Help with symptoms, awaiting MRI results

[Breeze10]

Hello everyone!

I am a 35 yr old female. First time mom of a 15 month old. I was referred to neuro from pcp due to finger and toe tingling. Ruled out b12 and thyroid. I had an MRI with and without contrast 2 days ago and awaiting results.

Symptoms have occurred for approx 1 yr with 3-4 episodes of tingling in extremities (primarily outer 2 fingers and left outer 2 toes. My back aches and upper spine is tender and I go through fatigue bouts that I attributed to lack of sleep with a teething toddler. Vision appears ok now. I have had eye twitches for several years, thought to be from lack of sleep during grad school and full time work along with stress in marriage ( prior to pregnancy). Old doc prescribed lunesta and seemed to help. No longer on it, twitches back and pcp prescribed klonopin for anxiety in the meantime. I will have small twitches randomly in body that I thought were normal for everyone and has been this way for a few yrs. Marriage stress has gotten to me too.

Question, does this sound like ms? Has anyone had these same symptoms. I am trying to prepare myself. Thanks for listening and sharing your thoughts

[Redwings]

Hi Breeze10:
Welcome! There are literally dozens and dozens of conditions that share some of the same symptoms. For tingling alone, the website wrongdiagnosis.com lists 951 possible causes. So tingling sounds like it could be MS, but it could also be 950 other things. Symptoms alone can't tell what the cause is.

It also sounds like you're in that murky zone between having symptoms that are normal and common but might be crossing over into being so common that they're becoming abnormally common. You're right -- virtually everyone has eyelid twitches from time to time, and they're common when a person is overly tired, ill or under stress. Eyelid twitches are so common in the general population that it's hard to know how to interpret them until they start to occur so often that they're obviously abnormal. Other little muscle twitches are also hard to interpret for the same reason.

A lot of people here who have MS can tell you they've had muscle twitches and/or back pain and/or fatigue. But a lot of folks who don't have MS can tell you the same thing. The frustrating part of trying to find a cause is that it sometimes takes months to years before the causative condition reveals enough about itself that a diagnosis can be made. The process can entail some in-depth and repetitive testing. It sometimes involves having to change doctors from duds who don't "get it" to more knowledgeable, compassionate practitioners who do. The key to getting through it all is learning to be patient and in control of your emotions while the whole process unfolds.

There is no single test for MS. A diagnosis is made based on a combination of signs, symptoms, clinical exam and test results. It sounds like you're on the right track to start with some basic blood work and MRIs. There will (or at least there should) be more testing in the future.

In the meantime, The National Multiple Sclerosis Society website has a nice summary about how MS is diagnosed: http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo...-ms/index.aspx. Feel free to come back here to MSWorld to ask more questions. There are lots of folks here who are happy to help you.