normal bloodwork but all the symptoms

[MistyEvans]

Im curious to find out from anyone on here who knows from experience - has any knowledge on if: All your blood work for any "autoimmune disease" comes back "normal...however, you're having major symptoms that unfortunately all seem to first & foremost point to MS, including; Muscle Spasms in mostly lower extremities, Random Nerve Pain & Numbness, ringing in ears, shooting stabbing pains in areas of the limbs as well as extreme fatigue, memory fogg/confusion/cognitive dysfuntion, with  
"newly added" symptom of distended abdomen w/urinary retention, difficulty

picking up objects - along w/pain and
shaking.......IS THERE ANY OTHER DIAGNOSIS??????

[immisceo]

Whenever people say they have "all" the symptoms of MS, I actually think they are more likely to never be diagnosed with it as, like Essdipity mentioned, it doesn't really work like that. Statistically, most of us have an initial issue with our vision, be it optic neuritis or internuclear opthalmoplegia. You don't mention any vision issues, though this certainly in and of itself doesn't rule MS out.  Others of us can focus with laser precision on what the culprit was; drop foot, unilateral numbness of an extremity, urinary issues etc.

I was diagnosed with MS in five weeks and have never had tingling anywhere, have never responded poorly to heat, no pain, no ear ringing. MS is very much individual to the person, but it would be highly unusual and unlikely to have the pattern of damage needed to present spontaneously and simultaneously with all you mention.

The way search engines function, you could type in a potpourri of random symptoms and have MS returned as a high-ranking result.

[kwarendorf]

Hi ME -

There is no blood test for MS, in fact there is no smoking gun test of any kind for MS.

As ess said, the primary tool for MS diagnosis is a clinical exam(s). In a perfect world these exams are done by neurlogists the specialize in the diagnosing and treatment of MS.  

Clinical findings are supported by blood tests to rule out MS mimics like Lyme disease, lumbar punctures to look for oligoclonal bands (an indication of inflammation in the central nervous system), nerve conduction studies, evoked potential tests etc. It can be a long, and often frustrating, process.

Kyle

[essdipity]

Hi and welcome.

Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you look at it, no one has all the symptoms of MS. That's because MS is a disease of the central nervous system, which takes in a lot of territory, and a lot of possibilities for things to go wrong. So yes, there are many other diagnoses.

Many people post here after having googled their symptoms and come up with an MS match. But since a great many diseases and disorders can cause some of these effects, that means MS can be a starting point only.  There are no specific tests for MS. What does clinch a diagnosis, often after several years, are clinical symptoms (after a thorough exam by a neurologist), lots of rule-out tests, and nearly always MRI results indicating white matter lesions in the brain and/or spinal cord.

If you are not being followed by a neuro very well-versed in MS, that would be the first step to take.

ess