Fairly new at this...

[sarah1208]

    I had some symptoms occur my senior year of college from about august 07 to june08. After having some flulike symptoms for about a week I was fine for about another week and then I began experiencing fatigue, tingles/pins and needles in my legs arms and mouth, visions problems (i describe it like a fuzzy tv but dark), occassional dizziness where i had to sit or lay down to stop myself from falling over, headaches (i rarely got headaches before this), pain; aching, burning and stabbing, and difficulty concentrating.  I went through one neurologist that told me I should wait it out it should go away, but I was having a hard time functioning so I got another opinion.  
    I went to a medical school hospital and got an MRI, EMG, and LP.  I also had a number of blood tests.  I had a lesion on my brain, but i had an MRI in high school and they told me it appeared a bit smaller since then.  I tested negative for lyme disease three times.  The LP showed that I had mono at some point so they said it was all a reaction from the mono they assumed had occurred when I had the flu symptoms right before and that it would go away.  This didn't feel right to me at the time at all but I went with it because I was so tired and drained emotionally and physically.  It was my senior year and wanted to live it out the best I could.  Eventually it went away but recently returned  (about a year after).
   Since May I've been experiencing the same things as last time but this time my toes have fallen asleep as well.  I feel like I haven't slept for days when I've gotten plenty of sleep.  I'm only 24 and have been an avid athlete for much of my life and the pain and fatigue is tough to deal with. My aunt has MS so I'm concerned that it may be that.  
    I didn't know if the vision problems I was having was something like what other people experienced?  And I also didn't know if you can be tested negative for it and then later positive?  Essentially, I'm just looking for support and answers.  I'm going back to my primary soon to try and get the ball rolling again on trying to figure out what it is but my last round of unsympathetic doctors is not helping my confidence in finding a diagnosis by any means! I was ecstatic to find this site because I've been looking for something like it for the past few months.  Any advice, questions or support is welcome.  Thanks!

[PastorDan]

I'll add to the welcome, especially since I always have a soft spot in my heart for anyone named Sarah; that was my mother's name.  Lu's right; this site is loaded with folks who want to understand the ins and outs of MS, and sharing information with one another in this forum has been by far the most informative part of my year-long quest for a credible diagnosis.

Gotta run (Sunday School in 24 minutes).  Have a blessed Sunday.

[Lulu54]

Hi Sarah, welcome to the ms forum at Medhelp.  I hope this site will be very helpful to you - we have lots of very educated and compassionate MS patients and caregivers.

First and foremost I would recommend that you learn all you can about MS.  We have excellent health pages here that will help - including ones that discuss meeting with a neurologist and the MS mimics (there are many!)   Being knowledable is the best tools you can take with you into this journey.


You may not have MS, but you do deserve answers as to what it going on in your body.  I hope you get some soon.  I'll look for you around,  Lulu