Spinal Lesion Locations

[Tiber2011]

I'm almost afriad to ask this...but:

Can spinal lesions be in the lumbar area?

In March, I had a burning, hot, rash-like pain in the middle of the lumbar spine.

It went away after physical therapy, but that's also when I had so man other issues begin: twitching, tingling, vibrations, pain everywhere, fasiculations, persevered weakness.

Now, if move my right arm too close to my body with my head and shoulders hunched, the muscle between the shoulder and neck with tingle/pins and needles with intensity until I move it out and raise my head up straight.

My back MRI showed nothing in April. However, I'm now scared that that lumbar area could be "it." I feel the little stinging in that area again.

[Tiber2011]

Meant to say "perceived weakness"

[MSer102]

It might help you to look up a diagram of the lumbar spine and spinal cord. The spinal cord ends early in the upper lumbar spine. There's really just a little nub of lumbar spinal cord. It's so small that the chances of there being a lesion there are so low that MS doctors rarely even scan the lumbar cord. So technically there can be a lesion in the lumbar cord but the chances are low to begin with. The chances of there being an MS lesion in the lumbar cord and nowhere else in the entire central nervous system are probably astronomically low. So that's the first reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

A problem with the lumbar spinal cord would affect only your legs and wouldn't cause all of the other symptoms you've had. So that's a second reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

MS lesions themselves don't hurt. So if you have pain or stinging in your lumbar spine it isn't because there's a lesion there that's painful. That's the third reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

There might be a mechanical problem like a bad disc compressing nerves coming out of the lumbar spine, but it isn't because of MS. And remember that most of the lumbar spine doesn't even contain spinal cord. If you are concerned about a mechanical problem that's a reason why a neurologist or orthopedic doctor might do a lumbar MRI so you could ask for one. But not because of MS.

With one exception MS symptoms are not "positional". The one exception involves a split second of feeling when large nerves are stretched not when they're compressed and not longlasting. MS symptoms don't get worse with a body part in one position and get better in another position. So if you feel pins and needles in your muscle with your arm and head in one position and it stays that way until you move your arm and head straight again, that's positional and is not MS.

And MS acts specifically on the nerve pathways the lesions are on. It doesn't cause pain and and twitching and weakness all over the body at the same time.

There isn't any symptom you've told us about that points to MS.

There's one thing that causes people to keep looking for MS when there isn't any indication of it and that's anxiety. Anxiety makes people distort and make a catastrophe out of everything. Your anxiety is so thick it covers everything your write.

Have you been getting treatment for your anxiety? If not I think you should strongly consider it. If you are already getting treatment it's obvious that it isn't working and you can benefit from a change in therapy or change in therapists. A lot of people with serious mental health issues stay with doctors who aren't helping specifically because they like that the doctors aren't pressuring them to make changes to get better. I don't have any way to know if that's what's going on with you but it's really obvious that if you are getting treatment for anxiety it isn't working. But like the old joke about the light bulb, you have to really want to change.

You haven't told us anything that points to you having MS. I send you good wishes as you get your anxiety under control and work with your doctors on the things that the medical tests show that you do have going on.

[Tiber2011]

It might help you to look up a diagram of the lumbar spine and spinal cord. The spinal cord ends early in the upper lumbar spine. There's really just a little nub of lumbar spinal cord. It's so small that the chances of there being a lesion there are so low that MS doctors rarely even scan the lumbar cord. So technically there can be a lesion in the lumbar cord but the chances are low to begin with. The chances of there being an MS lesion in the lumbar cord and nowhere else in the entire central nervous system are probably astronomically low. So that's the first reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

A problem with the lumbar spinal cord would affect only your legs and wouldn't cause all of the other symptoms you've had. So that's a second reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

MS lesions themselves don't hurt. So if you have pain or stinging in your lumbar spine it isn't because there's a lesion there that's painful. That's the third reason why the lumbar spinal cord isn't "it" for your possibility of having MS.

There might be a mechanical problem like a bad disc compressing nerves coming out of the lumbar spine, but it isn't because of MS. And remember that most of the lumbar spine doesn't even contain spinal cord. If you are concerned about a mechanical problem that's a reason why a neurologist or orthopedic doctor might do a lumbar MRI so you could ask for one. But not because of MS.

With one exception MS symptoms are not "positional". The one exception involves a split second of feeling when large nerves are stretched not when they're compressed and not longlasting. MS symptoms don't get worse with a body part in one position and get better in another position. So if you feel pins and needles in your muscle with your arm and head in one position and it stays that way until you move your arm and head straight again, that's positional and is not MS.

And MS acts specifically on the nerve pathways the lesions are on. It doesn't cause pain and and twitching and weakness all over the body at the same time.

There isn't any symptom you've told us about that points to MS.

There's one thing that causes people to keep looking for MS when there isn't any indication of it and that's anxiety. Anxiety makes people distort and make a catastrophe out of everything. Your anxiety is so thick it covers everything your write.

Have you been getting treatment for your anxiety? If not I think you should strongly consider it. If you are already getting treatment it's obvious that it isn't working and you can benefit from a change in therapy or change in therapists. A lot of people with serious mental health issues stay with doctors who aren't helping specifically because they like that the doctors aren't pressuring them to make changes to get better. I don't have any way to know if that's what's going on with you but it's really obvious that if you are getting treatment for anxiety it isn't working. But like the old joke about the light bulb, you have to really want to change.

You haven't told us anything that points to you having MS. I send you good wishes as you get your anxiety under control and work with your doctors on the things that the medical tests show that you do have going on.

Oh my.

I really, really hope this is anxiety, then.

I was seeing a counselor on-and-off. I talked, he listened. That was it. No advice, critique. Kept saying "we'll work on that stuff next time."

I went to a new psych center and now will begin seeing a new therapist.

Apart from sometimes seeing a brief, faint "optical snow" in the middle of my vision (both eyes, do a lot of comp work, wear contacts, work under fluorescent lights and I have nasty track lights at home), or an occasional diplopia (seems to occur when I get no sleep), that's the main stuff that's been eating me up whole.

Thank you for telling me all about the lumbar region. I had no idea.

[BEANBAG]

Lumbar Spine??

It sound like possible pinched nerves somewhere between cervical and lower thoracic spine.
The way you move that makes the problems occur because you are in different positions makes me think it is a pinched nerve or nerves.
Get to a therapist one that can prescribe medication for anxiety and help with spinal nerve problems.
I have numbness and tingling in my feet and legs, and it is due to a MS lesion on my thoracic spine, it never goes away no matter what I do. My lesion showed up on a MRI.
Cheryl

[AnneLouise]

I agree with BEANBAG. If you're having problems with your neck, shoulders, or arms, you need to go up higher. Get an MRI of your cervical and thoracic spine.

[Tiber2011]

Thank you, everyone.

I had a MRI of my brain on a new, high-powered closed machine in late April - showed nothing.

My MRI of my back was 3-part and was on a high-powered open machine, the only one in my region. Very pricy, too. That was clear.