Just wanted to introduce myself and say HI! I am one of the newbies here and to the idea of MS. However I am not new to chronic diseases.
My history is that I was perfectly healthy until I turned 37 years old. To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which is an autoimmune Inflammatory bowel disease, I was diagnosed with Diabetes not long after.
I battled these diseases for many years, and finally had the surgery to remove my colon, which was supposed to "cure" me.
All was good for a while until I started to realize I was having an awful lot of weird symptoms on my right side, symptoms like tingling or a "vibrating" feeling on my feet. I attributed all these symptoms to diabetic neuropathy. Things continued to worsen however, until the day at work I had numbness/tingling of my entire right leg and my entire right arm.
i knew I wasn't having a stroke, because I could walk, and move my extremities ok, it just felt like my circulation was cut off. Next thing I knew, I was in urgent care (at the clinic I work at), and then heading to ER in an ambulance. I expected to be laughed out of the ER with a statement that I was fine.
Boy was I mistaken, next thing I know the doctor actually came in and sat down next to my gurney and said, "you're not having a stroke or anything, BUT (yes the dreaded but) your MRI was not normal".
I had "several white matter lesions in the supratentorial brain probably on the order of 15-20." "There are numerous juxtacortical lesions".
So next thing, i had to see a neurologist. I found a wonderful one, that specializes in MS. His plan was to get a thoracic MRI (which was ok), a new test that he is using now in conjunction with everything else, a blood test called the "GaGa protein" test. A lumbar puncture under fluoroscopy, a memory test, and a follow up Brain MRI in 6 months.
Well, my memory test is scheduled Sept 1st, the LP is Sept 6th (YIKES!). I have received the result of the blood test yesterday. My doctor called me personally, (yikes). He said there are 3 results: negative (<56), positive (55-80) and strongly positive (over 80). My result was 60!!!
So, I guess I am freaking out a bit now...the doctor tried to tell me things like: "it is a new test", " there are 11% false positives", " there are other tests to look at too". But still, this is another step in the direction that I didn't want....I am trying not to think about it, but to be honest my thoughts are no where else right now.
Anyways, thanks for reading my long history. Oh just to let ya all know some of my weird symptoms in addition to the numbness/tingling in my right leg and arm (that seems to come and go) I often have a feeling of being slightly drunk (without having any alcohol). Oh and the fatigue!! Also, I get so many different sensations in that right leg, everything from goosebumps, cold spots, little muscle twitches, and pain. Sometimes drives me crazy. thanks again for listening!! Nice to meet you all!!
My history is that I was perfectly healthy until I turned 37 years old. To make a long story short, I was diagnosed with Ulcerative Colitis, which is an autoimmune Inflammatory bowel disease, I was diagnosed with Diabetes not long after.
I battled these diseases for many years, and finally had the surgery to remove my colon, which was supposed to "cure" me.
All was good for a while until I started to realize I was having an awful lot of weird symptoms on my right side, symptoms like tingling or a "vibrating" feeling on my feet. I attributed all these symptoms to diabetic neuropathy. Things continued to worsen however, until the day at work I had numbness/tingling of my entire right leg and my entire right arm.
i knew I wasn't having a stroke, because I could walk, and move my extremities ok, it just felt like my circulation was cut off. Next thing I knew, I was in urgent care (at the clinic I work at), and then heading to ER in an ambulance. I expected to be laughed out of the ER with a statement that I was fine.
Boy was I mistaken, next thing I know the doctor actually came in and sat down next to my gurney and said, "you're not having a stroke or anything, BUT (yes the dreaded but) your MRI was not normal".
I had "several white matter lesions in the supratentorial brain probably on the order of 15-20." "There are numerous juxtacortical lesions".
So next thing, i had to see a neurologist. I found a wonderful one, that specializes in MS. His plan was to get a thoracic MRI (which was ok), a new test that he is using now in conjunction with everything else, a blood test called the "GaGa protein" test. A lumbar puncture under fluoroscopy, a memory test, and a follow up Brain MRI in 6 months.
Well, my memory test is scheduled Sept 1st, the LP is Sept 6th (YIKES!). I have received the result of the blood test yesterday. My doctor called me personally, (yikes). He said there are 3 results: negative (<56), positive (55-80) and strongly positive (over 80). My result was 60!!!
So, I guess I am freaking out a bit now...the doctor tried to tell me things like: "it is a new test", " there are 11% false positives", " there are other tests to look at too". But still, this is another step in the direction that I didn't want....I am trying not to think about it, but to be honest my thoughts are no where else right now.
Anyways, thanks for reading my long history. Oh just to let ya all know some of my weird symptoms in addition to the numbness/tingling in my right leg and arm (that seems to come and go) I often have a feeling of being slightly drunk (without having any alcohol). Oh and the fatigue!! Also, I get so many different sensations in that right leg, everything from goosebumps, cold spots, little muscle twitches, and pain. Sometimes drives me crazy. thanks again for listening!! Nice to meet you all!!
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