Numbness, Fatigue, Clumsiness, Confusion...

[Einhild]

I'm kind of at a loss because at this point I've been diagnosed with multiple conditions and new symptoms and problems keep arising.

I'm a 30 year old female, very recently diagnosed with both celiac disease and PDD-NOS (I have some difficulties socially). I follow a strict GF diet, and otherwise am an ovo-vegetarian. Despite trying to take good care of myself, I catch almost everything "going around", and have a generally very weak immune system, and often get frequent recurring bladder and yeast infections. Blood tests have all come up clean so far as autoimmune conditions but for the celiac antibodies.

Over the last couple of years, I've been experiencing increased fatigue, problems sleeping (over and undersleeping), and headaches (I have only had two or three headaches outside of a cold/flu otherwise in my life). I've had knee jerks, developing into full body jerks in the past year. I have had chronic rhinitis (my nose is *always* running) though don't have allergies or any further symptoms associated with allergies. I find my ability to concentrate diminishing, I used to read several books a week, now some weeks I can barely get through a chapter. I've had several panic attacks.

A couple of times each week when I wake up in the morning each week, my legs can't support my weight and must be careful not to try to move around too quickly or I'll fall. I can't walk in a straight line most days, my balance has decreased tremendously. I've also lately noticed an increased urgency to urinate, especially in the evenings (around when I have to go to bed) and will have to run to go a couple times a night.

This last week I had what I thought was an ear infection, and the majority of the right side of my body has gone numb like it's fallen asleep, the worst of it around my head, hand and toes (though no paralysis). The back of my head is kind of tingly, like its waking up. I'm experiencing flashes of pain on the top of my head and in my right hand. I went to the clinic to get checked for an ear infection, and the doctor saw no signs of infection, though she did see inflammation so she prescribed ear drops to clear up anything that might be happening, and said to take ibuprofen because she thinks I may be developing bells palsy, and if I take anti-inflammatories I could avoid any potential facial paralysis. She said the numbness down the rest of my body could be related to a pinched nerve in my neck?

I'm wondering if all of this is cause for concern for some other condition. Is there anything that would explain all of this? Should I pursue further testing? It's hard to think this is all just random.

[Family2011]

I am sorry you are having to deal with all of these symptoms. I would ask to have an MRI of your spine and brain to rule out other diseases such as MS or spinal cord damage. I would ask for an EMG to confirm the Bell's Palsy diagnosis. Auto-Immune diseases are very very difficult to diagnose. The ANA test is good to see if their are any anti-nuclear antibodies in your blood, but they can miss a lot. It will be a matter of testing for specific diseases. Celiac disease is a type of auto-immune disease and they generally run in groups of two or three, so your symptoms are most likely caused by multiple problems.
Good luck with finding the answers and treatment. I would ask to be referred to a neurologist.

[Caryopteris]

I am not saying you have this, but one possibility might be MS.  I think they would need to do MRIs of your brain and neck to be sure, and early MS will be less apparent than MS of longer duration.  Hope it's not that though.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/mssymptoms.html