Question about MS??

Question

About 10 years ago when I was 23, I suddenly went blind in one eye. I was in the hospital for three days on solumedrol, then prednisone when I came home. My sight only partially returned. The doc said I was a prime candidate for MS. Since then, my MRIs have shown several spots on the brain. But the docs say they're nothing. I have tremors sometimes, and have difficulty walking down steps. My arm seized up at work once, but the doc said it wasn't MS.

I know MS is difficult to diagnose. Right now I have no insurance. I hate to ask, but does anyone out there who has it give me some enlightenment on what to watch for?

Thanks all.

Answer 1

Hi, I was diagnosed with MS 3 years ago. It started with the loss of vision in both eyes. Which thankfully all vision has returned. Yours can too if it is indeed MS. What I would suggest, is too find another Dr. They cannot diagnose MS without certain tests. Especially if you have the 'spots' on your MRI, I would definitely try and get a good Neurologist. Another test that should be preformed is a spinal tap. When I had my MRI and they found the spots, the next step was the tap. Then the diagnosis. Without insurance I would definitely try to contact the MS society. http://www.nmss.org/

Every person with MS has different symptoms. What I experience is loss of sight, numbness, tingling *fingers, legs, feet* also unbalance, loss of words *i know what I want too say but it won't come out right* fatigue and depression. Thank goodness mine doesn't happen all at once. I think I"d go bonkers. I have logged my symptoms, and for me I get extremely depressed before an exasperation.

Good luck too you. You can contact me if you have any other questions. I don't mind.

Answer 2

The most common symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis are sensory in nature including tingling, peculiar nerve sensations such as a "pins-and-needles" feeling over part of the body, numbness or paresthesias, clumsiness, weakness of a leg or hand, visual disturbances and fatigue. Recent research indicates that the biochemical make-up of lesions may vary between different forms of the disease, causing nerve damage to one site usually causes completely different symptoms than damage to another, and this is one of the reasons Multiple Sclerosis differs so widely between people. People with Multiple Sclerosis can experience partial or complete loss of any function that is controlled by, or passes through, the brain or spinal cord. Inflammation happens in areas of the white matter of the central nervous system in patches and destruction of myelin is soon to follow. Myelin is the fatty covering that insulates nerve cell fibers in the brain and spinal cord. Other weaknesses occur in one or more of the extremities, slight stiffness or unusual fatigue of the limb, spastic involuntary movements, difficulty with bladder control, incontinence, vertigo, and in some cases mild emotional disturbances. Excessive heat may intensify symptoms.

Because the symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis vary and can be very unpredictable. It may affect the eyes first and usually only one eye at a time. One may notice blurred or double vision, blind spot, distortions of reds and greens, or blindness in both eyes. Certain muscles may become weak or extremely stiff and prone to spasms; you may start to have trouble talking because there are disturbance between the central nervous system and the rest of your body. Half of all patients with later stages of Multiple Sclerosis have problems with memory loss. Once a doctor suspects the disease he or she will order an MRI scan to look for signs on the brain and spinal cord. If you have any of the symptoms described here, go to your doctor and get checked out. The sooner you learn you have a disease, the sooner you can start fighting it.

Avoid stress as much you can.

Answer 3

Sudden loss of eyesight happens to a lot of people with MS in the early stages. Where are your tremors? Weakness, numbness, tingling could be some symptoms to watch for. But you should have a spinal tap to see any traces of mylein sheaths in your spinal fluid and further MRIs to correctly diagnos ms.

god bless.

Answer 4

my mother had ms and the only way it was correctly diagnosed was through spinal fluid....also there are alot of other diseases which mimic ms.......lupus for one......she would sometimes have a hard time walking like she was drunk.....slurred speech...... there isn't one sure thing to watch for it varies with each person......because it depends on the part of the brain affected by it...my mother never had problems with her eyes for instance because that part of her brain was not affected ...ms is an autoimmune disorder.....our nerve endings are covered with a protective sheath .......when we have ms the body begins to attack this sheath...(the spots are lesions left behind from this )....so the nerve is not able to communicate properly.....also there is alot of inflammation which occurs from this process......that is why it is treated with steroids because it brings down this inflammation......hope this helps a little and good luck.

Answer 5

Excellent question!!! While other posters here have provided you with excellent answers about the symptoms, I'd like to take this opportunity to discuss some of the additional aspects of those answers.

First of all, here are my qualifications for providing you with this answer:

1) I've successfully managed the symptoms of MS for over 45 years.
2) I was an HR Executive for over 30+ years, and combined my professional and personal expertise in creating a website dedicated to assisting folks with "chronic disease symptoms" better document, communicate, corroborate, and manage their symptoms and the resulting impairments to become expert patients; chronic disease self-managers; and, partner with their doctors to practice patient-centered health care.

http://www.disabilitykey.com

My website contains tons of information in 2 blogs, downloadable free articles and self-help ebooklets, and the Disabilitykey Workbook which contains over 100 pages of how to processes and actual forms - blank and completed examples - to assist folks. This workbook is available for a very small price (under $10).

I too have what is called optic neuritis. My vision "blocks" are episodic, and last about 45 minutes, and occur about once a week.

Currently, the only reliable tests for MS are the MRI - which you have had - and a spinal tap. Most drs want the patient to have AT LEAST 2, if not 3 different symptoms of MS to do the spinal tap.

Here's a blog that I did that discusses not only the top 22 MS symptoms, but what - at least a year ago - were the top medications used to help you better manage those symptoms. The reason that I like this list of symptoms and their associated "management aids" is that precisely because MS has so many symptoms, you may need to take some time to do some "introspection" to figure out which TYPE of symptom do you haave!! For example: do you have "plain vanilla" depression, or do you have depression coupled with either pain or fatigue? The management aids for the 3 different "types" of depression are different; so, the more precise and specific you can become shen documenting both your symptoms and how they impair you so that you can better inform your doctor, the better your doctor can assist you with symptom management!!

So, your Doctor tells you that you have a disease. You know that you have symptoms that impair you in your every day life, but you want your Doctor to give you something to make the pain/symptom go away!

What is the best medication for your symptoms, for your illness? Remember, only your Doctor can help you. However, the better informed that you are about what is out there, the better you can discuss alternatives with your Doctor(s).

The following information comes from the National MS Society website. Now, most disease medication lists start with the brand name first, with the SYMPTOM that it is to address almost as an after thought. BUT, we, the patients, start with the symptom first, so that's how I have decided to sort the medications. Here goes. Products available without a prescription are so indicated (+).

Once again, this will provide you with information to discuss with your Doctor. By having options of medications for a symptom, you and your Doctor can discuss which treatment would be best for you, given your other symptoms, your specific condition, and any other factors that only your Doctor can know. And, if you do not know what the symptom means (I'm not sure that I know what "Paroxysmal itching" is) you can ask your Doctor, and learn something new!


Fatigue: Amantadine; Cylert; Provigil

Spasticity: Baclofen; Dantrium; Intrathecal Baclofen (ITB Therapy); Valium (muscle spasms); Zanaflex

Constipation: Mineral oil (+); Colace (Docusate (+)); Dulcolax (Bisacodyl (+)); Enemeez Mini Enema (Docusate stool softener laxative (+)); Fleet Enema (Sodium phosphate (+)); Metamucil (Psyllium hydrophilic mucilloid (+)); Phillips' Milk of Magnesia (Magnesium hydroxide (+)); Sani-Supp suppository (US) (Glycerin (+))

Erectile dysfunction: Papaverine; Cialis; Levitra; MUSE; Prostin VR; Viagra

Nausea; Vomiting; Dizziness: Antivert (US), Bonamine (Can)

Paroxysmal itching: Atarax

Disease-modifying agent: Avonex; Betaseron; Copaxone; Novantrone; Rebif;

Urinary tract infections: Bactrim; Septra; Cipro; Macrodantin

Urinary tract infections: (preventative) Hiprex, Mandelamine (US); Hip-rex, Mandelamine (Can)

Urinary tract infections (symptom relief): Pyridium

Urinary frequency: DDAVP Nasal Spray; DDAVP Tablets

Bladder dysfunction: Detrol (US); Ditropan; Ditropan XL; Oxytrol (Oxybutynin Transdermal System); Pro-Banthine; Sanctura; Vesicare (US)

Bladder dysfunction; Pain: Tofranil

Depression: Effexor; Paxil; Wellbutrin; Zoloft

Depression, Pain (neuropathic): Cymbalta

Depression; Fatigue: Prozac

Tremor: Laniazid; Nydrazid

Tremor; Pain; Spasticity: Klonopin (US), Rivotril (Can)

Acute exacerbations: Decadron; Deltasone; H.P. Acthar Gel; Solu-Medrol

Pain (dyesthesias): Dilantin; Neurontin

Pain (paresthesias): Elavil; Pamelor (US), Aventyl (Can)

Pain (trigeminal neuralgia): Tegretol

Now that you have read all 22 categories of Multiple Sclerosis symptoms that HAVE a medication that might mitigate it, and know of many others that have no associated medication, I'll bet that you are asking yourself how do I make the link between knowing that I have one or more of these, and explaining how this symptom impairs me? If you have these questions, please check out our website at http://www.disabilitykey.com.


Finally, here are some suggestions:

1) Document your symptoms and their impairments. If you email me, I can send you a matrix to use to document your symptoms, along with my own, as an example, that shows what someone with Secondary Progressive MS "looks like".

2) use any Internet search engine and plug in the words "MS symptoms". Then you can see if you have any or all of them.

3) Then, go to see your doctor, better prepared to partner with him/her in getting you a diagnosis not only for your "condition", but for medications and/or other suggestions for "managing" your symptoms.

Finally, please feel free to contact me by clicking onto my Yahoo name and email me or im me with additional questions along your process of discovery.

Best wishes.

Answer 6

Here you go: http://www.nmss.org/