Autoimmune or Neurological Symptoms? Vitreous/Tinnitus problems.

[rmv80]

Hi Everyone,

I have had some odd symptoms over the past 4 months and I'm hoping someone could shed some light since doctors I feel are not digging deep enough and it's starting to affect my daily life. I am a 28/yo male in good health. Day to day I take Omega-3 and lipoflavonoid (for tinnitus).

Here are a listing of my symptoms to date. Vision, Hearing, yawning and tingling have been pretty constant over the past 3-4 months, others come and go

- Vision Problems
    * issues in darkness w/lights - halos & starbursts
    * sensitive to bright lights - images staying "burned" in line of sight for a bit
    * General vague focusing problems & occasional blurred vision
    * Floaters & Flashers
    * Vitreous Syneresis (diagnosed by opthamologist)
- Tinnitus (Occasionally rings substantially louder in 5-10 second bursts)
- Tingling burning in both legs (thighs, front of legs)
- Occasional tingling in shoulders/upper back
- Excessive Yawning (every 1-2 minutes)
- Facial & Head Pain/Fullness that comes fast
- Bright Red Skin Spots on Arms/Face/Body that never go away. Appear with flareups.
- Headaches
- Slight "out of it" feeling from time to time
- Chronically Dry & Red Eyes (schimer test)
- Very dry skin/thinning hair
- Red sores in corner of mouth
- One raised red lesion on leg for 1 month +
- Occasional Random Pain in hips
- Occasional Chest/Heart pain (like heart skips a beat)
- Bad acute lower back pain that shoots down legs (comes and goes over past 7 months)

For bloodwork... CBC (slightly high liver enzyme level), B-12 OK, Lyme negative, Thyroid OK

Had MRI w/o contrast (insurance said no to contrast). Radiologist said he saw 2 areas of increased activity. Neuro said he saw only 1 and was not concerned (thinking it was for MS). Other than that the MRI was negative.

See general DR, ENT, Neuro, Opthamologist, Retina Specilist. With no real information or help so far. I am very concerned about the recent Vitreous Syneresis as I hear it's related to older people. I can not find any relation to Neoru or Autoimmue issues and want to know what could be causing this.

I have an appt with a Rheumatologist and a new Neuro soon, but looking for any direction here. I'm thinking it's not MS and is a different Neuro or Autoimmune issue. Maybe even some kind of a blood or metabolic deficiency? Any help is great apprecaited. Thanks!

[lisa980]

Hi good night to u all. I am 26 years old and i too  do suffer a few of those symptoms which is extremely worrying to me since doctors too cant seem to target the problem. Having an autoimmune disease seems to  be the most difficult to diagnose since there are so many different types.

My symptoms:
For the past 3 yrs:
hair loss, swelling of legs, extreme back pain, had floaters since i was 15 years old, tingling in my back, legs and arms, heaviness in the head and forehead, sensitive to coldness(finger nails turn blue when exposed to air condition), rashes that my dermatologist said it was atopic eczema and pains in my chest (sternum - was told it could be costochondritis). I also get alot of stiff necks that last for a week or more.

I did tests, my cbc is normal, my esr is normal, rh factor normal but my ana came back positive with 1.40 fine speckled pattern. My rethumatologists cant seem to indicate what is wrong with me, because he was saying that a 1:40 could be normal. Just a few weeks a ago he ran over the tests but i am yet to go and see what are the results. I am in paon and i am stressed alot because i dont know what is going on with me. I am terrified that i go bald since my hair is falling alot. Could someone please tell me what could be wrong with me?

[rmv80]

Thank you for the good wishes, I wish the same to you.

My neurologist suggested the test for Celiac disease (still awaiting results). I also went to a nutritional optometrist/opthamologist last night who took hair samples to test for base mineral and other deficiencies. I am not sure where you are located, but this Dr is located in northern NJ and also practices out of NYC.

I will let you know any results or new information that comes back to me.

[jason80]

Re:VS. Most of the web stuff and wiki claim that VS is usually associated with neurologic symptoms and certainly I'm aware of a couple of folks like me, that seems to be the case.  

Similar to tinnitus however, VS also afflicts people with no other symptoms whatsoever.

What you're describing sounds like entopic phenomemon, I have that too. They seem to be related.

What kind of Dr. recommended the celiac test? I wonder if I should do that. No one has mentioned it to me.

Good luck on your quest to get healthy

[rmv80]

From what I have read, VS is more of a neurological presenting symptoms and not so much something that would come directly from your eyes. I only notice my VS when I look at the sky for an extended period of time without blinking. I have had MRI or brain & c-spine and both were OK, neurologists are testing now for celiac disease (absorption disease which can cause vitamin/mineral deficiency in your system).

On a side note... I am in the process of trying to find a good general doctor to tie all this back to. As of now I am going from specialist to specialist and doing all the computation of the results myself. I guess I'll just find a family doctor that I like and can spend some time with me.

[jason80]

My general feedback from doctors/others is also apathetic regarding the floaters -- since everyone gets them. The problem is that it is not easy to quantify the severity and when one who does have bad floaters discusses it, I think the doctors may think the patient is aggrandizing one's condition.

Your description sounds similar to mine (both in description and when you notice them). Big clumps can be usually seen with my eyes closed. People say that you just ignore them, but if you have bad floaters it's like ignoring the elephant in the living room. They obstruct my vision. Prior to this past April they were non existent my whole life and they came a few weeks prior to my visual snow (VS).  

I also have cataracts forming in both eyes to which the Dr. was very surprised since it usually occurs in one eye, and usually not until later age. The eye doctor agrees something strange is going on with these multitude of symptoms, but has no idea what.

[rmv80]

Hey Jason,

Vitreous Syneresis is the breakdown (liquefaction) of the vitreous in your eye. It normally happens as you age (think 60+) or if you are severely myopic. For me, I'm 28 and am going down a different avenue of thinking with this. I have found studies linking collagen diseases to the breakdown in the vitreous as well as other problems (some of which I have, like Tinnitus). You'll find some people on here who just take the traditional medical way of thinking "you're myopic, get over it" but you have to keep an open mind... I have seen a few different ophthalmologists & retina specialists and they have mixed answers for me from you have a PVD, to just synerisis, to lattice degeneration & retina holes, to you're OK. As you can see I've got a mixed bag of answers right now. For me, the bottom line is that both eyes in about a month have gotten very bad. I am now noticing floaters & the "clumpy"-ness of the vitreous almost everywhere, where at first it was just in certain specific settings. I am not going to give up on finding out what's really going on. It seems no one really wants to take the time to look at rarer answers, it's just "deal with it". I'll keep plugging along and will update if I find out any answers for you.