Long And Winding Road

[popie]

I have been on the long and winding road of trying to get a diagnosis for my condition for the past 2 years and still don't seem to be getting any closer to someone being able to tell me what I have. My primary care and neurologist say they suspect it is MS, but the nerve conduction tests came back normal and three MRI's - two of my brain and one of my spinal cord all came back showing no lesions. I have the fatigue that varies in degree from day to day and the numbness and tingling has gone from on and off and confined to my feet and occasionally my hands to all my limbs all the time. I'm unsteady on my feet and sometimes just taking a shower in the morning is a challenge to stay balanced and get thru it. I feel like an odd ball now when I go to the Doctor and he has no answers for how I feel other than it sounds like MS. I'm starting to have more trouble with my hands and holding a pencil now feels awkward. They tremble at times when I am doing simple things like bring a fork of food up to my mouth. I don't even feel I have the strength to type on this key board. Today after reviewing my latest "unremarkable MRI" my neuro wants me to wait a year and see what shows up on the MRI then.

[Kathie1026]

Your MRI's

Hi Popie,

All my problems started in Jan. of this year (2013). I've had a MRI of my brain and C-Spine, both were normal. The reason my C-Spine was scanned was due to a burning, sensitive sensation coming from that area. However, I've been wondering... do neurologist usually scan a patients entire spine?

Good luck with achieving a diagnosis

Kathie

[babymonkey]

There are many conditions that have your exact symptoms including MS. Have you been tested for any of these conditions http://symptomchecker.webmd.com/mult...ations=62%7C62


If not, you may want to ask your doctor about them.

Kathie,
Most Neuro's do MRI's of the brain, Cervical Spine and Thoracic Spine (if symptoms warrant checking Thoracic).

Best of luck,
Marci

[popie]

I started out with my primary running all kinds of blood test. He did determine I was anemic, but didn't determine the reason for it. Put me on Iron and vitamin C which made me sick. Eventually had a blood transfusion and since then anemia has not shown up any more. That was a year and a half ago. He continued running the same blood tests and getting the same results and I changed my primary and started seeing a neuro. Both ran endless blood tests ruling out other conditions that have the same symptoms - Lime Disease, Lupas, Diabetes, and other I can't keep up with. I think my neuro thought I was having TIA's because I had (and still have) tingling on my face, but MRA's didn't show any evidence of stroke (or anything else). He put me on cymbalta saying it would make the tingling go away and help me sleep and thereby make the fatigue go away. The tingling did go away for a few months, but eventually returned. I still was tired and actually felt sleepy (as apposed to fatigued) with the cymbalta. I eventually decided on my own to go off the cymbata (with my primary monitoring) and changed nuero. He thinks the stroke idea was off base and has been more focused on MS being the cause.