Anyone who can help!!

[sboverly]

I am concerned I have MS or something!! It all started all of a sudden at the end of last month, February 2014. I am 29 yr old Female.. One night I got some pains/uncomfortable feeling in my upper right chest, then my heart started racing, went to the ER where they did an EKG, echocardiogram, and a low stress test. They said they all looked good. I kept getting the racing heart on and off and sometimes felt hard to breathe even though i could breathe, i would pace and I'd get tingling in my hands and my left arm and leg would feel weak at times. They said it was Anxiety, and tried me in Zoloft which I took for 2 days and quit because it made me feel fuzzy in the head and very very nauseous. I also had an ear infectuon in the left ear which i took antibiotics for but it felt like i had fluid in my ears and that they were "full" on and off for about 2 weeks but that seems to have finally gone away, i would get ringing in the ear a very little bur no hearing loss, and on and off light headed feeling.  My PCP ordered bloodwork and a CT of my chest just to double check for any blood clots in the lungs...it came back great as well. After the bloodwork, my husband and I ate, on the way home my left arm would feel weird in my armpit and then the arm would feel pressure, like it was swillen but wasnt. I went to the ER who gave me a buttocks shot of ibuprofen and sent me home, it did go away. However, I was fine, one night I had a panic attack and went to ER, did EKG, ECHO & stress test said my heart is great. At this point I had lost 6 pounds in a week and wasnt hungry..in fact I would force myself to eat and when I would put food in my mouth my throat felt like it would throw up but wouldn't.  at the CT my heart was racing, I was nervous though...right after I was trembling on and off for a minute then went away but I felt really dizzy and kinda out of reality, went to the dr and they said it was nothing to worry about and went away (I also took my first Zoloft dose after the CT). The next day my back started hurting around my kidneys which scared me, my PCP office did a mild urinalysis and said it looked fine . I kept getting the swollen pressure feeling in my arms at times and in my head, I thought it might be a pinched nerve or something but my left calf muscle was also feeling weak...at this point I would cry because I was both uncomfortable and felt I was losing my mind. For a day or two my left hand/wrist felt like it just wasn't working right, my chiro did some strength tests and said i was strong everywhere. I went to a chiropractor who did X-rays and said I had some mild/moderate early degeneration of the cervical spine in my neck area and put me in a plan 3 times a week. I've been going...since the arm feeling has let up but still happens at times. My lower back hurts when I sleep, sometimes I lay down and get a pressure in my head, at different times it will happen in one arm or the other...my fingers will get pains in and off (mainly the thumb and pinky) I will get slight pains in my ankles and toes at times....overall I think the symptoms are improving but not gone. Yesterday, March 18 2014 I was getting discomfort in my chest, pressure in my head and have been getting pressure behind my eyes on and off for a couple days and pains from my neck into my head and some on and off numbness on the right side of my head and the past couple days ill have times where I get pressure or tired eyes, like they're strained (I don't know if this is from the adjustments or not...I had one the day before), then my heart was racing so bad and hard I had my husband take me to the ER, the dr said my heart rate was up but it had gone down and said I was a tiny low on magnesium and potassium and that my thyroid was slightly off (overactive). He put me on Propranolol 20mg twice a day. My kids were sick with cold/flu symptoms on and off for 2 weeks, my daughter, 6, had an ear infection and my husband was sick too. I think that's everything....does this sound like MS stuff? I don't understand!! Also, the day  I felt fine, panic attack and then Boom...all this stuff all of a sudden!! Please any info would help, can it do all of this??  I do get caught up on words here and there and lose my train of thought (not often but more since I'm thinking about it)....but that's always been me and I hear anxiety can cause it. Would it be so sudden and on and off like this?!  At times it feels like when I sit or lay a certain way is when I get the pressure/swollen feeling my head and arms but I'm not sure. My eyes will feel burny lately too...does this sound like MS at all? I want to be back to normal!! Also, the day of the CT I got a flush burny feeling in my face but it comes and goes as well...

[sboverly]

Hi Kyle,

Thank you for your reply. Sometimes these symptoms will last seconds, but usually minutes to like an hour sometimes more. But, yes, they are seeming to be random.

This morning, it was some pains in my fingers on both hands, a little pressure in my left arm, random short pains in different areas of the chest, numbness on the right of my head for about 5mins and a burning feeling on right of face for a few mins at a time...I little dizzy/lightheaded and "feeling" off balance, but, I can balance on each foot and even roll my upper body in a circle while on one foot.

I'm just trying to figure out what's going on with me.

Thanks for helping you guys!! I really feel for what you go through everyday as I feel like I'm losing my mind and this has been just a little over 3 weeks!

Stacy

[kwarendorf]

Hi SB-

From what I can get out of your first post, your symptoms are pretty random in terms of the location they effect and they came and go. I'm not sure what timeframe come and go covers.

MS symptoms tend to effect specific locations; your left foot or you right hand etc. MS symptoms are the result of nerve damage to individual  locations in the central nervous system. Because the nerve damage is in a specific location, only those functions whose communications travel over the damaged area are effected. MS symptoms do not randomly jump around.

As to the time frame, the general rule is that a symptom has to be ongoing for at least 24 hours for MS to be a suspect cause.

Kyle

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Please note, a high percentage of people with MS have visual issues and reading large blocks of text can be extremely difficult and sometimes impossible to follow, so if you could please break up any future posts into smaller blocks, it would be most appreciated.

Sorry, i wasn't really able to read your post very well,  but what I could work out didn't sound anything like MS and considering your sx's are "jumping around everywhere", it definitely wouldn't be MS, because MS can not do that!

I would strongly suggest you make an appointment with your primary care physician or with a psychiatrist, to discuss mental health as a potential causation and if appropriate discuss a suitable treatment plan, to get your anxiety within your control.

Cheers...........JJ

[sboverly]

Anyone else with any input please feel free to give me your opinions and thoughts....

[sboverly]

Thank you so much for the response immisceo!! I know your not doctors but I felt the best to ask would be those experienced in the symptoms and course of MS. I have an appointment with my PCP on the 26th. The ER DR yesterday said that the Propranolol would also help with my anxiety. I told the PA and my PCP office that I quit the Zoloft and why, she marked it as discontinued and never suggested anything else at this point. I have been so worried that hearing from you that my issues don't seem to add up to MS helps....thank you! I've heard that MS symptoms seem to affect a part or two of the body at once and this has been jumping around everywhere!! I am horrible at Googling and my mom mentioned MS in the family (my grandmas sister and her other sisters granddaughter) and so I got worried, which I'm not sure if its made me notice every little thing or what..,

[immisceo]

If you only took Zoloft for two days, please consult with your medical team what other options you have for your anxiety. It sounds like this is what you are dealing with and that it's severely impacting your life. There are many other options out there beside the one medication. And no, what you mention does not sound like MS. It sounds like severe anxiety and you deserve to have that treated. The only other thing I can possibly think of (depending on your age. I don't know it) is perimenopause.

*We're not doctors here, just folks with MS or in the diagnostic process.