MS? Symptoms getting worse don't know what to do!

[Amanda S.]

Thank you for reading my post.

I'm a 40 year old female, 205 pounds
No health problems

1.5 years ago my left thigh began to tingle, spasm and go numb. (like novacaine)

11 months ago I began to have severe pain (like a knife scraping my bone)
in that thigh, crawling, spasms, more of the thigh went numb, dizziness, fatigue.

9 months ago part of my left foot went numb and three of my toes. No pain

(This whole time nothing that's numb ever regained feeling)

In the last few months the pain has increased and has now affected my left thigh. I have intense aching in both legs that comes and goes. It feels like my legs are swolen, infected, hot and wrapped too tightly with an ace bandage. It's miserable.

My stomach got real tight one night, weird.

I had 2 dr's tell me they thought it was MS. Blood normal. Went to Neuro Dr 6 months ago. Brain and Spine MRI clean. He said he, "thought I had MS" but dismissed it, gave me Topamax, and told me to lose weight that it was a compressed nerve. How can all that be a compressed nerve? I left feeling hopeless.

I have pain and discomfort everyday. It will go away for a few days but it's rare. It's gradually getting worse and lasting longer during the day. Mornings are better.

Does MS numbness stay forever? Mine has never regained feeling, only get worse.

Thank you for reading my book. I'm lost...

[Dr. A. Srivastava]

Thank you for your question. Although without being able to examine you I can not offer you the specific advice on diagnosis and treatment that you need, but I would try to provide you some relevant information about your health concern.

In multiple sclerosis symptoms, there could be loss of muscle coordination & strength, normal sensation and vision. Other symptoms could be delirium, seizures and coma. Another possibility could be compression of nerves due to obesity or spine disc prolapse/degeneration. By the reason of that nerves from the spinal cord can be irritated causing leg/thigh pain and numbness, tingling, or weakness in the leg. Few persons also face generalized body weakness and numbness due to other nerve irritation on back. If you suffer continuous weakness and notice reduced strength of muscle bulk in left leg, please arrange an appointment with a neurologist right away who will evaluate the possibilities here. These “red flags” could be indicative of compression of the spinal cord and its nerve branches and early treatment is essential if permanent damage needs to be avoided. Further referral to a physiotherapist for spinal exercises could be beneficial and may produce relief of symptoms. Hope this helps.

[ggreg]

They need to do an CAT scan of your left hip joint and your lumbar spine, to see if there's arthritis or some other abnormality that is causing a trapped nerve or problem with a blood vessel in there.  I think you would have had other symptoms to call this MS.  The condition you're describing is more like neuropathy (and there are several types, including diabetic neuropathy), which can cause numbness and other unusual feelings in an extremity.  And I am guessing, but could be the discomfort moved into the other leg because you've been compensating for the original health problem for so long, OR because it's a lumbar spine problem that is now going out the other side of the spine, too.  You also can have a bleed in the brain that can cause things like foot numbness, but your MRI of the brain didn't show anything.  Hope this helps.

[Amanda S.]

Error: it's 2.5 years since my symptoms began.

Thanks!