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Do I have MS?

Posted , 5 users are following.

Going-Insane
Going-Insane

I am a 29 year old female. I had a baby in July 2014. In August I started experiencing some symptoms beginning with constant aching in my legs tiredness and dizziness. The symptoms developed I started getting trickling or coldness in my head numbness in my hands feet and legs (something that I have had on and off for years) random sharp shooting pains all over my body. And a feeling like my head is shaking from side to side. The dizziness and the shaking in my head along with the exhaustion have been the hardest symptoms to deal with because they are constant. The rest of the symptoms are intermittent. When i get up in the mornings i am numb stiff and sore down my left side foot and leg.I also have an essential tremor in my hands. I have had this for as long as I remember and take propropanl for this and for the mild anxiety my symptoms have caused. I also get a pressure feeling in my head but no actual head aches. I went to my doctor a million times who finally referred me to ENT and the doctor there without any proof told me I had benign positional vertigo which would go away on it's own. This hasn't happened. So I went back to the doctor who has finally referred me to neurology but there is a 6 month waiting list. I feel like I am going insane and no one believes me. I'm finding it hard to function in every day life and am just getting more miserable by the day.

In the past I have had stomach ulcers and I have irritable bowl syndrome and a vitamin b12 deficiency so I get b12 injections every 12 weeks. I just want to get to the bottom of this but the thought of waiting another 6 months to see neurology is killing me. I want my life back and to feel normal and like I'm not going insane. I should also note that I am very overweight. The heaviest I have ever been but I am finding it difficult to lose weight due to being exhausted so it is a vicious circle. Also all my blood tests have came back fine.

1 like, 12 replies

12 Replies

  • vicky84916
    vicky84916 Going-Insane

    Posted

    Have you had your thyroid double checked. My first bloods were ok but the second showed mine was under active. I felt constantly exhausted all the time and really depressed.
  • adrian02282
    adrian02282 Going-Insane

    Posted

    I'm sorry to hear of your suffering. Have you told your doctor of your fears. Just by speaking to him/her it might allay some of your worries. Whatever you may be suffering with stress can only make things worse and your doctor should realise that. I hope things get sorted sooner rather than later. Take care and sorry I couldn't be more helpful.
  • Going-Insane
    Going-Insane

    Posted

    Thanks vicky. I have had my bloods checked in August November and January. Also I had them check fairly often when I was pregnant so I'm pretty sure I don't have a thyroid problem.

  • Going-Insane
    Going-Insane

    Posted

    Thanks for your reply Adrian. I have seen my doctor once or twice a month since August. The doctor I seen was very patronising to say the least and kept fobbing me off but eventually after trying different medications for vertigo and anxiety referred me to ENT. I am now seeing a different doctor who is much nicer and have told her that I am worried as a lot of my symptoms seem to point to ms and she agreed and thinks I should have been referred to neurology in the first place. She said the tremor in my hands is very pronounced. I have mild anxiety however this Is as a result of whatever else is going on. I'm not depressed I just feel very down at times because I have been feeling so awful most of the time. I have lots of good things going on I just wish I felt well enough to enjoy them. I am also fed up with the long wait to be seen by a neurologist and in the mean time I have no treatment or resolution.

    I was just wondering If anyone knows if my symptoms are typical of ms. I know it is not a good idea to Google symptoms but sometimes I just want answers and when I do it always brings up Ms. I hope I don't have it but if I at least knew then I could get the correct treatment. My biggest fear is it being something more serious and something happening to me when I'm at home alone with my children

    • wendy80842
      wendy80842 Going-Insane

      Posted

      hi, i have ms, diagnosed (dx) 2004, unfortunately almost all NHS patients have to go through a frequently arduous process to get to a dx, ms is such a variable condition that sufferers report very different experiences. it's certainly not certain that you have ms, but as it seems like they're testing for it now,here's a runthrough of the process:

      the accepted diagnostic tools are:

      MRI (generally more than one, separated by enough time to be able to do comparisons, to show progression/healing of lesions)

      lumbar puncture, to look for oligoclonic banding in the cerebrospinal fluid sample.

      you should also be given a thorough examination looking at your reflexes, balance, gait, coordination etc.

      you might be given an evoked potential (EP) test of your sight. they just put sensors on your head and take a readout of your brainwaves while you watch a computer screen, which simply has an icon moving around the screen.

      i really do recommend that you keep a diary of symptoms, both starting and ending, it's always handy at medical appointments. it's a really good idea to take someone along to appointments, both for support and to listen to what's being said, it's easy to miss info.

      i hope you get to the bottom of the situation really soon. take care x

    • Going-Insane
      Going-Insane wendy80842

      Posted

      Thanks for the information Wendy. I called the hospital to check how long the waiting list is for neurology and they told me 1 year 8 months not the original 6 months that my doctor had told me. Resigned myself to the fact that I would just have to learn to live with it and wait for neurology to call me. My dizziness has virtually disappeared which is fantastic and I feel much more able to cope without the constant dizziness and I do generally feel alot better than I did a few months ago however everything is far from normal. The shaking in my head is enough to drive me insane. It seems to be worse after lack of sleep. But it also causes lack of sleep as it keeps me awake at night so it is a vicious circle. I often jump awake out of my sleep at night from twitches etc and then I can't fall back to sleep because of the shaking in my head. This generally happens around once a week although a few weeks ago I had 3 bad nights in a row in one week. Anyway I had been waiting on a neurology appointment and about a month ago I noticed when I was watching TV at night that I could barely read the writing on the TV guide. I put it down to tiredness and went to bed and slept. The next morning I woke up with severe blurred and double vision mainly in my left eye. As someone who has always had 20/20 vision this scared the life out of me so I went to an optitician who did a regular eye exam and told me that I had a small prescription and needed glasses (I had 20/20 vision in april) they could not see anything in the back of my eyes no inflamed nerves etc and didn't perform the peripheral vision test but they sent me to my doctors to have my blood pressure checked which was fine so they sent me to a&e who couldn't see anything wrong but referred me to neurology. They basically didn't see anything wrong with me either, they tested my reflexes etc as I have had done several times before and all was fine. But have fast tracked my appointment for an mri scan which they said will now be 2 to 3 months. My blood thyroid etc was all fine.

      I am now waiting impatiently on this mri scan and basically pinning all my hopes on it that they will be able to tell me what the hell is wrong with me. I just don't understand it. I know I have alot of symptoms of Ms but other symptoms I don't have. There are days where I just feel like I am going totally nuts. I was wondering if anyone else on here has had issues with their neck or back that could cause some of these symptoms? I don't have any pain in my head or neck but it seems that my symptoms are worse when I am lying down or have just woke up from sleeping. Now from last week I have developed a worrying new symptom pins and needles in my chest and abdomen and arms and legs. It doesn't matter what way I position myself I still get them but the scarey part was my chest which made me panic quite a bit. I am thankful it now seems to have past but it was going on for a few days and was really worrying me also my skin was itchy where I had the pins and needles and unlike other pins ans needles I've had before that sort of gradually build to the point that you are numb, it nearly seemed instant.

      Sorry for the long rambling message but don't feel like I can sleep yet so thought I'd vent my frustration. I know if I was an outsider reading this I would think this girl is insane lol but I really can't help how I feel and I wish to God that I could because I have just about reached the end of my tether with it.

      Any ideas info or help would be much appreciated.

      For example are there any home remedies or things I can do to treat my symptoms at least until I know what is wrong. I just want it to go away and feel normal again!

    • marie54562
      marie54562 Going-Insane

      Posted

      Hi Ashley, I've just been having a look at your page.

      I don't know if you will find this helpful or not... Probably not! But in terms of remedies for treating your symptoms have you come across the swank diet? If not I think it's worth looking into!

      I've been researching it myself recently and have come across quite a few bloggers and researchers who have claimed that eating a raw food diet low in fat has really relieved ms symptoms and prognosis. Not for everyone but it's something I'm considering giving a go at the moment!

    • marie54562
      marie54562

      Posted

      Worth nothing that the diet was created by a researcher called Dr. Swank who specialised in Ms
  • Going-Insane
    Going-Insane

    Posted

    Thanks marie. I have never heard of it but I will look into it. I will try anything. Even though a raw food diet doesn't sound very appealing
  • wendy80842
    wendy80842 Going-Insane

    Posted

    hi again,

    something that i've found useful, when dealing with weird neuro signals, is to do something different to the affected area, ie. when i have restless leg syndrome driving me up the wall, i stand up and move from side to side or back and forward, in an irregular way, changing direction and rhythm, this 'redirects' focus of my muscles and stops the jerking/electric shock sensations. others find that using heat/cold on areas with pin and needles or itchy skin 'fools' the brain into ignoring the original, unwanted signals. i'd also recommend stretching out muscles that are causing problems, particularly before sleeping, it helps reduce muscle spasm.

    • Going-Insane
      Going-Insane wendy80842

      Posted

      Thanks Wendy I will try that definitely. I try and stay as quiet as possible so as not to wake my husband and the baby but if it's really bad and I have the energy I do get up. I just don't get what is going on with me.My symptoms are so severe at times, I don't know how any body can live like this. I am hoping it's not ms but at this stage I would be glad for any sort of diagnosis so as i could get treatment.it always seems to be a million times worse when I am lying down. Is this typical of Ms?
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