Can MS symptoms come on quickly?

[FaithGirl]

So, I had an MRI last week that showed a lesion that says it "could not be excluded" from a MS diagnosis.

anyway, apart from my initial "episode-like" symptoms I had that led my hematologist to do the MRI and then refer to the neuro, I've had very weird tingling and weakness these past couple of weeks.

my main question is this - can MS symptoms come on quickly? for example, this morning, within about a 20 minute window, I started feeling light-headed and then my left-leg went very weak and shaky. So weak that it was hard for me to walk - I told my husband it would have been easier to walk with a cane!

the weakness continued through out the day, and I noticed in the late afternoon it was improving a bit. It has definitely improved from this morning, but still feels weak and shaky.

can MS symptoms come on this quickly?

[Mynamegoeshere1]

Yes

Yes, although mine generally get worse as the day goes on. I have progressed rapidly though.

[jbell2435]

Hi FaithGirl!

Yes, the sx can come quickly for some and for others not so quickly, but subtle changes. It is a very strange disease that way as it varies so much in each individual.

Just because you had an MRI that "cannot exclue MS", you really need to have your neuro rule out many other things that can mimic MS and that can come not so quickly...

I hope that you find your answers quickly! Try not to freak out and have patience. My 1st MRI said "white matter lesion consistent with MS" and that was in 2004, wasn't dx until 2011.

A lot of the dx is what your symptoms are in a clinical exam with your neuro.

Good luck!!

[gomer]

YEP! Several years ago I had the nastiest reverse l'hermites ever.

About 15-20 minutes later I could barely walk at all. My left leg - foot was a mess. I used a walker but it was very hard even with that.


Gomer Sir Falls-a-lot

[0485c10]

term is "fulninat onset" or do the symptoms gradually grow with time?

for sensory symptoms & motor symptoms they can be "noticed" suddenly doesn't mean they happened suddenly.

met a woman who was diagnosed with ms--leg weakness visible falling...

doc's were sure it was ms because it had a sudden onset.

eventually she was diagnosed with something worse than ms--a progressive muscular disorder. it had seemed sudden to her because she "suddenly noticed and "suddenly" began falling but it had been growing without her noticing for a while before becomming visible.

[0485c10]

fulminant onset. read an interesting paper by a neuro on ms..

he said the damage & healing of nerves is done so slowly and a person just automatically compensates(without realizing they are compensating) while their nerve functions are modulatingt, then"suddenly" the compensation no longer works--so it can appear as sudden but actually the work was being done over time.

same with healing. after a relapse of ms there is a remission as scars form over the nerves and it happens so slowly & a person is doing just a little more each day, they don't realize it happening. then "suddenly" one day it appears to be in remission, but it has been gradually happening all the while since the relapse. cause frustration in new people waiting for recovery after a relapse. that appears like its never going to happen.

[KatieDidNOT]

Absolutely.

Try not to freak out. This happens to me when I am walking the dog.

I found that after I walk the dog, I sit down for about 30 minutes and the symptoms go away.

Katie

[0485c10]

I'm thinking more on this question, and pulling more thoughts out of my head. I noticed some had been diagnosed with a "fulminant onset" and i wanted to understand what that was...i wasn't? i was diagnosed in an ER 2.5 hours after i went to an ER then i was admitted to the NEUROLIGICAL INTENSIVE CARE UNIT, no less.

seemed fuliminant to me? the day before the intensive care unit was not on my schedule, then it was....?

My symptoms had started the night before and gradually worsened until by the next morning i went to the ER was diagnose with possible MS or stroke. But it wasn't "fulminant" because the symptoms had started the night before and gradually worsened until i needed to address them & get help..

the people who had a fulminant onset diagnosis woke with symptoms & had done no activities that would have worsened them. they just started worse without activity.

I think fulminant is a description of symptoms with out activity ..MS symptoms "normally" worsen with activity but fulminant MS symptoms also exist.

[FaithGirl]

Thanks so much for your replies! you all are really so, so much help!

and, yes, my neuro is working me up for other stuff. he said seizures, weird migraines (hepiplegic, I think?), blood clot in brain, and MS are the things he's suspecting at the moment.

I did an EEG Tuesday and am doing an MRV today.

Jbell, wow! 6 years before a diagnosis! wow! did they suspect MS in the beginning? or did it just take that long to fit the McDonald criteria?

And, Katie - yes, with whatever's going on with me, rest and sleep have ALWAYS helped! when I woke up this morning, my leg was back to almost completely normal. So, when you're walking your dog, your leg will just almost get totally weak?

and, 0485c10, thank-you for all of that great information!!! wow. so, MS symptoms do tend to worsen with activity?

thanks, everyone. truly.

[jbell2435]

Faith - Actually I was not looking for a dx for 6 years, just had an MRI that said possible in 2004...I didn't pursue it as the ENT doc said, "oh you don't have MS", my foot/leg problems started around 2009/2010, then saw an ortho doc until last Sept. (actually saw 2 neuros in between, but they did not do any tests other than coordination stuff).

BTW, I am glad I did not know back in 2004...as someone else has in their signature...ignorance was bliss and I regret knowing (then, not now).

Good luck and please let us know what you find.

[Lexie]

I was informally diagnosed about about 20 years ago. I had brain scans every year for about 7 years and nothing changed so I quit doing them. Then about 15 years later the symptons came very slowly. I could not raise my arms to roll my hair, I could not tolerate the heat, had no energy and was very emotional. Had gone to my pp for three weeks in a row and changed antidepressants. After the third week he sent me directly to the ER to make sure I was not having a stroke. After three days in the hospital and 7 months of every test you could think of I was formally dx. I could hardly go for about 6 months. Now I am feeling better but I have learned to say "NO" and rest more than ever. It is so strange because every person is different. Good Luck!!!!

[Alicious]

so, MS symptoms do tend to worsen with activity?

It depends entirely on the person with MS. For me, not one bit. For others, absolutely.

Much luck to you in figuring out what is going on!