Hi Everyone,
Just a brief history, I'm 36-years-old, married, pretty healthy, but 2 years ago I developed numbness on the left side of my face/burning pain. I went to two separate neuros who dx'd me with "complex migraine" (I DO get migraines once in awhile, sometimes with numbness/aura...but only for 30-60 minutes before the headache would start, etc. not ongoing without relenting). However, the numbness/pain went away after about 6 weeks. 4 months later the right side went a bit numbish, but not nearly as bad as the left side, and resolved in 2 weeks.
My neuro then ordered two separate head MRIs (including a tesla 3/trigeminal scan), and full blood work for ANA, NMO, Sjougren's, HIV, Lyme, etc. All blood tests were normal, both MRIs were normal.
So I go about my business, then this past December (2011), I wake up with my left toe numb and pins-n-needles. Fast forward to the next weekend and I am numb to my waist with a burning pain around my middle. I am admitted to the neuro-inpatient ward at the hospital for 5 days with IV Solumedrol. I have two more MRIs - full spine and head, I have a lumbar puncture, VEP test, and full blood work for autoimmune disease, nutritional deficiencies, etc.
Everything is 100% normal, I am healthy, except for the spinal MRI - it shows a lesion at T8, and I am dx'd with transverse myelitis - ideopathic in nature as there isn't anything in the CSF or elsewhere.
I start rehab and take neurontin for my leg pain...I finally get in to see a neuroimmunologist. She does a full exam and takes a history. Apparently I am missing some key things that are usually found in MS (multiple lesions or lesions in the brain, no banding in the CSF, I am missing Babinski's sign.) I have been dx'd with "probable RRMS" and am on Copaxone.
Any other atypical presenters? I both dread the dx, but also want to get it over with so I don't have to worry it's something worse...I like to hear other people's experiences. So far, I'm not stressing about it much (just once in awhile late at night...you know how it is) as I figure I'm doing as much as humanly possible to avoid any potential relapses with the Copaxone, getting enough rest, vitamins, exercise, etc.