Sound like MS or not?

[BrittanyA2291]

My symptoms started on April 18, 2014! It started off with a spot in the center of my lower back swelling up. It quickly went down the next day so I didn't bother to get it seen about. Then, three weeks later I had a weak feeling on both sides of my face and my lower legs felt like they were tingling and had tight bands around them. Went to the Dr and he passed it off as anxiety or vitamin deficiency since all blood work came back normal. Now, I've been having what feels like weakness in my left hand so I went and got that seen about. The Dr made me squeeze her hand and said she didnt think it was a muscle wasting disease, & diagnosed me with GAD. But, I've been having all kinds of crazy symptoms to go along with all of this and they are as follows:
Slurred speech & words running together (ex: tried to say chicken & cat the other day & it came out as chat)
Migraines
Muscle cramping/twitching all over
Knee pain in both knees
Internal tremor
Numb feelings all over
Blurry vision (sometimes)
Extreme dizziness
Hoarse voice (comes & goes)
Burning/cold sensations all over
Feel hot but not sweating
Tingling all over
Dry mouth
Shooting pains in feet/head
Soreness just under each jaw
But by far the worst thing to me was waking up the other night with my left arm & hand tingling really bad and causing all three of my fingers in between my thumb and pinky to curl in. I couldnt straighten them unless I put pressure on my hand, but when the tingling stopped they went back to normal.

[aspen2]

Did anyone get a look at the swelling on your back?  The timing may be coincidental, but you PCP should have considered something tick- or mosquito-borne.  I'm assuming you mentioned this.  If you did, perhaps another PCP is in order.  If you forgot, I'd go back in or call and leave a message.

When you go in, don't mention ms or your own diagnosis fears, just stick to the swelling (and if you had been outside previously), then a timeline of symptoms.

I'm sorry you are going through this ... It sounds scary.

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Both conditions (ALS, MS) you are anxious about, would 'not' produce so many different issues in only a couple of months and especially not in the early stage of either condition. Some of your listed sx's are experienced 'all over' your body eg "muscle cramping/twitching, numbness, tingling, burning/cold, feel hot but not sweating", and in MS sx's experienced all over, rapidly multiply, spread etc are red flags leading away from MS as causation, because lesions usually effect specific areas and can't produce sensory sx's all over the body.  

It is possible for vitamin deficiency's eg vit B, iron, magnesium etc to produce some similar sx's but if your blood tests were all normal, then that idea doesn't really sound right to me. Anxiety can cause a person to experience, just about anything really, sx's tend to get worse and or multiply the more you read, worry and think about your health but it can also be dx because there isn't an obvious/simple explanation too. If anxiety is a possible explanation you know about, then it's in your best interest to get your mental health assessed, learning anxiety triggers and find ways to reduce anxiety is never a bad thing imho.

It's also not a bad idea to get a second opinion, my daughter is in your age group and she not long ago was repeatedly returning to her GP, getting sicker and sicker but her GP couldn't get past anxiety that she believed it to be. It wasn't until she got a second opinion, that she was dx with a contagious childhood disease (previously untested) and her blood work by then had turned abnormal, health improving with the medication she actually required, vit B shots, iron supplements etc

Keep in mind that a second opinion may get you the same answer but sometimes it will turn out to be something the other doctor never considered testing you for.

Cheers...........JJ    
  

[PeninaD]

If this doctor does not take your issues seriously, you should find a second opinion.
At this point, it could be so many things, such as toxic/metabolic, rheumatic/infectious, even parasitic in nature.  Which of course is one reason MS can be tricky to diagnose.