Aa
Possible MS?
Hi all.
I am 37 and my first odd symptom was a toe on my left foot went completely numb over a month ago. I thought nothing of it but a week later my right hand and right side of my face suddenly went completely numb and I started slurring words (this lasted only 5 or so min) The ER doc diagnosed me with "complex migraine" and sent me home.
Three days later that same foot with the previous numb toe completely went numb for hours. The following few days same foot was pins and needles and felt like a rubber band was cutting off my circulation at the knee. This combined with an almost tingling feeling on my right scalp area. Saw my PCP who ordered a brain MRI. The results came back as unremarkable except for the right occipital lobe (something about some "signal that may or may not be signficant but doesn't correlate to current symptoms"). My blood work (Lyme, thyroid, vit B etc.) has not come back yet. I am to see a neurologist in 2 weeks. I am hoping he doesn't brush this off as it's getting very annoying to say the least. I have two young kids at home and will be starting teaching in sept.
Meanwhile my symptoms are every day off and on (this is going on over a month) and always in my left foot and right hand, arm. My right arm constantly has off and on creepy crawlies and the feeling of hairs sweeping down it if that makes sense. My left foot is in various stages of tingling, numbness or creepy crawly stuff. The same spot on my right scalp tingles from time to time. The only other symptoms I have is extreme exhaustion, dizziness and that fuzzy brain foggy feeling.
Any input would be so greatly appreciated.
I am 37 and my first odd symptom was a toe on my left foot went completely numb over a month ago. I thought nothing of it but a week later my right hand and right side of my face suddenly went completely numb and I started slurring words (this lasted only 5 or so min) The ER doc diagnosed me with "complex migraine" and sent me home.
Three days later that same foot with the previous numb toe completely went numb for hours. The following few days same foot was pins and needles and felt like a rubber band was cutting off my circulation at the knee. This combined with an almost tingling feeling on my right scalp area. Saw my PCP who ordered a brain MRI. The results came back as unremarkable except for the right occipital lobe (something about some "signal that may or may not be signficant but doesn't correlate to current symptoms"). My blood work (Lyme, thyroid, vit B etc.) has not come back yet. I am to see a neurologist in 2 weeks. I am hoping he doesn't brush this off as it's getting very annoying to say the least. I have two young kids at home and will be starting teaching in sept.
Meanwhile my symptoms are every day off and on (this is going on over a month) and always in my left foot and right hand, arm. My right arm constantly has off and on creepy crawlies and the feeling of hairs sweeping down it if that makes sense. My left foot is in various stages of tingling, numbness or creepy crawly stuff. The same spot on my right scalp tingles from time to time. The only other symptoms I have is extreme exhaustion, dizziness and that fuzzy brain foggy feeling.
Any input would be so greatly appreciated.
Zilla, I want to add that I still have this feeling ongoing feeling that my right arm and hand is covered in spider webs...this seems to be the last symptoms as most of the others have faded now.
Thanks Zilla!
My PCP ordered an x-ray of my spine last week. Hopefully tomorrow (tues) I will hear the results of that and my bloodwork. (fingers crossed) Y'know, if this is all due to migraines that would be something! I've no doubt it is possible...but man, I can't believe what the brain is capable of...wreaking havoc all over you body yknow? I certainly hope they can figure this out soon.
My PCP ordered an x-ray of my spine last week. Hopefully tomorrow (tues) I will hear the results of that and my bloodwork. (fingers crossed) Y'know, if this is all due to migraines that would be something! I've no doubt it is possible...but man, I can't believe what the brain is capable of...wreaking havoc all over you body yknow? I certainly hope they can figure this out soon.
I feel your pain, Sister.
It can be so frustrating when you don't know what's going on with your body and then to have the symptoms come and go as if someone was flipping a switch. Oy!
Certainly the symptoms you experience with a complex migraine CAN come without an actual headache. And that can just muddy everything up when your trying to get a solid diagnosis. Usually, though, the unusual symptoms of a migraine aura will end with a typical migraine headache. But, sometimes, they apparently don't. If that means anything to you.
ALSO -- migraine symptoms CAN last for weeks. But they usually don't. If THAT means anything to you. Migraine disease to me seems to have taken on this mystical anything goes quality when speaking to any neuro who's at the end of his tether trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Leg weakness? Migraines! Numbness and tingling? Migraines! Have purple spots on your face and your urine is glowing green? Migraines!
I do think it's absolutely possible that migraine disease is part of your whole picture, but don't give up investigating this new stuff if it doesn't sit right with you.
I have lower back pain, too. I hear a lot of members say they do, as well. I know I have osteoarthritis. I'm 44, after all, and do tend to get osteoarthritis more than others my age. I don't know much about back pain and MS, but there seems to be a connection.
It seems, too, that your doc thinks arthritis may be part of your picture, but I'm not sure if he thinks it's age-related or auto-immune. Anyone over 30 is going to start getting arthritis to some degree. I should think that your back shouldn't be in too bad of shape at 37, but we'll have to see what all the tests say. Has she ever X-Ray'd your back? My orhtopedic surgeon said that X-Rays will show arthritis much better than an MRI. It could be that your chiro took pics and saw that your disks have flattened, giving you little "cushion." That's arthritis.
If the disks are so damaged that your spinal cord is being impinged, it can cause you all sorts of neuro symptoms in your legs, like you mentioned before. But if your spinal cord is still protected inside the thecal sac, your symptoms would have to be explained another way.
It wouldn't explain the feelings in your arm, however. The paresthesias you're getting. Look up Quix's Health Page on Paresthesias when you get a chance. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. In the upper right corner of the page, click on Health Pages and search around. There's lots of info I think you'll find interesting.
Keep pursuing this, and we'll help you get a time line together so you can be prepared for your appointment. Wanna wrote a Health Page called "Timeline 101," which will help you organize your symptoms for your doc to see.
Feel well,
Zilla*
It can be so frustrating when you don't know what's going on with your body and then to have the symptoms come and go as if someone was flipping a switch. Oy!
Certainly the symptoms you experience with a complex migraine CAN come without an actual headache. And that can just muddy everything up when your trying to get a solid diagnosis. Usually, though, the unusual symptoms of a migraine aura will end with a typical migraine headache. But, sometimes, they apparently don't. If that means anything to you.
ALSO -- migraine symptoms CAN last for weeks. But they usually don't. If THAT means anything to you. Migraine disease to me seems to have taken on this mystical anything goes quality when speaking to any neuro who's at the end of his tether trying to figure out what's wrong with me. Leg weakness? Migraines! Numbness and tingling? Migraines! Have purple spots on your face and your urine is glowing green? Migraines!
I do think it's absolutely possible that migraine disease is part of your whole picture, but don't give up investigating this new stuff if it doesn't sit right with you.
I have lower back pain, too. I hear a lot of members say they do, as well. I know I have osteoarthritis. I'm 44, after all, and do tend to get osteoarthritis more than others my age. I don't know much about back pain and MS, but there seems to be a connection.
It seems, too, that your doc thinks arthritis may be part of your picture, but I'm not sure if he thinks it's age-related or auto-immune. Anyone over 30 is going to start getting arthritis to some degree. I should think that your back shouldn't be in too bad of shape at 37, but we'll have to see what all the tests say. Has she ever X-Ray'd your back? My orhtopedic surgeon said that X-Rays will show arthritis much better than an MRI. It could be that your chiro took pics and saw that your disks have flattened, giving you little "cushion." That's arthritis.
If the disks are so damaged that your spinal cord is being impinged, it can cause you all sorts of neuro symptoms in your legs, like you mentioned before. But if your spinal cord is still protected inside the thecal sac, your symptoms would have to be explained another way.
It wouldn't explain the feelings in your arm, however. The paresthesias you're getting. Look up Quix's Health Page on Paresthesias when you get a chance. I'm sure you'll find it interesting. In the upper right corner of the page, click on Health Pages and search around. There's lots of info I think you'll find interesting.
Keep pursuing this, and we'll help you get a time line together so you can be prepared for your appointment. Wanna wrote a Health Page called "Timeline 101," which will help you organize your symptoms for your doc to see.
Feel well,
Zilla*
Well now I have hardly any tingling at all and the numbness is gone (?) Just dizziness and the feeling like I am going to just tip over when I'm standing? This is really freaking me out now.
Sorry to be such a pest but I thought I'd add one more thing that may have something to do with my symptoms.
My lower back has been aching for years and years. It's a constant dull ache and stiffness in this little area right above my tailbone. Lately it's becoming unbearable. I can barely lift my daughter. I had it x-rayed last year and a chiro told me the lower two vertebrae had no "cushion" or it was flattened. I'm wondering if this is anything to do with my numbness?
My PCP did ask me if spondilits (sp?) ran in my family so now I'm curious. On my lab sheet she checked off sed rate and told me it's to check for imflammation?
Thanks in advance if anyone can sort through all my weird issues.
My lower back has been aching for years and years. It's a constant dull ache and stiffness in this little area right above my tailbone. Lately it's becoming unbearable. I can barely lift my daughter. I had it x-rayed last year and a chiro told me the lower two vertebrae had no "cushion" or it was flattened. I'm wondering if this is anything to do with my numbness?
My PCP did ask me if spondilits (sp?) ran in my family so now I'm curious. On my lab sheet she checked off sed rate and told me it's to check for imflammation?
Thanks in advance if anyone can sort through all my weird issues.
Oh, also if you have any advice on how to prepare for the neurological appt. I would appreciate it.
First off, I can't thank you all enough for taking the time to reply. I truly appreciate all the input! Thanks just doesn't cut it.
Momzilla, no I did not have any type of headache after the ER visit. As a matter of fact after the numbness faded I felt perfectly fine. I do have a history of migraine with aura and it usually has the typical pain, sensitivity to light and nausea. I get the zigzag lines and blind spot deal. I should add that I did have another "complex migraine" diagnosis five years ago. (same symptoms but more intense and lasted longer) I had an MRI then and it was completely "unremarkable". (although I'd like to think most days I'm pretty darn remarkable)
Quix, can migraines give you symptoms for weeks? From the ER visit to today it's been over 2 weeks of daily off and on tingling, numbness, pins and needles always in my left foot area and right hand/arm off and on. Coincidently, today is the first day I am feeling back to my old self. My fatigue was crushing most of these 2 weeks. I fought to keep my eyes open most days. (I do have a 5 year old and a 20 month old but this was not even the normal mommy tiredness) Yet, I've noticed that every day the symptoms getting less intense. I forgot to add one more odd symptom. I have to urinate and I mean go suddenly, very urgent.
I suppose there's no need to jump to conclusions (as much as I want to know what the heck's going on with me!) Thank you for helping me take a deep breath and relax a little that this might not be MS after all.
So I will wait for the blood work to come back. (sigh) I should know next week. I will also get a copy of the MRI results so I can tell you all word for word what the tech wrote. I'm thinking my PCP was the one who added the "doesn't correlate to patient's current symptoms" as she read this to me over the phone.
Once again, THANK YOU for helping me through this.
Momzilla, no I did not have any type of headache after the ER visit. As a matter of fact after the numbness faded I felt perfectly fine. I do have a history of migraine with aura and it usually has the typical pain, sensitivity to light and nausea. I get the zigzag lines and blind spot deal. I should add that I did have another "complex migraine" diagnosis five years ago. (same symptoms but more intense and lasted longer) I had an MRI then and it was completely "unremarkable". (although I'd like to think most days I'm pretty darn remarkable)
Quix, can migraines give you symptoms for weeks? From the ER visit to today it's been over 2 weeks of daily off and on tingling, numbness, pins and needles always in my left foot area and right hand/arm off and on. Coincidently, today is the first day I am feeling back to my old self. My fatigue was crushing most of these 2 weeks. I fought to keep my eyes open most days. (I do have a 5 year old and a 20 month old but this was not even the normal mommy tiredness) Yet, I've noticed that every day the symptoms getting less intense. I forgot to add one more odd symptom. I have to urinate and I mean go suddenly, very urgent.
I suppose there's no need to jump to conclusions (as much as I want to know what the heck's going on with me!) Thank you for helping me take a deep breath and relax a little that this might not be MS after all.
So I will wait for the blood work to come back. (sigh) I should know next week. I will also get a copy of the MRI results so I can tell you all word for word what the tech wrote. I'm thinking my PCP was the one who added the "doesn't correlate to patient's current symptoms" as she read this to me over the phone.
Once again, THANK YOU for helping me through this.
The replies above say so much more than I could since I am also new to this... Ijust wanted to add that this is a wonderful community to ask you questionsand voice your concerns. I hope you will join us often as you work through these problems.
Be well,
Laura
Be well,
Laura
Hi, Welcome Here! I hope we can help. You got our general feeling about "Complex Migraines." I'm unsure about how good a diagnosis that it. It seems to be defined by a catchall of symptoms. That first episode you had does sound more like a migraine than a first presentation of MS.
The persistence of your paresthesias is concerning. At this point the blood work up for Lyme, inflammatory diseases and B12 is important. The usual test they send for Lyme is called an ELISA and a negative result tells us very little. It has frequent false negatives. With your level of weird sensations I would firmly request the next step up in testing which is the Western Blot.
The result of the MRI is inappropriate. I think your doc should request a reread by a different neuroradiologist. The radiologist should report what he/she sees and not say that it does or does not explain your symptoms. In MS many lesions can be too small to be seen and many lesions that are seen may be in silent areas of the brain that do not cause lesions. So drawing firm connections between lesions and symptoms is not a useful thing to do. Perhaps you can tell us word for word what the MRI report says. You should have a copy of it anyway.
Until we get a better interpretation of the MRI, the blood work back and you see a neurologist, it is far too early to begin considering MS. I hope you get a skilled and openminded neuro who gives you a thorough (really thorough) exam head to toe. A spit and polish exam is not adequate.
So, we are gald you found us, because you are in a frightening position to have new, odd symptoms and a worry that it might be MS. I hope we can help as the info comes in and we can help you sort it out. Also, this is a good place to talk to people whose body parts are numb and who have been through what you are going through.
Stick around
Quix
The persistence of your paresthesias is concerning. At this point the blood work up for Lyme, inflammatory diseases and B12 is important. The usual test they send for Lyme is called an ELISA and a negative result tells us very little. It has frequent false negatives. With your level of weird sensations I would firmly request the next step up in testing which is the Western Blot.
The result of the MRI is inappropriate. I think your doc should request a reread by a different neuroradiologist. The radiologist should report what he/she sees and not say that it does or does not explain your symptoms. In MS many lesions can be too small to be seen and many lesions that are seen may be in silent areas of the brain that do not cause lesions. So drawing firm connections between lesions and symptoms is not a useful thing to do. Perhaps you can tell us word for word what the MRI report says. You should have a copy of it anyway.
Until we get a better interpretation of the MRI, the blood work back and you see a neurologist, it is far too early to begin considering MS. I hope you get a skilled and openminded neuro who gives you a thorough (really thorough) exam head to toe. A spit and polish exam is not adequate.
So, we are gald you found us, because you are in a frightening position to have new, odd symptoms and a worry that it might be MS. I hope we can help as the info comes in and we can help you sort it out. Also, this is a good place to talk to people whose body parts are numb and who have been through what you are going through.
Stick around
Quix
Hi!
Welcome to our forum! I trust that you'll find plenty of information here to help you sort out what's going on physically and lots of kind support to help with the rest! This journey to diagnosis is not usually the mos the right place.
Lately it seems the Diagnosis Du Jour happens to be "Complex Migraines." A few of us here have symptoms similar to yours and have gotten the same diagnosis (including me). Now, at first glance, upon your arrival to the ER, I can understand the doc jumping to that conclusion. Lots of your symptoms fit. And the length of time, too, would indicate that this was more a migraine type event, and it may very well have been. We may never know. (This is NOT the great info I was talking about before!)
Did your symptoms end with a headache -- of the migraine type? This would be a strong indicator that what you had in the ER was a complex migraine. No? Well, then it gets a little more muddled, doesn't it? Typically, the scenario is that an aura that produces the symptoms you described will end once the migraine type headache starts. But, with migraines, everything seems just so darned mystical and impossibly possible in terms of variations.
Too, your MRI apparently is unremarkable. Hate that. Especially when they use that term in my mammogram. "Breasts Unremarkable." Well, have them nurse five children and see how remarkable THEY are at age 44?! I digress..
Aside from all that, the thing which doesn't sound like migraine disease at all to me is the extreme exhaustion. And the fact that your symptoms appear to be a part of your daily life. AND the feeling of having a band around your leg, cutting off your circulation.
The other symptoms can be part of both complex migraines AND something like MS. But I really think you need to pursue this. Something doesn't seem right to you, and you don't think it's migraines. It doesn't sound like migraines to me from what I'm reading. Trust yourself, and let us help you prepare for this neurologist visit.
Maybe Wanna can help you get a Time Line together.
Get comfy here, and I know others will be around to welcome you soon. Feel well,
Momzilla*
Welcome to our forum! I trust that you'll find plenty of information here to help you sort out what's going on physically and lots of kind support to help with the rest! This journey to diagnosis is not usually the mos the right place.
Lately it seems the Diagnosis Du Jour happens to be "Complex Migraines." A few of us here have symptoms similar to yours and have gotten the same diagnosis (including me). Now, at first glance, upon your arrival to the ER, I can understand the doc jumping to that conclusion. Lots of your symptoms fit. And the length of time, too, would indicate that this was more a migraine type event, and it may very well have been. We may never know. (This is NOT the great info I was talking about before!)
Did your symptoms end with a headache -- of the migraine type? This would be a strong indicator that what you had in the ER was a complex migraine. No? Well, then it gets a little more muddled, doesn't it? Typically, the scenario is that an aura that produces the symptoms you described will end once the migraine type headache starts. But, with migraines, everything seems just so darned mystical and impossibly possible in terms of variations.
Too, your MRI apparently is unremarkable. Hate that. Especially when they use that term in my mammogram. "Breasts Unremarkable." Well, have them nurse five children and see how remarkable THEY are at age 44?! I digress..
Aside from all that, the thing which doesn't sound like migraine disease at all to me is the extreme exhaustion. And the fact that your symptoms appear to be a part of your daily life. AND the feeling of having a band around your leg, cutting off your circulation.
The other symptoms can be part of both complex migraines AND something like MS. But I really think you need to pursue this. Something doesn't seem right to you, and you don't think it's migraines. It doesn't sound like migraines to me from what I'm reading. Trust yourself, and let us help you prepare for this neurologist visit.
Maybe Wanna can help you get a Time Line together.
Get comfy here, and I know others will be around to welcome you soon. Feel well,
Momzilla*
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