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Avatar universal

Visual problems and pain.

Hello to anyone who might be here in this community. I've been looking around a lot on this website and have posted more than a few times looking for help and answers. If there is someone who could read this and maybe share some kind of information with me, I would appreciate it from the bottom of my heart. I have been terrified through all of this and it would mean a lot to me if someone could offer any kind of help. Thank you.

I have been experiencing symptoms since March that seemed to come on suddenly and I haven't gotten better. I'm getting worse and I still don't know why or what's happening to me. Some of the symptoms include visual symptoms like blurriness, double vision, flashing, whiting out and visual snow. I am also having vertigo and very severe pain in my head, scalp, face and neck. I have pain in other places, but those places are the ones that are getting to me the most. Lately my head, scalp, face and neck have been hurting so much that all I can seem to do about it is cry and pray for someone to help me. My scalp hurts especially when it's touched and I can't even do my hair without being in pain. I've never had that problem before.

I have also been having other symptoms, but I don't think I can describe all of them very well. Some of them are tingling, numbness and weakness. The tingling has become very painful, like very hot needles stabbing me all over, especially in the face, arms and legs. I also have a lot of popping and ringing in my ears and very strange sensations in my scalp along with the pain. My ears also pop whenever I move my neck. I don't know how to describe a lot of the things I'm feeling, but the other feelings I have in my scalp are like the blood vessels under the skin are having spasms. I've also felt popping sensations in my forehead where my sinuses are and other areas of my head. I haven't told any doctors about some of these things because I'm afraid they'll think I'm insane, especially the popping sensations.

I have seen a neurologist who found out that I have herniated discs in my lumbar spine and herniated discs in my cervical spine which are pressing into the spinal cord. I thought this might have been the answer and that this is what was causing my symptoms, but I saw the neurosurgeon and he said that while he is concerned and wants to keep an eye on this, he doesn't think this is causing my pain and other symptoms. I was very confused by this because I have a lot of pain in my neck and a lot of cracking whenever I move my neck.

The neuro ophthalmologist found that my optic nerves are swollen and thought it was due to IIH, also called pseudo tumor cerebri. I had a lumbar puncture done last week, but their office hasn't contacted me about a follow up and I think my pressure was normal. He also had an MRA done and the report said I have some mild hypoplasia in a few places, but my neurologist and family doctor said it wasn't anything to worry about. The report also said there is nonvisualization of the distal right vertebral artery and an MRA of the vessels of the neck can be considered for more details, but no one has mentioned doing that. I asked my family doctor about it and he told me to ask the neurosurgeon. I asked the neurosurgeon, but he didn't seem to understand why I was asking in relation to my spine.

I'm sure there's more, but I feel like I've written too much already and I don't know if I'm making enough sense right now. I do know that I have never felt like this in my life and something is wrong. Thank you and bless you to anyone who might take the time to look all of this over.
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Avatar universal
Hi. :) Thank you so much for replying. I hope that you're well.

I haven't had any obvious trauma to my neck. I've been in situations where my neck could have been hurt, but I always felt okay soon afterward and assumed that I wasn't injured. I saw a neuro surgeon about the herniated discs in my neck that are pressing into my spinal cord, but he told me he doesn't think that's what's causing my pain or visual symptoms.

A lot of my pain does seem like nerve pain, but I recently had upper and lower EMGs and the doctor says everything looked fine.

I've also considered Lyme disease because it's one of the mimics that's supposed to be tested for when you've been evaluated for MS, but the doctors won't test me for Lyme because they say it doesn't happen in Michigan.
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Avatar universal
Have you had a car accident, chiropractic manipulation or other trauma to the neck?

Some of what you describe sounds like you may have a radiculopathy which may be affecting the nerve bundles in the upper cervical spine. Alternatively, if not all of your vertebral artery is being visualized, perhaps trauma to the neck and/or chiropractic manipulation has caused tearing to the vertebral artery. This can result in clotting which can block the vertebral artery, interfering with blood flow and/or the clots may have broken off and travelled to various parts of the brain. The blood distribution of the vertebral arteries is to the back of the brain, including the occipital lobe which controls eyesight. If you are continuing to get chiropractic care, then your neck muscles may be hyperextended (since a manipulation moves your neck past the normal physiological range of motion), and may cause your neck to be extra "loose". This may be the reason you are getting popping or cracking sounds in the neck.

I also wonder if anyone had considered inflamed meninges which may be caused by a number of things like certain medications, and certain infections (like Lyme Disease, West Nile and whole lot of other infections).
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Avatar universal
The strange popping sensations and pain haven't subsided. I wish that I could tell someone about this, but I know the doctors will just think I'm insane. Maybe the biggest clues are the visual symptoms and swollen optic nerves, but I don't know what the cause could be if it's not IIH.  
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Avatar universal
Hi. Thank you for your reply. I've had an EMG, but I don't know the results yet. I go for another one in a week. A lot of the things I'm experiencing seem like nerve pain to me, but a lot of other things don't. That's why I was so confused when the neurosurgeon told me he didn't think my herniated discs that are pressing on my spinal cord is causing my pain.

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Avatar universal
The tingling I use to get between my shoulder blades if I was sweeping and mopping, it would start all of a sudden and the first time it did it I thought I was being severely stung by something. It was really painful. And them that spot would just go numb. Honestly that part sounds to me like it's a nerve somewhere. Maybe ur disk is pushing or pinching a nerve. Have u had a emg done?
Helpful - 0
Avatar universal
Hi. Thank you for replying. Yes, I've had a CAT scan as well as an MRI of my brain. I also had an MRA and there was some narrowing of some vessels, but the doctor said that it wasn't anything to worry about. I'm still in a lot of pain and having a lot of symptoms, but I don't know what to do. The only thing I've found that is close to explaining what's happening to me is GCA, but that seems to only be something considered for someone much older than me.
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9501656 tn?1404649387
Did you have a brain cat scan?
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Avatar universal
I also went to the ER more than a few times due to the visual symptoms and pain. When I told the ER doctors that I was being evaluated for MS, they gave me intravenous steroids and I forgot to say my vision improved a little right after having that.

My neurologist also told me from looking at the MRIs of my spine that he would only expect to see what he was seeing in someone who was in their sixties or someone who had been working construction for thirty years. I'm confused how that could not be causing at least some of my problems. I'm only 27. I'm also not overweight, which made the IIH diagnosis seem less likely to me.
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