yeah, I missed the bit where you said that.  You were going the extra mile and doing the research.  This is why it's so great to have you weigh in on a subject - you're always very thorough.

[meubanks09]

Thank you all for your opinions. Although a little discouraging, I REALLY appreciate them.  I am just so at a loss right now....

My symptoms started off with joint pain....

went away for a couple weeks...  then came back.... went away again... came Back over and over.. every time it comes back its a little bit different

Now I have no joint pain.. but I have muscle weakness and pain. Mostly arms and legs

And now its only on the left side of my body.. it feels like the whole left side of my body is going to shut down LOL.

I am so confused , and my symptoms dont seem to fit in exactly with any disease...
and when i try and write down all the syptoms (symptoms) starting with Day 1.. it ends up being like 10 pages . The last doctor looked at me like I was nuts and basically kiked my out the office!

Okay.. trying not to cry  .... ugh... I just wish i could figure this crap out!!!

I am going to start all over with a new doc.. I am seeing her tomorrow night.. I got to figure somthing out before I get fired from my job. :*(

Wish me luck!!!

[meubanks09]

Also.. the Parvo B19... Thats what one doctor told me... come to find out the reason it showed up on the test is because I had it when I was 5 years old... my antibodies only indicated a past infection.

I was all excited and thought it was going to go away... then my mom told me I already had Parvo when I was 5 so it couldnt be it. I went back to that doc.. she said " well then I have no idea" and sent me to a Rhemetologist

The rheumetologist said " Well I really have no clue.. try some Lyrica"

what great help they were....

I have not had any MRI's or any type of nurological tests done... only blood tests which show I am 100% healthy. My B12 is kinda low so I started taking vitamin B12.. it has made me less tired.. but thats about it....I'm just going to keep praying that someday I will find a good doc and figure this out :*(