Is this MS or something else?

[luckyman316]

Bear with me, my story is long.... but I want to keep it short. I'm 37, male...Last July, I was going to physical therapy for an upper back and neck issue. At the same time, I had dental work done. A new crown was placed on my bottom right molar. About 3 days later, I felt extremely dizzy (but the room did not spin) and like something was wrong in my head. This happened out of the blue at work. It happened again during PT and during working out at home. I immediately thought the worst, brain tumor.... so I went to the neurologist, who did an MRI of my brain and found nothing short of a partially fatty lession in my left cavernous sinus, which was not a concern to him or another doctor.

I got all crazy symptoms. Balance problems, the unusual lightheadedness, muscle weakness, fatigue, clumsiness, thinking problems... so I decided to go do more testing and it turns out, I have a Hepatitis B virus which was active in me as the DNA was increasing. Whether I had this from birth and was just a carrier that went active or it was a recent infection, is not known as I do not know how I got it.

Fast forward to a time in October, I needed a root canal on another tooth that was also next to the one with the crown. I started to get unsual sleeping patterns. Got the root canal done and experienced more symptoms afterwards....sometimes I feel like someone stabs me in the foot with a needle and sometimes it feels like pins and needles. Also have tinnitus. Sometimes I feel like my head is tingly too, especially on the right side. I am itching a lot too.

Did more testing for the Hep B, turned out my Vitamin D level was super low (14) so I went on supplements and got it to 76. Ended up seeing a hepatologist for the Hep B and they gave me meds to treat me as a chornic case. Symptoms have been better as virus reduces but are still there (mainly when sitting down).

Ironically, one of my dental crowns came out and I felt 50% better when it did. Neck pain went away and some issues were slowly disappating. Had to get it recemented in and as soon as that was done, the next day my eye was red and I got blurred vission and my other symptoms started to return.

So, is this MS? Did something cause this? What do I do next? Can I be having a reaction to my crowns causing this (made of white gold, titanium and palladium)? Is the virus giving me MS like symptoms -- according to my doctor, these are not symptoms of Hep B. All of my issues are on my right side. There's a lot more to the story which I blogged about but will share only if needed.

[kwarendorf]

MS is a very popular diagnosis from Dr. Google :-) Because it attacks the central nervous system it can cause a really wide variety of symtoms. Additionally, almost all MS symptoms can also be cuased by other conditions.

This is why diagnosing MS is often a long and frustrating process.

Kyle

[luckyman316]

Thanks, Kyle. Appreciate the response. I agree with you, my symptoms tend to coincide with dental work. I'm pursuing this option first, which first includes adjusting the height of my crowns. I've been to 2 different ENTs before I found the one I liked. Some mentioned Meniere's but I wasn't having the typical Meniere's symptoms, and there's always an underlying cause for it to.

I figured I'd come here and ask for some advice on where to go and what to do to rule out MS as when I put in some symptoms, it was the first thing that came up. I had blood tests for Lyme's last year and it was ruled out too (though considering it again)

[kwarendorf]

Hi (not so)LuckyMan- Welcome to our group.

WHile some of your symptoms are often associated with MS, the way they seem to ebb and flow is not typical of MS.

There seems to be something going on that causes your symptoms to wax and wane in relation to your viral load. Another confounding, if coincidental, issue is that your syptoms seem to react to your dental work. MS is not viral and I have not heard that it can be effected by dental work.

If you want to rule it out you should see a neurologist that specializes in MS. The usual battery of tests includes:

Blood tests to rule out mimcs like Lyme disease
MRI's done with and without contrast of brain, c-spine and t-spine
LP to look for O-bands
Evoked potential tests
Nerve conduction studies

I think I would thoroughly investivate any and all ENT possibilities before wandering down the MS path.

Kyle