numbness and tight pain

    
      Re: numbness and tight pain
    


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Posted by ccf neuro M.D. on May 25, 1997 at 21:38:52:

In Reply to: numbness and tight pain posted by DON WASMOEN on May 14, 1997 at 16:54:40:

: I  AWOKE  7 WEEKS AGO WITH NUMBNESS FROM CHEST DOWN.  SINCE THEN MY HANDS HAVE BECOME SAME.  IT IS PROGRESSIVELY GETTING MORE SEVERE.  BALANCE ISN'T BAD WHEN STATIONARY BUT HAVE PROBLEMS WHEN MOVING.  EXTREME TIGHTNESS IN HANS AND FEET AT TIMES.  HAVE HAD 3 MRI AND CAT SSAN.  BLOOD AND SPINAL TAP RESULTS NOT BACK YET.  PLEASE ADVISE ON POSSIBILITIES AND QUESTIONS TO ASK NEUROLOGIST ON THE 22MAY APPT. THANK YOU.
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Don, Sorry we were not able to answer your question until today, by which time you have presumably seen a neurologist. Your symptoms are suggestive of a condition known as tranzverse myeltis, diagnosable by a SPINE MRI, but not BRAIN MRI. The lumbar puncture may also be very helpful. Causes of this condition include multiple sclerosis, certain infections (like human T-cell lymphocyte virus 1, some herpes viruses, and sometimes the HIV virus), and inflammatory and immunologic conditions like lupus. Sometimes tumors and/or vascular malformations of the spinal cord can also imitate the condition. I'm sure that your neurologist by examining you will be able to get a good feel for whether or not there is a problem going on in your spinal cord as your symptoms seem to suggest. CAT scans have no role in diagnosing any of these particular conditions, and it is thus not surprising that whatever CAT scans you had were normal. Again, we apoligize for the delay in answering your question, and hope you get to the bottom
of things very soon with the help of your neurologist.