1. Community
  2. Brain and nerves
  3. Multiple Sclerosis

Do I have Multiple Sclerosis?????

Posted , 4 users are following.

jmarr10
jmarr10

When I was about 13 years old I was playing soccer with a friend. She kicked the ball at me & not long after my hands and legs started to go numb. I walked home and fell in the street. When I got inside it just got worse and worse. When I would try to talk random stuff came out of my mouth.. I could bend my fingers backwards and didn't even feel it. My friends mother was a drug addict so at the time, I thought I took a drink of hers on accident and was genuinely on drugs. There was no other explanation to me..

Then it happened again on my sixteenth birthday..

Then when I was pregnant with my oldest child I was driving and all of a sudden there was blotches of white in my vision and I couldn't see!!! While driving!! Pretty scary... Then the numb hands and legs thing happened and I had the WORST headache. I went to the hospital and they hooked me up to an IV then sent me on my way.. Said I was dehydrated. HA I drink more water than anyone I know..

Those are the only numb legs and hands experiences I have. My body parts always fall asleep and it's like I can't make it go away. But that's a different story.

Aside from that.. I am exhausted. Genuinely exhausted 24/7. Every single morning I get up I feel like it takes every ounce of me just to get out of bed!

I get sharp pains all over my body. I have joint and muscle pains. Basically something on me always hurts....

I feel like I can't communicate properly. In my head I feel intelligent. Then I talk and it's like I just can't process the words I want to say and get them out right. (basically I sound like an idiot) I will be talking and really know what I'm trying to say one second and the next I don't even have a clue what I was even talking about..

I am super unorganized. I try and try and try to be a tidy person but it's really become a problem. I will spend the day making my room spotless and I swear it looks the same in a few days. It's almost like I cannot concentrate enough to simply put things back where they belong. Such a simple task has become such a hard one for me.

I started looking my symptoms up a couple years ago and they all lead back to MS. I don't have insurance never have besides when I was pregnant. But everything I'm reading anyways tells me it's really hard to diagnose it??? Do I have to have the numb hands and extreme symptoms for someone to diagnose me?? I feel extremely discouraged. I have put it off and put it off.

But the three times I went to the hospital, no one took me seriously or really tried to figure out what the problem was. I don't think an IV every time is going to give me a diagnosis. What do I do? Where do I start? I'm tired of everyone making me feel lazy. And dumb. I am not lazy, I'm exhausted! My mind my body. Everything.

0 likes, 9 replies

9 Replies

  • emma53501
    emma53501 jmarr10

    Posted

    You poor thing. Getting a diagnosis of MS is so hard. Do you have a GP you could talk to and explain all your symptoms to? He/She may be able to refer you to a neurologist rather than have to go to the hospital to be put on another drip! 
  • wendy80842
    wendy80842 jmarr10

    Posted

    Hi, I hope this description of the MS diagnosis procedure is of some help. I kept writing the same things over and over, so I kept a copy, so I could copy and paste it. This is it:

    i have ms, i was diagnosed (abbreviated to dx) in 2004, the problem with pinning down an ms dx is the wildly varying experiences of each person with the condition, and how we report our experiences also varies a hell of a lot. our nervous systems are so complex, of course. generally, it's not just about the results of 1 mri that are used, but at least one more, at a later date, this is to see if there's progression over both physical space (lesion/s) AND time. there may or may not be a change, even then, which doesn't necessarily rule out ms, as even if it IS ms, it might not have been actively progressing between mri's, OR, if it's remitting, it could even have improved. you can see why so many of us have a long time to wait, to see if we have ms or not. it's also accepted practice to do a lumbar puncture to look for oligoclonic bands in our cerebrospinal fluid. a full examination will almost certainly be carried out by a neurologist, to test your reflexes, balance, response to stimulae (hot, cold, soft, sharp etc) and so forth.

    i would always strongly advise anyone with ongoing health concerns, to keep a journal of experiences: symptoms (any and all) , dates when they start OR end, concerns, questions for medics, anything you think might relate to your health problems. take your journal with you when you go to appointments with any medics, and, if possible take someone with you, it's handy to have another person with you, as it's easy to miss things.

    • jmarr10
      jmarr10 wendy80842

      Posted

      Thank you Wendy that put it in better words for me to understand how to diagnose it. A journal is also a good idea. I am going to start doing that now!
  • tracy35015
    tracy35015 jmarr10

    Posted

    Start by getting your B12 tested, it's a simple blood test. Symptoms of B12 deficiency have been mistaken for MS. Your B12 should be at the high end of the normal range or you may be deficient. In Japan the low cutoff for deficiency is 450 pg/mL, below that neurological symptoms are known to occur. For some unknown reason the low value is far lower in many countries like the US and UK.
  • wendy80842
    wendy80842 jmarr10

    Posted

    I forgot to ask, whereabouts in the world are you? Another odd geographically linked phenomenon, the further away from the equator you grow up, the more likely you are to develop MS In the UK, it's about 1/600-650. So NOT wildly common, thankfully. 👍
  • wendy80842
    wendy80842 jmarr10

    Posted

    It seems ridiculous, but lots of general practitioners (gp's),primary care Dr's, don't know very much about MS, considering that it's the most widespread neurological condition there is, it's pretty bad. Keep an ongoing record of your symptoms, any dates of BOTH start and end dates of symptoms, problems or concerns. Write down any questions or thoughts that you think might be useful at Dr's appointments, it's so easy to realise, in hindsight, that you wanted to say various things, but forgot. When you know you're seeing a Dr, write down bullet points of what most needs getting across. If you're in pain a lot, ask your Dr about pain relief. Try developing a series of GENTLE stretches to flex out spasming muscles, it really can help, at least a bit.

    Excuse me prattling on a bit, I get so angry for people dealing with clueless medics...

    • jmarr10
      jmarr10 wendy80842

      Posted

      A few weeks ago it happened again. Woke up to a migraine and sharp pain in my eye. Then my whole arm went numb, I couldn't even use it. And I also couldn't talk. Is the not being able to talk thing an MS symptom? That was scary. Went to the ER they told me to see a neurologist. I finally got a discount at the hospital to see a doctor and they told me to keep calling, & there's no openings. So more waiting for me... So frustrating.
  • wendy80842
    wendy80842 jmarr10

    Posted

    I've posted this info before, so I kept a copy, that way I could repost it, to explain the way MS is diagnosed. Here it is:

    I have ms, i was diagnosed (abbreviated to dx) in 2004, the problem with pinning down an ms dx is the wildly varying experiences of each person with the condition, and how we report our experiences also varies a hell of a lot. our nervous systems are so complex, of course. generally, it's not just about the results of 1 mri that are used, but at least one more, at a later date, this is to see if there's progression over both physical space (lesion/s) AND time. there may or may not be a change, even then, which doesn't necessarily rule out ms, as even if it IS ms, it might not have been actively progressing between mri's, OR, if it's remitting, it could even have improved. you can see why so many of us have a long time to wait, to see if we have ms or not.  it's also accepted practice to do a lumbar puncture to look for oligoclonic bands in our cerebrospinal fluid. a full examination will almost certainly be carried out by a neurologist, to test your reflexes, balance, response to stimulae (hot, cold, soft, sharp etc) and so forth.

    i would always strongly advise anyone with ongoing health concerns, to keep a journal of experiences: symptoms (any and all) , dates when they start OR end, concerns, questions for medics, anything you think might relate to your health problems. take your journal with you when you go to appointments with any medics, and, if possible take someone with you, it's handy to have another person listening, as it's easy to miss things. In

Back to top

Report or request deletion

Thanks for your help!

We want the community to be a useful resource for our users but it is important to remember that the community are not moderated or reviewed by doctors and so you should not rely on opinions or advice given by other users in respect of any healthcare matters. Always speak to your doctor before acting and in cases of emergency seek appropriate medical assistance immediately. Use of the community is subject to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy and steps will be taken to remove posts identified as being in breach of those terms.