My name is darla and I'm 32yrs old. Im not even sure I should be here, so I guess that's why I'm here! For many yrs its been thought that I have lupus or another connective tissue disorder, although not dx'd with any one thing, but about 20 things. So to make things short, I have been adamant tha there's something wrong and pushing for answers. This whole time I've thought it was along the lupus line, until 3 days ago.
I recently joined a lupus forum, and when giving my symptoms, someone asked "have you ever been checked for ms?", I said "no, why? Do these sound like ms symptoms?" before I got a reply, I immediately looked up ms and the symptoms and I was shocked to see that yes, I have many of them! I was most recently dx'd with peripheral neuropathy and put on nuerontin. My pcp said she was going to send me to a rheumy. I left her office, excited tha maybe the end was near.....well the rheumy called to schedule and the next day I got a call from a neuro saying they were following up on a refferal, so I scheduled with them as well (both are at Dartmouth Hitchcock medical center and apts are piggybacked) but I didn't know why I was seeing a neuro, I chalked it up to the recent neuropathy. Then, I saw the symptoms. I've come to realize that yes,maybe I am going for the neuropathy but I think it's more then that.
I know bot ms and lupus are great mimicars of each other and other illnesses, I've also learned you can have both together. I do have any ms symptoms but a biggie is I've had 8 pregnancy losses due to antiphospholipid syndrome, which is most commonly found in lupus. Thad the only symptom I can differentiate. Other then that, a lot of my symptoms, you *can have w/lupus but are ON the list.
So here I sit, in pain, depressed and utterly confused! So I decided to come here to get some input. I'm seeing my pco today for the neuropathy follow up, she's not aggressive at all and I want(NEEED) her to be. I'm not sure if I should bring in a symptom list (she already knows most) and just say how I feel or wait for my apts at Dartmouth, though I am going to ask about the neuro refferal!
My symptoms are as followed (in no order)
Neuropathy
Depression
Anxiety
"brain fog"-forgetfulness, can't find the right words and often say things like " you know that thing that's white, and you put food into to heat up" ohhh yeah microwave etc etc
Extreme fatigue
Joint and muscle pain/swelling
Occasional nighttime incontinence
"eye floaters"
livido reticular is rash
Headaches
Chronic constipation
Muscle twiches (calfs, eyelids, but ect)
Alopecia
And a few other minor things that my brain won't giv me at the moment
So as you can see, there's quite an array! I'm hoping someone will pipe in with their 2cents as it's worth a million bucks to me! I've educated myself about lupus a Lot, but no nothing of ms, and I'm very scared!
I ow your not docs, but in your opinion, do I have enough symptoms that ms is a possibility? Or do you think, no way...this girls crazy, it's either lupus or "over reacting!"? Also, how should (if) I approach my pcp today?
Sorry so long, thanks for reading and have a great day!
Darla ~forever awaiting answers~
I recently joined a lupus forum, and when giving my symptoms, someone asked "have you ever been checked for ms?", I said "no, why? Do these sound like ms symptoms?" before I got a reply, I immediately looked up ms and the symptoms and I was shocked to see that yes, I have many of them! I was most recently dx'd with peripheral neuropathy and put on nuerontin. My pcp said she was going to send me to a rheumy. I left her office, excited tha maybe the end was near.....well the rheumy called to schedule and the next day I got a call from a neuro saying they were following up on a refferal, so I scheduled with them as well (both are at Dartmouth Hitchcock medical center and apts are piggybacked) but I didn't know why I was seeing a neuro, I chalked it up to the recent neuropathy. Then, I saw the symptoms. I've come to realize that yes,maybe I am going for the neuropathy but I think it's more then that.
I know bot ms and lupus are great mimicars of each other and other illnesses, I've also learned you can have both together. I do have any ms symptoms but a biggie is I've had 8 pregnancy losses due to antiphospholipid syndrome, which is most commonly found in lupus. Thad the only symptom I can differentiate. Other then that, a lot of my symptoms, you *can have w/lupus but are ON the list.
So here I sit, in pain, depressed and utterly confused! So I decided to come here to get some input. I'm seeing my pco today for the neuropathy follow up, she's not aggressive at all and I want(NEEED) her to be. I'm not sure if I should bring in a symptom list (she already knows most) and just say how I feel or wait for my apts at Dartmouth, though I am going to ask about the neuro refferal!
My symptoms are as followed (in no order)
Neuropathy
Depression
Anxiety
"brain fog"-forgetfulness, can't find the right words and often say things like " you know that thing that's white, and you put food into to heat up" ohhh yeah microwave etc etc
Extreme fatigue
Joint and muscle pain/swelling
Occasional nighttime incontinence
"eye floaters"
livido reticular is rash
Headaches
Chronic constipation
Muscle twiches (calfs, eyelids, but ect)
Alopecia
And a few other minor things that my brain won't giv me at the moment
So as you can see, there's quite an array! I'm hoping someone will pipe in with their 2cents as it's worth a million bucks to me! I've educated myself about lupus a Lot, but no nothing of ms, and I'm very scared!
I ow your not docs, but in your opinion, do I have enough symptoms that ms is a possibility? Or do you think, no way...this girls crazy, it's either lupus or "over reacting!"? Also, how should (if) I approach my pcp today?
Sorry so long, thanks for reading and have a great day!
Darla ~forever awaiting answers~
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