PARKINSON'S DISEASE ????

Last year it was suggested that I have MS due to 4 lesions in my brain and a couple on my spinal cord.  I have been on Betaseron for this.  I have had leg numbness and tingling since last year.  Evey now and then I will get other symptoms such as hand tingling, swallowing issues, pain, anxiety, etc.  I am also on low dose Zoloft for the anxiety.  This past week I have noticed slight trembling in my hands and some muscle twitches in my legs.  Is this MS or do I have Parkinson's Disease.  Does PD cause brain lesions?  Can someone have both?

[Abhijeet Deshmukh, MD]

Hello.

Your symptoms are too many to be explained by Parkinson's disease only. Parkinson’s disease can co-exist with MS. But there are rare cases of both the disease affecting a person simultaneously.

The tremors could be one of the neurological symptoms of MS. The tremors of PD are called as "pill-rolling" tremors. They are about 4-6 Hz in frequency. You can try to count the frequency of tremors.

The MRI of the brain in PD is mostly normal.

Regards