Negative Testing Prior to MS Diagnosis

[gfaerie]

I had (about a year ago) a lot of symptoms that pointed to MS. Weakness in legs, vertigo, weird rib cage pains, etc. Doc sent me to a Neuro who told me from the get that he didn't think it was MS but ran all of the tests (except for the lumbar puncture). MRI and VEP both came back without abnormalities. I continued to have the symptoms for a while afterwards, but they gradually subsided (except for some random weakness and rib cage pain which I have on and off now). Well I noticed about 3-4 weeks ago it seems that the same old symptoms are coming back again. I know this would be considered a relapse had I been diagnosed. I do have a diagnosis of Fibromyalgia. Is it worth the effort to take this back to my doctor and go through all of this again? Should I request a different Neuro or the same since he is already somewhat familiar with me (if I do pursue this- I got kind of discouraged the first time... felt kind of stupid). Did anyone else out there go through negative testing at first then have positive tests down the line? Like I said it's been about a year now since it all started.... Thanks for your input in advance!

[Guitar_grrrl]

I agree with Tammy.  It's worth a visit.

[maxthecat43]

It is still worth visiting the your neurologist again.  It doesn't mean that you necessarily have MS, but the more your neuro has to work with, the better your chances of finding out what is actually going on.

Tammy

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome to our little MS community,

Generally the sx's you've mentioned "numbness and tingling to various limbs, fine tremors, inability to walk in a straight line at times, rib cage pain, vertigo, holes in my thoughts, forgetfulness" wouldn't actually be specific to anything in particular. There are clinical signs of neurological causation, that your neuro would of been looking for during his exam. Vertigo causes balance and walking difficulties but there are other signs if it's neurological or not, do you know if there was anything abnormal with your exam?

There are many conditions that mimic MS and because you had numbness and tingling in multiple (various) limbs, that could possibly increase the likelyhood that it was/is a mimic your dealing with. MS 'typically' causes unilateral sx's, sx's caused by MS can't move around, spread or multiply rapidly like other conditions do, and often it's sx behaviour that is important in helping to work out if it could be due to MS.

I'm even thinking sx's starting to come back over 3-4 weeks wouldn't be typical for an MS relapse, to me that seems to be unusually slow to be going 'into' one, it would be more common to be coming 'out' of one in that time frame. I do think you should discuss what's been happening with your doctor, but i wouldn't think at this stage you need to think to far ahead, see what your GP has to say first.

Cheers.........JJ

[gfaerie]

Hi and thanks for the reponse. They just did the head. I asked about doing the spine but I forget what he said other than they just needed to check the head.....

[Corriel]

Hi there, and welcome! I am sory you are having a recurrence of whatever is going on.

I do think it is worth looking into and understand your reluctance to see the previous neuro.

Since you did not feel comfortable after the appointment, if another neuro is an option I would look into that.

There are so many mimics to MS out there and so many different symptoms it is too early to think MS without more testing. Was your MRI just of your head or did they do your spine too?

Corrie

[gfaerie]

My symptoms were numbness and tingling to various limbs, fine tremors, inability to walk in a straight line at times, rib cage pain, vertigo, holes in my thoughts, forgetfulness... I'm 35 years old and a nurse.