Hello all!
I am in Limbo, I think. I'll give my story and see what you all think. In March 2011, I was rushed to the hospital with what my wife thought was a stroke. I had vision issues, pain behind my eyes, weak and numbness on my right side, slurred speech... all the classic symptoms of a stroke. I also had extreme pain in the base of my skull and neck as well as in my lower back. An LP was negative, and a T1 brain MRI showed no stroke, but two lesions on one part of my brain. I was discharged from the hospital after five days, spent thirty days on bed rest and slowly recovered. I ended up feeling close to normal, but with the back, head and neck pain just not as severe.
Fast forward to this month, and I started to experience some pain behind the eyes I had before. My peripheral vision started to go on my right side and the pain in my back, neck and head came back with a vengence. I eventually ended up so weak and with little feeling in my left side and a violent twitch of my right leg that I was hospitalized again. I had a brain CT and MRI as well as C-spine and T-spine MRI. All of the tests were with and without contrast. Before the MRI's, the neuro mentioned that these tests should conclude a diagnosis of MS. All of the tests came back negative. I was discharged yesterday from the hospital again with no diagnosis or explanation of my symptoms. I have not seen the CT or MRI film or reports from this latest hospital stay. I am from the Philadelphia area and am planning on trying to get an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania MS Center. What else can I do? Both neuro's I have seen have said that without a change in brain or spine MRI's, a diagnosis of MS isn't possible. I'm not sure if I even have MS, but I really need an answer. I can't take this not knowing what is wrong with me anymore. Any advice that the comunity can offer?
Thank you all in advance for reading this way-too-long post and for any feedback you can give!
I am in Limbo, I think. I'll give my story and see what you all think. In March 2011, I was rushed to the hospital with what my wife thought was a stroke. I had vision issues, pain behind my eyes, weak and numbness on my right side, slurred speech... all the classic symptoms of a stroke. I also had extreme pain in the base of my skull and neck as well as in my lower back. An LP was negative, and a T1 brain MRI showed no stroke, but two lesions on one part of my brain. I was discharged from the hospital after five days, spent thirty days on bed rest and slowly recovered. I ended up feeling close to normal, but with the back, head and neck pain just not as severe.
Fast forward to this month, and I started to experience some pain behind the eyes I had before. My peripheral vision started to go on my right side and the pain in my back, neck and head came back with a vengence. I eventually ended up so weak and with little feeling in my left side and a violent twitch of my right leg that I was hospitalized again. I had a brain CT and MRI as well as C-spine and T-spine MRI. All of the tests were with and without contrast. Before the MRI's, the neuro mentioned that these tests should conclude a diagnosis of MS. All of the tests came back negative. I was discharged yesterday from the hospital again with no diagnosis or explanation of my symptoms. I have not seen the CT or MRI film or reports from this latest hospital stay. I am from the Philadelphia area and am planning on trying to get an appointment at the University of Pennsylvania MS Center. What else can I do? Both neuro's I have seen have said that without a change in brain or spine MRI's, a diagnosis of MS isn't possible. I'm not sure if I even have MS, but I really need an answer. I can't take this not knowing what is wrong with me anymore. Any advice that the comunity can offer?
Thank you all in advance for reading this way-too-long post and for any feedback you can give!
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