Is this MS in my 13 year old daughter?

[richardsonstudios]

My 13 year old daughter has been having symptoms since last September 2011 to the present which include:
headaches, episodes of blindness in both eyes where she cannot see at all ranging from 5 seconds to 5 minutes, neck pain, numbness in her hands / arms / legs / feet usually an arm or leg on one side or arm and leg on the other side, difficulty walking, tightness in the chest, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, eye pain, sharp shock like pains in her chest, heartburn, stomachaches, dizziness, lightheadedness with diaphoresis (sweating), nausea, headaches with and without vomitting, and in the last two months urinary accidents which surprise her.

CT scan of the brain was negative except for nonunion of C1. She has never had any head, neck or traumatic injuries except a broken wrist from falling off her skates in the past.  
Imitrex at 50 mg and 100 mg have been tried and are given regularly to see if it were migraine headaches and relief is limited in its effective as pain relief lasts less than an hour and symptoms can be back raging on a 1 - 10 scale at 6 to 8 out of 10 rapidly after that hour.
Motrin and Tylenol only take the edge off her pain.
Abilify and Intuniv for the Bipolar and ADHD.

All of her symptoms are pretty much daily, and the blindness happens nearly everytime she gets up out of bed, sometimes in the middle of the night. She also has the blindness sometimes in one eye, sometimes in the periphery of her vision like tunnel vision.

She has been under the care of the same psychiatrist for her Bipolar for several years, and has never had symptoms like this before. We even decreased her Bipolar Meds to see if that was the cause, and decreasing the meds made no difference in these new physical symptoms.

She already has Bipolar, ADHD, Strabismus (corrected at 3 years old). Otherwise, she has been healthy, no allergies. Her psychiatrist suggested we rule out Migraines versus Multiple Sclerosis based on her symptoms. We have had a very difficult time finding a physician in So. Cal who will see her because of Medi-Cal. She has been on the waiting list for neuro at LLU for six months and they tell us she is routine and will have to wait at least 6 more months before she will even get a neuro appointment to be evaluated.The neuro in OC with no waiting list doesn't take her insurance.

MRI testing was done on the Siemens Sonata 1.5 Tesla Scanner.

MRI of the C-spine showed straigtening of the cervical spine states "
Mild straightening of the cervical spine which may relate to positioning or muscle spasm".

I have a copy of the MRI of the brain with and without contrast which states "There is minimal increased signal seen in FLAIR image adjacent to the occipital horns, and in periaqueductal region. This is not diagnostic of multiple sclerosis. The diagnosis of multiple sclerosis will remain on clinical grounds. "

Could this be multiple sclerosis? Or, is this likely something else like complicated migraine?

I have seen her stop mid walk because all of a sudden she just can't see. I have seen her walk with this funny walk because she can't get her legs to move right. I have seen her try and eat or walk when her whole right arm and leg are numb, and not from funny positions either. But, of course, in the doctor's office the doctor can't see this.

Any insight from doctors out there would be great. Any suggestions on where to go from here and diagnosis? This kid is miserable and could really use some help.

Could this be multiple sclerosis? Or some other neurological conditiion?

Thanks,
richardsonstudios

[msnova74]

Have they run a nutritional panel.  My daughter was having all kinds of similar symtoms.  The nutritional panel showed that she was clinically malnourished( although not thin).  Further testing revealed Dietary Fructose intolorance.  All of her symptoms resolved within about 90 days, except the Browns syndrome.
The treatment is avoiding fructose.  especially high fructose corn syrup.

[tjj3761]

I am so sorry to hear about your daughter having these problems at her age.

She definitely needs to see a neurologist.  The diagnosis of MS is a process of exclusion of other diagnoses.  This can be a long and difficult process of elimination for many.

I hope that you can find somewhere in Southern California that will see your daughter for further testing.  The best of luck and I would start keeping a diary of her symptoms weekly to show whatever physician you see.  

terri

[Karen99]

Hello.  I believe that Children's Hospital in Los Angeles (next to Hollywood)  will see any child despite type of insurance.  Does she have a PPO/HMO type MediCal? Have you tried contacting them yet?

Is LLU Loma Linda?

I see you are asking on the MS forum now too.  I'll catch up with you there.