Do MS attacks come in "waves"? I need answers :(

[Crashoran]

I am a 23 year old male, and have been having symptoms for a while now. I have an appointment with a neuro next Friday.

I've been having double vision, blindness in alternating eyes (All I can see is a flat gray), trouble keeping balance, and depression. Today I went to a doctor for a cough that has lasted for a month, he took an xray of my chest, and said the walls of my lungs were inflamed, and was odd for my age. He said it was pneumonia and has me on antibiotics. I don't know if the pneumonia is related.

Because the vision problems scare me the most, I went to an ophthalmologist and he said my eyes were fine. He thinks it's brain related, and thus gave me my neuro appointment coming up soon.

I'm just really confused because the symptoms seem to come and go randomly. For instance, in the month of July I had dozens of the double vision and blindness episodes, but it has only happened once so far this month. Some days, particularly on the weekends, I can't even keep my balance very well when walking, and feel so tired like my limbs weigh 100 pounds each. After the vision problems stopped, the coughing started.

I don't know if I have MS or not. It just seems like all my symptoms point towards it. I just want answers

[sloth]

Keep going to docs till you find one who will help you, follow your heart till you get the care you need.

Be the squeaky wheel if you have to, tell them somehing isnt right.

Im not sure why an mri hasnt been done to see what ,if anything, is going on in the brain that may not be normal.

My experience w/ health issues is that of going back till they listen and eventually do the right tests to dx a problem. Or finding a doc who will listen.

[Redwings]

Hi Crashoran:
You're having neurological symptoms, but there are many conditions that can cause them. MS is only one of them. What a lot of folks think of as "MS symptoms" are really symptoms of many conditions. To use your words, your symptoms point towards MS, but they also point towards many other things. Symptoms can come an go in some of these conditions, including MS. Your symptoms don't, though, fit neatly into the definition of an MS "attack," so the neurologist will have to interpret how the "waves" fit into a diagnosis.

You're at the beginning of what can be a long and frustrating journey to finding out what's causing your symptoms. It might be MS, it might not be. There are many tests that need to be done to rule the suspect conditions in or out, and that can take weeks. Sometimes answers come quickly, sometimes they don't. The neurology exam is for gathering information, so you will get few, if any, answers at that visit.

In the meantime, start keeping a journal of your symptoms to take with you to your neuro visit. Start getting copies of your medical records and continue to get copies as you go along. All of that information can come in handy later. Also, go to the website of the National Multiple Sclerosis Society (www.nmss.org) and start learning as much as you can about MS and how it's diagnosed. That way you'll be educated and prepared for asking questions at your neurology appointment.

I hope you get answers sooner rather than later and that you're feeling better soon.

[jumpinjiminy]

Hi Crash. You're at the very beginning of what can be a long, frightening and frustrating journey. My symptoms came on similarly to yours. It's been a year since I realized these odd little things had intensified to the point they couldn't be brushed off anymore.

I'm not sure how much research you've done on this yet but in case you're at the beginning you can do a search on MS mimics and find a list of conditions you will be tested for eventually, until something turns up.

Among a few things that might act similarly to MS are neurosarcoidosis, neuro lupus, Sjogren's, and other connective tissue diseases. This is the short list. There are metabolic problems and hormonal problems that can mimic as well.

They thought mine was a viral syndrome in the beginning. It wasn't. It was a month before I had my first MRI, which was normal.

Hang in there. I was referred to a neuro around your age (20 years ago or so to be evaluated for MS) who refused to do any testing. In retrospect, as difficult as this last year has been with all the testing and still no answers, I'm glad I didn't know at that age. Here I am, 20+ years older, and still have all of my major functions, albeit with a few quirks here and there.

Nobody would know unless I told them.

Hugs. Ditto what was said above. It can be a challenge finding a neuro or doc that will do the testing to find out and not drag it out forever and ever.