Variety of Strange Symptoms

[eaw091000]

I have a whole list of strange things that have been happening to me lately, wondering if it may be MS. Scheduling Dr appointment soon.

Muscle twitches, spasms throughout body
Occassional shooting pains in legs
Metallic taste in mouth
Tingling throughout body (hands after running)
Shaking after running
Strange 'pain' in spots in neck (sometimes more like pressure, always in the same spots)
'Cold' or 'wet' tingles

I have been under severe stress recently, and get little sleep sometimes. At first, I wrote it off as exhaustion. Now I'm not so sure.

Thoughts?

[Redwings]

Hi eaw:
What you're describing are general neurological symptoms that could be due to dozens of different things. MS is only one of many possibilities. It will take a full workup by a neurologist and possibly other specialists to determine what the cause of your symptoms is.

The one thing that stands out of your list of symptoms is the metallic taste in your mouth. That isn't a usual symptom of MS, although it's possible. You didn't mention if you're taking any medications, but it (along with some other things) could be a side effect of a medication.

More seriously, a metallic taste is also a symptom reported by some people who have a leakage of cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) into their nose and throat (called spontaneous or nontraumatic cerebrospinal fluid rhinorrhea). If CSF is leaking out of the body, it can cause all kinds of neurological symptoms, particularly the "throughout the body" types of twitching and tingling you're noticing. Based on the metallic taste alone, CSF leakage is one thing that your neurologist will have to consider as s/he looks at the many possible causes of your symptoms.

Your symptoms aren't specific enough that MS is the first thing that comes to mind. But, because it's a neurological disease, it is on the list of conditions to be investigated.