Hi,
First time poster looking for advice. In January of this year, I hit my head resulting in a concussion. I have had some neuro symptoms since then like frequent headaches and dizziness, but these subsided about a month ago. Last week I had sudden numbness and tingling in my left shoulder, arm and hand. I thought I may somehow pinched a nerve. Three hours later I had facial numbness and a flushing feeling up the side of my neck and felt like I was going to pass out. I went to the ER to be sure I wasn't having a stroke (unlikely since I'm only 42). The ER doctor said it could be one of three things: stroke, MS or complicated migraine. I was ruled out for stroke with CT Head and MRI brain with no contrast. The admitting dr and neurologist did not seem to consider MS and sent me home with a possible diagnosis of migraine (even though I didn't have a headache). I accepted their diagnosis thinking that my symptoms would go away, but they haven't. This past week I have had continued numbness, tingling and weakness in my left arm, facial numbness- this seems to change in intensity from moderate to mild, and new left leg weakness and numbness (also changing in intensity from moderate to mild). I also have nausea, though not constantly, and have had left eye numbness and twitching. My left eye is now ever so slightly droopy.
I have been to my PCP earlier this week and he gave me the attitude of "yup, you sure are weaker--- let me know what the neuro says when you follow up".
I have two main questions: should I push for an MRI of brain and c spine with contrast and other diagnostic tests for MS? I have read that MRIs without contrast don't always show active lesions and since this is my first issue, I would think an active lesion may be the only kind I have.
My other question is how do you all deal with wondering if you are crazy to be worried? When it boils down to it, I have weakness in one arm, a feeling of weakness in one leg and a feeling of just not being right. It's all things people can't see and nothing that in the scheme of things is super severe (like severe pain or inability to walk).
It's only been a week for me and I can't imagine going to many more doctors visits where all tests are negative. It's a double edged sword- wanting to be fine, but knowing your not and wanting to know what's wrong.
Top it all off, my husband is not medically minded and he keeps telling everyone that they don't know what's wrong and that they've ruled everything out. He really doesn't know that they probably didn't do the right test for MS and I don't want to seem like I'm complaining or crazy by telling him that I'm worried about it. I did rule out for stroke and my Lyme antibody was negative.
Thanks for reading such a long post. Think I may start journaling, typing this felt good (even though I keep misspelling things
First time poster looking for advice. In January of this year, I hit my head resulting in a concussion. I have had some neuro symptoms since then like frequent headaches and dizziness, but these subsided about a month ago. Last week I had sudden numbness and tingling in my left shoulder, arm and hand. I thought I may somehow pinched a nerve. Three hours later I had facial numbness and a flushing feeling up the side of my neck and felt like I was going to pass out. I went to the ER to be sure I wasn't having a stroke (unlikely since I'm only 42). The ER doctor said it could be one of three things: stroke, MS or complicated migraine. I was ruled out for stroke with CT Head and MRI brain with no contrast. The admitting dr and neurologist did not seem to consider MS and sent me home with a possible diagnosis of migraine (even though I didn't have a headache). I accepted their diagnosis thinking that my symptoms would go away, but they haven't. This past week I have had continued numbness, tingling and weakness in my left arm, facial numbness- this seems to change in intensity from moderate to mild, and new left leg weakness and numbness (also changing in intensity from moderate to mild). I also have nausea, though not constantly, and have had left eye numbness and twitching. My left eye is now ever so slightly droopy.
I have been to my PCP earlier this week and he gave me the attitude of "yup, you sure are weaker--- let me know what the neuro says when you follow up".
I have two main questions: should I push for an MRI of brain and c spine with contrast and other diagnostic tests for MS? I have read that MRIs without contrast don't always show active lesions and since this is my first issue, I would think an active lesion may be the only kind I have.
My other question is how do you all deal with wondering if you are crazy to be worried? When it boils down to it, I have weakness in one arm, a feeling of weakness in one leg and a feeling of just not being right. It's all things people can't see and nothing that in the scheme of things is super severe (like severe pain or inability to walk).
It's only been a week for me and I can't imagine going to many more doctors visits where all tests are negative. It's a double edged sword- wanting to be fine, but knowing your not and wanting to know what's wrong.
Top it all off, my husband is not medically minded and he keeps telling everyone that they don't know what's wrong and that they've ruled everything out. He really doesn't know that they probably didn't do the right test for MS and I don't want to seem like I'm complaining or crazy by telling him that I'm worried about it. I did rule out for stroke and my Lyme antibody was negative.
Thanks for reading such a long post. Think I may start journaling, typing this felt good (even though I keep misspelling things
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