ms pain or sciatic

[dakpolly]

how do u know the difference between sciatic pain or ms pain in leg . I am never sure which it is just know its miserable

[dakpolly]

thank you

[HVAC]

I am sorry you had a bad episode. Do they at least address symptoms for you. You can ask for something for muscle spasms or nerve pain if you have either. I did not know that and waited until I was diagnosed for any symptom relief. In the end the MS Specialist sent me to a Pain Clinic. Now I get treated by the pain clinic every month. My symptoms are mostly from spasms and nerve pain. Each case of MS Is different because it all depends which nerves are affected. I hope you get answers sooner than later.

Alex

[dakpolly]

a little over a year  .had a very bad episode in may of 2013. lp was clear all blood work clear.cervical mri clear  mri brain said multiple foci in both sides  increasing intensity in white matter two old in basil gangali

[HVAC]

How long has the Neurologist been following you? Neurologist like to follow over months and years. Usually six month intervals to see changes. This may seem very slow. Two old lesions just means that you have had them awhile. New lesions enhance with the contrast dye.  When you say good LP do you mean it showed MS or it was clean and did not show MS?

Being diagnosed with MS is very tricky. I was followed over several years. The way my Neurologists thought was it was not MS until all the evidence said it was MS. Unfortunately there is no easy blood test. Tests support a MS diagnosis they do not give one. I thought I was being dismissed until I understood how a diagnosis goes.

Alex

[dakpolly]

the ms nero did not say . but the report said two were old . I don't know what that meant . nero says he doesn't want to dx as ms because no cervical . good lp  and and office exam only little left side weakness. wants to just watch to see what happens

[kwarendorf]

The nature of MS means that we each have our very own version. There are some large areas os symptom overlap, but we a'll have a unique collection of symtoms.

MS attacks individual areas within the central nervous system. Where attacks occur determines what symptoms you will experience. What you describe could certainly be caused by MS. Unfortunately your symptoms can be caused by other thins too.

Lesions in your brain qualify as diagnostic criteria. Were they able to determine if your brain lesions were of different ages? If your MRI was done with and without contrast, new lesions will light up in the presence of the contrast agent.

A negative LP doesn't rule MS out.  Many here have been diagnosed with a negative LP. What all this boils down to is that MS is a clinical diagnosis. Because there is no smoking gun test we rely on the expertise of neurologists to make the final determination.

Kyle

[dakpolly]

they have done ct on my back and do not find anything but a slight curve in lower back at tailbone ,i have the intense burning pain from hip to heel in left leg and nothing seems to help. sometimes neurotin seems to help some. also have bad cramps and twitches in same leg . am not dx ms have only lesions in brain.no where else ,but everthing else ruled out. lp normal. so was just wondering if this was common ms symptom

[kwarendorf]

Hi OM - Heat can definately make MS more challenging. I know that if my core temp reaches a certain point I start to lose control of my legs. Sitting for 5-10 minutes alloes me to cool down and order is restored.

Kyle

[Oobermom]

I am living this quandary right now. I have intense burning nerve pain in my left leg all the way down to my heel. The pain in my buttock is horrible when sitting or standing. I've had two back surgeries for herniated disks and spinal stenosis. The most recent surgery was a spinal fusion L4-S1. The dr has been watching a broken screw from the fusion but you can see that's it is embedded in the bone but when this pain started up again, he recommended a ct myelogram to make sure something wonky wasn't going on. Well, I went back for the results last week and guess what? My back is great! There are no impinged nerves...everything looks good! While I'm happy that my back is in good shape, it appears that MS is the culprit. My neuro is working with me to adjust meds a bit. I suspect that heat has something to do with it because the new pain started in late May when the weather started getting really hot and our AC went down. Nancy

[kwarendorf]

Hi DP -

I've had both, issues caused by mechanical problems and issues caused by MS. They can be very similar and a challenge to differentiate.

As was pointed out, the first way to find out might be to treat with NSAID's. If the problem resloved then you now it was likely mechanical. MRI's can also show the difference. When I have had back problems (mechanical) there was clear evidence of nerve impingement.

Nerve issues related to disk problems, or stenosis appear very differently on MRIs than lesions caused by demylenation (MS).

Kyle

[HVAC]

I have three bad disks and have had MS for over 40 years. The pain clinic gets into the "Which is Which" argument every so often. It does not really matter as long as I get symptom relief. They can tell if you have nerve pain, or muscle pain. joint, or inflammation. Often they can't totally tell. With me they know I have muscle spasms, nerve pain, tremors, and inflammation. They tried me on different medications until we found what works for me. I have learned what aggravates things so I avoid those things and if I can't I rest afterwards.  They have done Neurological exams. They can pinpoint the damage to my nervous system but not 100% the why.

Sciatica would respond to NSAIDs to help with Inflammation probably better than Neurotin for chronic nerve pain. With MS the Sciatic type pain would probably go down one if it is uniltaeral like MS. I think Sciatica might respond better to narcotics than MS pain. Narcotics are not as good for MS pain.

Alex

[supermum_ms]

Hi there,

Unfortunately with out an official dx of what is causing your sx's, it's highly possible for it to be either or neither, I know that's not very helpful but MS can cause similar sx's to many conditions, though generally.........

The symptoms of sciatica include:
Hot pain in the buttock
Aching in the buttock, back of the thigh (hamstring) and calf
Pain in the ankle and foot
Pins and needles
Increased pain when lifting, straining or coughing
Loss of power to the muscles of the leg and foot.
http://www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au/bhcv2/bhcarticles.nsf/pages/Sciatica

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