Potential for MS or another autoimmune disease

[tremors10]

I am a middle aged white female and over the past year, I have had increasing weakness on my right side with facial numbness and tingling. I have on/off body tremors, vertigo, nausea, plugged right ear and blurred vision in my right eye. It is hard for me to concentrate since I am constantly fatigued. I wake up for no reason 3-4 times a night. Additionally, my right hand gets so cold that I have to run hot water over it to bring any sensation back.  I have visited a neurologist and he ruled out MS because I had a clean brain MRI. Is there still a chance that I could have MS or some other related condition?

[tremors10]

Thanks for the reassurance Alex. I'm only at the starting point of the diagnosis journey and it seems, from what I read, that it can take years for a firm diagnosis to be made. The other thing I picked from the forum is how some doctors write off experiences as 'mental issues.'  I'm glad I'm not alone.

About 3 years ago, I had a tumor on the outside of my head on the right side that came out of nowhere. The initial pathology pointed to cancer, but then, the second biopsy thankfully came out as an epithelioid hemangioma. About a year after I had the tumor removed, I started getting lots of headaches, a slight vision problem on the right and numbness in my face. The neurologist blew me off and I just accepted it. Now, 2 years later, I have more pronounced numbness, daily blurred vision in my right eye that fluctuates (the eye dr examined my eyeball and it is fine), tremors and fatigue. I'm at the point where all I can do is barely make it to work and keep up my house.

Anyway, thanks to all who take the time to post here. All of this is so helpful. I have changed from an energetic professional to a tired person who just wants to crawl into her cave alone. Driving is a huge challenge.

It is so helpful to know that I'm not alone and just maybe, I'm not crazy.

[HVAC]

Hello. First of I am not an expert just someone with MS  What does your GP think? Do you have a good relationship I sure hope so. What other tests have you had. MS is a diagnosis of excluding many other illnesses some neurological, some not. It takes awhile to get to the bottom of it.

Your reflexes and other tests the the Neurologists perform in their office tell a lot. They can tell if their is damage to the nervous system and where. Like mine knew as a child I had damage to my brain stem before MRIs existed. They knew I had double vision and that it was from the brain stem damage before all the fancy tests.

Have you had blood tests? There are other autoimmune diseases which cause some of the same symptoms.

You can check at the top right the Health Pages, click on it and explains a lot about the diagnosis of MS.

Also all Neurologists are not MS Specialists. In fact few are. You can always get a second opinion or a third. I went through many Neurologists before my diagnosis.

Also the way Neurologists work is it is not MS until it is MS. Sort of innocent until proven guilty. They track a patient every six months over years until the evidence adds up to MS or points to something else. A clear MRI in itself does not rule out MS neither does lesions on an MRI rule it in. An MRI is merely a glimpse if you will of the brain.

The running hot water does not sound like MS. MS symptoms usually get worse with heat.

The two vision problems in MS are double vision and Optic Neuritis. The Doctor for these is a Neuro-ophthalmologist, you would need a referral.

The main thing is not to be scared. To figure what is wrong take some time this is normal. I felt confused and alone because no one explained this to me.

Alex