Could this still be MS?

[TiredConfused]

Hi, I have been reading this forum and there's so much good information and advice so I thought I'd post my symptoms and see if anyone has any views.

11 years ago I had an "episode", I don't know what to call it really.  The most prominent symptom was tingling patches, the size of a coin or so, that lasted about 3 seconds each, and moved location quite a lot.  I might get a repeated tingle maybe 10 times in a few hours in one place, then never again.  Mostly these tingling patches occurred randomly, anywhere in either leg, arm, back, head or mouth.  I also had some mild dizziness, occasional brain fog, and some sensations that my head jerked when turning it, rather than a smooth movement.  Also my ulna nerve went numb and tingly when asleep, but I could get rid of the feeling by shaking the arms for a few seconds when I woke up.  I didn't feel ill or miss work, it was just a bit weird.

I ended up in the neuro's office.  He did the reflex tests and said no abnormalities at all.  He said no need for an MRI, not least because I was pg at the time.  Apparently because my symptoms fluctuated so much and were intermittent, ie no pins and needles lasting more than 3 seconds, he said this was not consistent with MS and it would gradually disappear.

Well, he was right for 11 years!  Recently its all come back.  Pretty much the same symptoms, but the dizziness is a bit worse and I feel my balance is not quite right (though no-one else would notice).  It seemed to be triggered when I hurt my arm back in February and the ulna nerve in one arm started to ache, and I have an occasional fine tremor in the wrist/hand.  The balance issues have been a bit worse too.  But it all comes and goes quickly - one day the balance will be hard to manage, the next day this will be improved but the tingling patches ramp up, the day after both of these might be improved but the ulna nerve will ache.

The symptoms don't cause any functional issues or make me ill.  I can still go to work (desk job), or spend a day walking round the city / shopping / holidaying / whatever, and it doesn't seem to make the symptoms any worse.

What I'm wondering is, do I revisit a neuro?  I can't think its diabetes, vit B12 as why would it disappear for 11 years then come back?  I do have an underactive thyroid and a thyroid nodule but this is benign and I am on thyroxine (TSH normal), and this has been stable for decades.  No stress to cause the symptoms, well nothing out of the ordinary.

Am I just a mystery?  Wondering about functional neurological disorder.  I am now mid 40's and had the initial symptoms in my mid 30's.  I don't get tired, no weakness, no vision problems, a bit of tinnitus sometimes.  Had my eyes checked last week by a specialist and my optic nerves are the healthiest she's seen!!

Any opinions on what my next move should be, or shall i just watch and wait?

Thanks for reading.

[supermum_ms]

Hi there and welcome,

To be honest, whilst reading through your post there was a lot that you've described that wouldn't be suggestive or consistent with a neurological condition like MS, there's nothing that really sounds neurological abnormal, that i can see that would warrant you needing to specifically see a neurologist...

Functional neurological disorder is basically related to conversion disorder, health anxiety etc and whilst patients do experience neurological symptoms ie weakness, movement and gate disorders, sensory symptoms, seizures, blackouts etc their symptoms are not the same because the symptoms are not caused by a disease or structural abnormality of the brain or nervous system.......it's not actually all that uncommon for patients with a diagnosed chronic medical condition (neurological or not), post par tum, patients who've experienced a serious health scare etc etc to sometimes  develop functional neurological disorder related symptoms as well.

IF you have a history of health anxiety and or acknowledge your anxiety 'could be' more of a problem to your over all health, it would be in your best interest to consider seeking the opinion and support of a psychiatrist, psychologist or therapist....keep in mind that  if mental health is ruled out you'll know for sure and if it is a factor, you'll know for sure and you can start refocusing your understanding of what your dealing with, so either out come imho would be of benefit in the short and long term.

The other thought i had is in relation to your thyroid condition, because it's not uncommon for people with a dx thyroid issues to experience symptoms like you've described even when they're stats are stable, so you might want to consider talking with the lovely people on the thyroid community here or checking out the thyroid specif educational sites to see if there could be a connection there.

Hope that helps....JJ

  

[TiredConfused]

Thank you for such an informative reply, sometimes it's hard to see the wood for the trees! Maybe I'll start with the thyroid route and see how I get on. I suppose tingling+balance+dizziness automatically throws up thousands of neuro google results, usually ms. Difficult as there's no context on websites though. Much appreciate your reply

[supermum_ms]

"I suppose tingling+balance+dizziness automatically throws up thousands of neuro google results, usually ms. Difficult as there's no context on websites though" so so true!

Your welcome and good luck....JJ

[TiredConfused]

Probably also worth mentioning that I do suffer odd symptoms quite regularly that give me health anxiety. The symptoms give me the anxiety though, it's not stress that is causing the symptoms.

Last year I had intermittent face/neck flushing and diarrhoea which was a worry, but luckily endocrine tests were negative.

Then there was the occasion 2 years ago where my left eyelid was puffy and closed one morning but no red/pain, and it seemed to resolve through the day, though the eyelid is still a bit thickened even now.

Once or twice when leaning over I've had a sharp pain in the bone at the top of my spine. Almost like an electric spark. I was worried it was lhermittes, but I can't seem to recreate this by putting my chin on my chest.

I seem a bit prone to inflammation (esr normal). Perhaps am just a mass of minor ailments! I had loads of blood work last year that was normal.