Possible MS Symptoms??...

[Amberdawn1]

Hello Everyone...
I am a 24 year old female, no children yet. Over the past 2 years I have been having problems with my vision. I don't expierence the eye shaking, but I do occasionally have the eye lid twitching, that does not last very long. Over the past year I have been having problems with seeing "tracers" It's hard to explain but say if I have my cell phone and I move it in a side ways direction the light on it traces across my vision like a shooting star. I usually only notice against a dark back ground or when the room is dark.

Now over the past 3 months I have noticed after a night out with my friends drinking I have muscle spasms mostly in my legs theyucontrolable and only happen when I use my leg muscles or stretch my legs out, that usually last that night, the next 2-3 days I have severe muscle soreness and fatigue. Also I have noticed that I have tinginling in my hands that comes and goes. Never lasting very long.

The reason why I am here is because I feel like I have early symptoms of  MS or some other neuromuscular disease. Hopefully someone here has or has not expierenced what I am that way I can move forward with going to the doctor or maybe just slow down my drinking. I very scared and really do not want to go to the doctor for fear that they will think I am over reacting.

Any help would be appreciated!

Thank you

[jensequitur]

Hi, Amber!  When I was your age, I was having similar symptoms, but did nothing about them.  Fast-forward to age 37, and I'm now diagnosed with MS, and have a little bit of accumulated problems from brain damage.  (Which is basically what MS adds up to - minute portions of your brain are being damaged.)

Now, if I had gone to the doctor and told them I was having tingling, numbness, muscle spasms, eye twitching and tracers in my vision, they would have told me I was working too hard, and that I should relax.

So keep that in mind - at your early age, with minor (but troubling!) symptoms like you describe, it's going to be difficult to find out what the problem is.  Your first step is to go to your PCP and describe your symptoms.  They can decide what to do next - probably a blood test to eliminate any thyroid deficiencies or blood disorders, and maybe an MRI of the spine and brain, if you're lucky.  Most likely it's what's known as a CIS - clinically isolated syndrome.  

However, if it is a CIS and you can be diagnosed this early, they say that the disease-modifying drugs like Betaseron or Copaxone can prevent you from developing full-blown MS.  That will help prevent damage to your brain in the future.

Alcohol causes me to have a little pseudo-relapse - it brings out symptoms that had been quiet, and makes my hangovers terrible!  So it's really a personal choice as to how much you want to put up with.  And quantity also has something to do with it - three beers are okay, five beers not.

[sllowe]

Hi Gal,

Well, I sure hope you do not have early MS.  I'm sorry for your symptoms.  Like Santana says, alcohol can affect MSers in a variety of ways.

How long you been feeling this way? Spasms can be caused by dehydration, among other things.  I've gotten them from a variety of reasons, not always MS.

There is a ton of information in our health pages, that may, or may not put your mind at ease.  Feel you will receive support here, along with learning so very much.

I'm going to play the Mama hen role now, at the risk of losing you from our group...lol, but please be careful of your drinking, some people can do it occassionally, but others cannot and it becomes habit forming (surely, I'm not saying anything you don't already know).  Feel free to stay with us, we'll a very supportive group.  

Oh, just thought another thing, try to jot down on paper when you get the spasms, keep track of it.  Also add what you did the days that preceeded them, that may help to narrow down a culprit, if there is one you can pinpoint.  You may not find the culprit if it's coming from your central nervous system, but it's good to have the history on paper.

be well,
Shelly

[santana8]

Hi, Welcome to the MS forum!  I do not have an MS diagnosis right now but I am being watched for it with repeat MRI's  My diagnosis is ADEM, one of the MS mimics for now!

Now first of all it sounds like you definately have some symptoms that may be suggestive of some kind of neurological dysfunction.  That doesn't mean that it is MS and truthfully, you can not find out what is going on unless you see a doctor.  If your GP after examining you and taking down your history of symptoms, should refer you to a neurologist if he/she thinks that these symptoms are neurological it nature.

I have heard some here post about alcohol effecting thier MS symptoms, but I can not tell you if this is what is happening with you after drinking. My only advise to you is that you know your own body better than anyone, and if you feel that something is not right then you shouldn't let fear of not being believed stop you from seeing a doctor about this.

My onset of neurological symptoms was sudden and sevier vision loss/dysfunction while in a store one day, so there was no mistake that something was definately wrong. But not everyone presents this way.  Some people have gradual things that develope slowly over a period of time.

While no one here can diagnose you on the forum, you can gain a lot of information on MS and other neurological illnesses, and we can help guide you along the path to getting to the right doctors who can look into the cause of your symptoms. There are people on here who have had MS for years, people like me who are still searching for the answers, and people like you too who are coming here for the first time.

Stick around here and you will gain a wealth of knowledge and understanding about MS and a lot of other neurological illness that mimic it!!

~Santana~