I do not know if MS will end up being my diagnosis, but most of my personal searches have led me to these sites as I am trying to find explanations for some of what I have been going through.
Most of my symptoms have "just enough" of a plausible explanation that I dismissed them for years. However, taken together, they paint a different picture. I'm hoping for a safe place and support as I continue through potential tests. Should I be wrong about the potential of MS, I thank you all for your support during this process.
Some of my symptoms over the past 10 years:
- Right arm tingling, numbness
- Can be positional, but has been fairly consistent since beginning of October 2019
- My limbs (arms, legs, feet) fall to sleep very easily
- Can have random tingling in the bottoms of my feet
- Left hand – vibrations and when tap fingertips, jolt of pain/volt (isolated occurrence/one evening)
- Headaches
- Trouble finding words/slurring/stuttering (not constant; occurs in pockets – may be linked to migraines???)
- Dizziness (some moments of imbalance and episodes of vertigo)
- Extreme leg pain (went to ER): One time instance, lasted about 3 days with pain lessening each day. On worst day, could not walk and pain came in waves but always constant. Like a contraction in my legs. Knees would give out when walking.
- Fatigue
- Can be extreme. Depression??
- Since I was a teenager (was anemic at one point, but got tested for lupus and other auto-immune and sugar issues due to its pervasiveness)
- Walking up a flight of stairs leaves me wanting to sit down some days before continuing on.
- Get more tired working out, though know I am also out of shape and working back into it
- Have been to the doctor multiple times for fatigue but always goes away and I dismiss it as hormonal, etc. Then comes back and feels pervasive again.
- Can be extreme. Depression??
- Fizzing sound/feeling in back right of head/top of neck. (compare to pop rocks. Lasts about 2-5 seconds)
- Some nights, vision is flashing and like a kaleidoscope (similar to ocular migraine)
- Restless legs (occasionally, maybe once a month)
- Frequent muscle cramps (feet, neck/throat, back, ribs) -- my neck is currently the worst. My entire neck will seize up in a muscle cramp. Can happen when yawning or chewing, but also happens seemingly untriggered.
- TMJ (more muscle cramping than jaw pain alone)
- Occasional chest tightness (anxiety linked maybe)
- Intense itching of hands and feet (may be allergic reactions?)
- Ice pick headaches
- Lower back pain
- *After ankle surgery in 2010(2011?), started having random severe allergic reactions (anaphylaxis or just short of anaphylaxis). Ended up being diagnosed in 2013 with exercise induced anaphylaxis.
- In 2016, started having episodes that I thought were allergic reactions. Face would go numb, difficulty swallowing, itchy hands. Went to the ER for one episode and after tests, they treated it like a panic attack. I was in a period of high anxiety and depression, so even though I didn’t think that’s what it was, I accepted it as plausible.
- Still have random attacks of severe itching in the hands and some coughing/sneezing that doesn’t ever go any further.