MS or something else please help!

[tatsies1]

Hello I am new here, I am a 24 year old girl who up to about a year and 4 months ago was perfectly healthy other than having asthma caused by allergies, ibs, and allergies. It started when I felt a patch of wierd sensation in my face in july of '09, I went to the ER they did a full neurological work up on me as well as did a CT scan of the brain and sinuses w/o contrast, and all came up normal. They said it could be the beginning of a bell's palsy and srnt me home on prednisone and antiviral, but the bell's palsy never came, what did come was a horrible cold or flu that gave me a horrible cough and a fever. This went away after about a week. Six months later I woke up with my eyes being sensitive to light, but no blurry or double vision. One week after that my left hang started tingling and felt like it was swollen but it wasn not, this was mostly my ring and pinky fingers. I went to the ER again they admitted me. They did an MRI of the brain w/wo contrast one of my cervical spine the next morning which was not ordered with contrast but I was told it was still in me having the contrast the night before, also an MRA/MRV of the head. I had extensive blood work and a neurologist came to visit me. He gave me all the results and told me everything came back normal. The only signigficant thing was that my b12 was a low normal at 285. My sed rate was fine ana and intrinsic factor both negative. A few days later I was dischared after and IV of b12 was given to me. I decided to ask for a lumbar puncture (I work at the hospital I was admitted at and know interventional radiologists who perform the procedure) It cam back normal. No bands, protein was fine.  Since then on and off my symptoms have come from one month to two and then subsided only to return again. I am now almost 6 months pregnant and feel that for the last few months things have gotten worse. I woke up with a fine tremor one morning and after I decided to check my b12 again which was lower at 258 I decided to tak a shot of b12 (my mom has them because she had a gastric bypass) this was after I got the ok from both my neuro and OB.  A few days later I noticed the tremor was a lot better. Have now taken another shot one week later. My eye sensitivity to light is back not as bad though agin no blurred or double vision. I am terrified o MS. I have also developed leg pains that come and go. My doctors say its pregnancy or stress or hormones. My symptoms since January of '10 have been tingling wierd sensations, burning sometimes in feet, wierd internal vibrations especially while asleep, hand fine tremor (got better after b12), twitching of face legs arms, and the eye sensitivity to light. Do you think thisis MS, b12 both? Again all my tests are normal except the low normal b12. I also forgot to mention lyme, rheumatoid factor, and HTLV came back negative. Any thoughts would be appreciated any at all.
Thank you,
Tatiana

[tatsies1]

Hello,
Thank you, cardiactec and lulu, for your thoughts I greatly appreciate it. I will remember not to type so much so close together next time.

I forgot to mention I did have and emg which was normal as well. I do not have an IUD first baby is due in march. I will also continue to pursue the b12 as I think it would be best to get my numbers up for me and the baby.

Cardiactec,

If I were you I would try to have both mri of brain and cervical w/wo contrast, if you can convince them to do the thoracic spine even better. MS lesions are not found in the lumbar I believe because the spinal cord ends befor this. I do not know if you want to go that far but I am glad I did the lumbar puncture it gave me a bit of piece of mind. Also, have them check you for lyme and have your b12 checked through blood work. Have they checked your ANA, sed rate, Rheumatoid factor? I have heard of MS causing swallowing problems but so early would be atypical, I believe. Finally, ask them to check your hormones as well as thyroid.

I do not like the idea of birth control and have never gone on the pill, but I have heard of some of these causing wierd side effects. If you use mirena I would definitely pursue that. I just typed in mirena and neurological symptoms and saw that people were twitching and feeling strange symptoms. I know hormones can cause neurological symptoms because I have heard of it happening in woman going through menopause.

Good luck and thanks again; let me know how you are doing, and how your tests turn out.

-Tatiana

[Lulu54]

Hi Tatiana, welcome to the MS forum.  

It is always possible that you have the beginning symptoms of MS, that they are just not visible with the technology we have.  But from what you write here, I'm guessing that's not what is going on.  Remember though,. we're not doctors and this is purely our educated guesses.

The big clue to me is that you are 6 months pregnant, but your symptoms have gotten worse during your pregnancy.  Almost always, pregnant women with MS  dramatically  improve during their pregnancy.  They are not sure why, but the immune system goes into a protective mode and takes better care of mom and baby.  After the birth, the MS will often come back with a vengeance, but during pregnancy it is usually a peaceful time.

Feel free to ask all the questions you want - I would pursue the B12 angle and work to get those numbers up.  

If you can, please break your posts into smaller paragraphs - many people herer have vision problems and have adifficult time reading a big block of text.

good luck with the baby and feeling better,
Lulu

[cardiactec]

Hey there,

Sorry you're going through all of this .... I am 28, female, and have been suffering with leg/arm/face twitching since June. I have now developed jaw tightness, chewing problems, swallowing problems, tingling sensations, numbness sensations, burning sensations, on top of the twitches/spasms that I initially started experiencing in June.

I had two EMG's done - One in July which was normal, and the second at the beginning of October that came back showing mild abnormalities. I am now scheduled to have an MRI to look for the cause to all my symptoms, to see if it is a central nervous system issue or PERIPHERAL nervous system issue.

Sound like you've been worked up to look/investigate into CENTRAL nervous system problems (and from what I can tell, your tests are normal - MRI,etc) but have they looked for a peripheral nervous system problem (neuropathy,etc) by doing an EMG on you?

Hang in there. Sorry you are having to go through all this.

BTW, I'VE GOT to ask - you don't have the mirena IUD do you?