Hello! This is my first time posting here, but I have been following this board for several months. I really appreciated everyone's positive attitude and advice.
Here is my story. I am 32 years old. In the fall of 2009 I started noticing my little toe on my left foot was going numb. It would come and go, so I didn't think too much of it...thought it might be some tight shoes causing it. In December 2009 I woke up one morning with blurred vision in my left eye. It didn't hurt much at first. Just blurring, and occasionally the lower half of my eye would go black. I went to several doctors and was finally diagnosed with optic neuritis. The eye doctor asked me if I had any tingling or numbness in my extremities and I told them about my toes.
From there I was referred to a neurologist to be on the safe side. Of course I was a bundle of nerves! The neurologist did a brain and spinal MRI. The brain came back without lesions, but the spinal had lesions in the cervical spine. My neuro then ordered a LP and an Evoked Potential Test. The LP came back abnormal. The EPT came back normal. They also tested me for Devic's, but that test came back negative. At that time my neuro decided he had enough evidence to diagnose me with MS. I started taking Avonex in March 2010. I know I am VERY lucky to have been diagnosed so quickly...only a few months from my first symptoms. However it was all scary and a whirlwind of tests.
My one year follow up was last month. At that time I was fine. I had not had anything new, only occasional tingling still in my left toes. I also feel like I get really run down at times, but I have 2 small kids, so that could contribute as well!! My optic neuritis cleared up on its own. I had eye pain for about 6 months, but have been fine since.
Fast forward to this month. I had pneumonia about a month ago. I took some really strong antibiotics to get over it...Levaquin and something else through the IV at the hospital. I got over the pneumonia OK. Then 2 weeks ago I started using a whitening mouthwash. It caused me to have canker sores and I started having pain, so I stopped using it after 3 days. The burning pain in my mouth continued. The pain was very random, not on one side, but different spots all over at different times. My PCP diagnosed me with thrush. She said the combo of the antibiotics I took for the pneumonia and the whitening mouthwash caused the oral thrush. I also used an inhaler which I didn't realize until later can cause thrush. I started using miracle mouthwash and was later prescribed Diflucan.
My problem is I am worried it is not thrush. I am still taking the meds for thrush, but not seeing much results with pain. I am still having burning pain, but now it seems to all be concentrated on my left side of my mouth. I have one spot on my lip that bothers me. I also have burning pain on my left side of my tongue and my teeth, but only occasionally. I do not see any tell tell sign of thrush. I have a whitish looking tongue, but no white spots in my mouth. I am worried about TN. The pain does not come and go quickly. It seems worse as the day goes on. Some days the pain is worse than others. I also read about burning mouth syndrome. One day last week the pain got so bad I just had to go to bed. When I woke up it was gone. I called the neuro when all of this started (when the pain was on both sides of my mouth) and they said the whitening mouthwash was the likely cause of my pain. What do you think? Does anyone know if thrush hurts this bad? I am scared about the thoughts of TN. I have made peace with having MS. It stinks, but my philosophy has always been "Things could be much worse".
Thanks for reading and for any help.
Debbie