Aa
Is this just normal aging?
41 year old female.
About 10 yrs ago-random vertigo. No other sympt. Unstable walking in the dark. Positive Romberg.
3 yrs ago-mild epigastric abdominal pain through to my back. Started intermittently, has become almost constant. A few attacks of increased pain going around my left side. CT, MRCP, blood tests, urine tests all normal except for mod reflux. No GERD meds or IBS meds help (no bowel symptoms)
1 yr ago (June-August) Pinched nerve in right arm. Aching shoulder. Little finger and fourth finger numb and tingling. Numb spots & tingling on forearm. No problems moving head or neck. Chiro did not help.
November-New light-headed/dizzy. Like standing up in boat. Lasts 2-3 minutes. Unpredictable. Moving my head does not precipitate spells. Still occasionally have a boat spell or feel light-headed.
January-Sharp pain and pressure behind my right eye. Lasted for 4-5 days. Rewet eye drops did not help.
April-Happened again. Like looking through a white veil (just right eye). Vision problem cleared up in a week.
May-Pinched nerve again. Same two fingers and forearm were numb and tingling could not feel temp. Shoulder achy. Hand clumsy & weak. Dropped things. Most comfortable to hold my hand twisted with the palm out and close to my body/chest. Lasted 6 weeks.
June-Eye problem. Same vision prob w/ white spot in the center of my field of vision. Eye dr said eye looked fine could be optic neuritis. Pressure & white spot when I'm hot or tired. Prescription NSAID for abdominal and eye pain.
Right foot/ankle occasionally go numb. Sharp pins and needles feeling in my right foot and hand lasts minutes to hour. Fine for weeks. Fallen 3 times in the past year. Bump into doorframes. Trouble seeing steps. Small amt. of urine in underwear. Confusion/got lost, did not know what to do.
Brain MRI normal, Dr said it was not MS. Tests come back normal Dr says stress, but I don’t feel stressed! Is this just normal aging?
About 10 yrs ago-random vertigo. No other sympt. Unstable walking in the dark. Positive Romberg.
3 yrs ago-mild epigastric abdominal pain through to my back. Started intermittently, has become almost constant. A few attacks of increased pain going around my left side. CT, MRCP, blood tests, urine tests all normal except for mod reflux. No GERD meds or IBS meds help (no bowel symptoms)
1 yr ago (June-August) Pinched nerve in right arm. Aching shoulder. Little finger and fourth finger numb and tingling. Numb spots & tingling on forearm. No problems moving head or neck. Chiro did not help.
November-New light-headed/dizzy. Like standing up in boat. Lasts 2-3 minutes. Unpredictable. Moving my head does not precipitate spells. Still occasionally have a boat spell or feel light-headed.
January-Sharp pain and pressure behind my right eye. Lasted for 4-5 days. Rewet eye drops did not help.
April-Happened again. Like looking through a white veil (just right eye). Vision problem cleared up in a week.
May-Pinched nerve again. Same two fingers and forearm were numb and tingling could not feel temp. Shoulder achy. Hand clumsy & weak. Dropped things. Most comfortable to hold my hand twisted with the palm out and close to my body/chest. Lasted 6 weeks.
June-Eye problem. Same vision prob w/ white spot in the center of my field of vision. Eye dr said eye looked fine could be optic neuritis. Pressure & white spot when I'm hot or tired. Prescription NSAID for abdominal and eye pain.
Right foot/ankle occasionally go numb. Sharp pins and needles feeling in my right foot and hand lasts minutes to hour. Fine for weeks. Fallen 3 times in the past year. Bump into doorframes. Trouble seeing steps. Small amt. of urine in underwear. Confusion/got lost, did not know what to do.
Brain MRI normal, Dr said it was not MS. Tests come back normal Dr says stress, but I don’t feel stressed! Is this just normal aging?
Don't let it go and keep pursuing it as long as you believe there is something wrong.
I had similar issues to you for over 20 years and blamed myself and getting older and stress for many of them in spite of losing my sight in one eye twice and having some seizures too.
Like you I began to doubt myself and started blaming my age and the fact that I was aging faster tham my peers. I was finally dx this year at age 54 after 20 years since my first bout of ON and also being dx with IBS in the same year (no evidence only gastric reflux).
I sincerely hope that it is not MS in your case but you muct find an answer that satisfies you so that you can get treatment if it is needed.
I hope this helps
Pat
I had similar issues to you for over 20 years and blamed myself and getting older and stress for many of them in spite of losing my sight in one eye twice and having some seizures too.
Like you I began to doubt myself and started blaming my age and the fact that I was aging faster tham my peers. I was finally dx this year at age 54 after 20 years since my first bout of ON and also being dx with IBS in the same year (no evidence only gastric reflux).
I sincerely hope that it is not MS in your case but you muct find an answer that satisfies you so that you can get treatment if it is needed.
I hope this helps
Pat
Thank you for the reply.
I have seen a gastroenterologist for the abdominal pain. Went through all the Irritable Bowel nonsense with him. I had no other IBS symptoms but he could find nothing 'wrong' so he sent me on my way assuring me that although I was in pain that I was really fine.
I think the eye doctor may have been an opthamologist. He said he does laser surgeries. I was visiting family out of town when the eye problem started for the third time. I went in to see him on the second day of the sharp pains and beginning of the white spots. He said that my eyelashes were fine and that the surface of my eye was clear. Then he started telling me that it was probably severe dry eye-in just my right eye-and that it had healed completely in less than 2 hours. He told me to use eye drops. I told him that I had been using drops for 6 moand they didn't help and that the pain was nothing like scratching my eye (wore contacts for 20 yrs) or eye sunburn. It was pain and pressure behind the eye and it hurt to move my eye. He said that it sounded like it could be ON and that I needed to follow up with my GP.
I went to the GP. I have been to him for stitches from falling, first pinched nerve, out-of-balance feeling, unrelenting headache with the second eye problem, second pinched nerve, and then to ask for the MRI. He checked my reflexes, said that they were normal so MS was unlikely. He also said that MS is very rare, which seemed strange to me since I know 4 people who have/had it including my grandma. He keeps saying that all of the symptoms I have are due to stress. I am a very laid-back person and my sisters think that the stress expl. is pretty funny.
He did order the MRI. The nurse called me a couple of days after the MRI and said that it was normal. I asked what next. She said she would get back to me. Never did.
I called him a couple of weeks later because I was still having pressure and white spots. He told me that I did not have MS and that I needed to see a different eye dr. because it could be retinal detachment.
I am just tired of testing and feeling like a hypochondriac. I am trying to decide if all of this is worth persuing. It's not so bad that I can't deal with it myself but I don't want to let it go if it is something that can get worse.
I have seen a gastroenterologist for the abdominal pain. Went through all the Irritable Bowel nonsense with him. I had no other IBS symptoms but he could find nothing 'wrong' so he sent me on my way assuring me that although I was in pain that I was really fine.
I think the eye doctor may have been an opthamologist. He said he does laser surgeries. I was visiting family out of town when the eye problem started for the third time. I went in to see him on the second day of the sharp pains and beginning of the white spots. He said that my eyelashes were fine and that the surface of my eye was clear. Then he started telling me that it was probably severe dry eye-in just my right eye-and that it had healed completely in less than 2 hours. He told me to use eye drops. I told him that I had been using drops for 6 moand they didn't help and that the pain was nothing like scratching my eye (wore contacts for 20 yrs) or eye sunburn. It was pain and pressure behind the eye and it hurt to move my eye. He said that it sounded like it could be ON and that I needed to follow up with my GP.
I went to the GP. I have been to him for stitches from falling, first pinched nerve, out-of-balance feeling, unrelenting headache with the second eye problem, second pinched nerve, and then to ask for the MRI. He checked my reflexes, said that they were normal so MS was unlikely. He also said that MS is very rare, which seemed strange to me since I know 4 people who have/had it including my grandma. He keeps saying that all of the symptoms I have are due to stress. I am a very laid-back person and my sisters think that the stress expl. is pretty funny.
He did order the MRI. The nurse called me a couple of days after the MRI and said that it was normal. I asked what next. She said she would get back to me. Never did.
I called him a couple of weeks later because I was still having pressure and white spots. He told me that I did not have MS and that I needed to see a different eye dr. because it could be retinal detachment.
I am just tired of testing and feeling like a hypochondriac. I am trying to decide if all of this is worth persuing. It's not so bad that I can't deal with it myself but I don't want to let it go if it is something that can get worse.
This doesn't sound like normal aging to me. Did you see an MS specialist or neurologist? Depending on how the MRI was done and strength of the machine, it's possible to have a brain MRI to come back normal and have the lesions hide out. Plus, some people have lesions on the spine. An MRI of the spine should have been done.
How can an eye doctor say that your eye looked fine but it could be optic neuritis? This is an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. Your eye isn't fine if you have optic neuritis. I'm shocked that your doctor sent you on your merry way with a prescription of NSAIDs for this. What kind of ding-a-ling would do that? If you haven't seen an opthamologist you should see one. It is not normal to have a white spot in the center of your vision.
I'm not sure what is causing your symptoms, but I can assure you that this is not normal for someone your age. I don't know if someone told you that or not, but if they did, do not put up with someone telling you that. You need to find out what's going on with you and maybe even fire every one of the doctors that you have. Talk with other in your area about who would be good to see or contact the National MS Society for suggestions.
Deb
How can an eye doctor say that your eye looked fine but it could be optic neuritis? This is an oxymoron if I've ever heard one. Your eye isn't fine if you have optic neuritis. I'm shocked that your doctor sent you on your merry way with a prescription of NSAIDs for this. What kind of ding-a-ling would do that? If you haven't seen an opthamologist you should see one. It is not normal to have a white spot in the center of your vision.
I'm not sure what is causing your symptoms, but I can assure you that this is not normal for someone your age. I don't know if someone told you that or not, but if they did, do not put up with someone telling you that. You need to find out what's going on with you and maybe even fire every one of the doctors that you have. Talk with other in your area about who would be good to see or contact the National MS Society for suggestions.
Deb
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