Hello,
I first want to say I am not here hoping to receive a diagnosis from anyone. I understand that only a doctor can do that with proper tests - and I am seeing doctors about this currently. I am merely here to see if anyone may have any further insights based on their own experiences.
Some background on me and my history: I'm a 26 yo female. I'm 5'1", 105 lbs. I am fairly athletic and try to work out often, eat healthily. I'm not a smoker, don't drink, don't do drugs.
A few years ago I developed a very slight tremor in my left hand, barely noticeable, and was also diagnosed with sleep apnea. I had another sleep study done earlier this year and was told I don't have sleep apnea anymore aside from some very mild central hypopneas, though my sleep is just as bad as before. I wake up what feels like several times an hour, and also have to pee sometimes several times at night.
Sometime early to mid 2016, my tremor got much worse suddenly. I've been told it is an end-action tremor. I also have mild dysdiadochoinesia, where I cannot do rapidly alternating movements with my left hand and in general it is very clumsy and uncoordinated. My MRI in Feb 2017 showed that my left cerebellum is smaller than my right. One doc said that could be causing the tremor, while all other docs assessing my situation believe it to be congenital and think my symptoms are not related.
Around the same time I began experiencing some very severe fatigue. I am always fatigued as I don't sleep well but this became something different. It comes in seemingly completely arbitrary waves, and hits me so hard and suddenly sometimes I will suddenly feel like I'm wading through quicksand and need to lie or sit down immediately. Like a full body sensation fatigue. My legs do feel like jelly sometimes, but my gait is fine. My mind started feeling constantly foggy, like "scrambled eggs" and daily mental tasks seem sometimes impossible, from following simple instructions and conversations, to remembering simple words, to concentrating on anything.
Same time I began experiencing some mild neuropathy. Sporadic burning sensations in my hands, sometime achy pain in my arm, electrical jolts going down my leg or neck, sharp stabs of pain in my jaw. This only happened sometimes. It seemed to disappear by early this year, came back around April, then disappeared again and has not happened at all in the last couple months. When it happens I am so sure of what I'm feeling, but then when it disappears it makes me wonder if it was all in my head or maybe stress related. I also as of 2016 started having these crazy itch attacks. I get so itchy suddenly and scratch until my skin looks sickly. It usually happens in bouts that last round 15 min, and I've noticed it generally happens after I shower or when I'm under the covers at night. My boyfriend has joked he will need to put mittens on my hands to keep me from scratching. It drives him crazy.
I have also been having intermittent double vision for 3 months now, which my eye doc can't explain.
Then early this year, 2017, along with my tremor I noted muscle weakness in my left arm and hand. I couldnt text with my left hand anymore, or type well, hold things with more effort, and had trouble with fine movements like buttoning my bf's shirts, picking up objects, and doing any sort of activity that requires coordination or precision.
The couple neurologists I have seen have confirmed that I have mild muscle atrophy in my left hand. I have thenar and hypothenar atrophy, and flattening of my palm. It has been getting more evident since July. When looking at the back of my hand you can see a big dent in between my thumb and forefinger, and my hand is beginning to look very frail. I also have some mild rebound and hyperactive reflexes.
I've undergone all sorts of blood tests, which have all come back fine. No Wilson's disease, no thyroid issues, no vitamin deficiencies, no Lyme, no myasthenia gravis. I had an EMG, which came back clean, ruling out Peripheral neuropathy and ALS. I had an MRI of my brain. No lesions or inflammation they could see of my optic nerves. Finally, had an MRI of my brachial plexus, which was clean, ruling out thoracic outlet syndrome.
No images of my spine yet.
Does any of this sounds like possible MS to anyone? My big question is, is neurogenic muscle atrophy possible in a condition like MS?
My doc knows something is wrong, but just doesn't know what yet. He said seeing as the EMG came back clean, that my symptoms point to my brain, but my MRI came back mostly normal
I first want to say I am not here hoping to receive a diagnosis from anyone. I understand that only a doctor can do that with proper tests - and I am seeing doctors about this currently. I am merely here to see if anyone may have any further insights based on their own experiences.
Some background on me and my history: I'm a 26 yo female. I'm 5'1", 105 lbs. I am fairly athletic and try to work out often, eat healthily. I'm not a smoker, don't drink, don't do drugs.
A few years ago I developed a very slight tremor in my left hand, barely noticeable, and was also diagnosed with sleep apnea. I had another sleep study done earlier this year and was told I don't have sleep apnea anymore aside from some very mild central hypopneas, though my sleep is just as bad as before. I wake up what feels like several times an hour, and also have to pee sometimes several times at night.
Sometime early to mid 2016, my tremor got much worse suddenly. I've been told it is an end-action tremor. I also have mild dysdiadochoinesia, where I cannot do rapidly alternating movements with my left hand and in general it is very clumsy and uncoordinated. My MRI in Feb 2017 showed that my left cerebellum is smaller than my right. One doc said that could be causing the tremor, while all other docs assessing my situation believe it to be congenital and think my symptoms are not related.
Around the same time I began experiencing some very severe fatigue. I am always fatigued as I don't sleep well but this became something different. It comes in seemingly completely arbitrary waves, and hits me so hard and suddenly sometimes I will suddenly feel like I'm wading through quicksand and need to lie or sit down immediately. Like a full body sensation fatigue. My legs do feel like jelly sometimes, but my gait is fine. My mind started feeling constantly foggy, like "scrambled eggs" and daily mental tasks seem sometimes impossible, from following simple instructions and conversations, to remembering simple words, to concentrating on anything.
Same time I began experiencing some mild neuropathy. Sporadic burning sensations in my hands, sometime achy pain in my arm, electrical jolts going down my leg or neck, sharp stabs of pain in my jaw. This only happened sometimes. It seemed to disappear by early this year, came back around April, then disappeared again and has not happened at all in the last couple months. When it happens I am so sure of what I'm feeling, but then when it disappears it makes me wonder if it was all in my head or maybe stress related. I also as of 2016 started having these crazy itch attacks. I get so itchy suddenly and scratch until my skin looks sickly. It usually happens in bouts that last round 15 min, and I've noticed it generally happens after I shower or when I'm under the covers at night. My boyfriend has joked he will need to put mittens on my hands to keep me from scratching. It drives him crazy.
I have also been having intermittent double vision for 3 months now, which my eye doc can't explain.
Then early this year, 2017, along with my tremor I noted muscle weakness in my left arm and hand. I couldnt text with my left hand anymore, or type well, hold things with more effort, and had trouble with fine movements like buttoning my bf's shirts, picking up objects, and doing any sort of activity that requires coordination or precision.
The couple neurologists I have seen have confirmed that I have mild muscle atrophy in my left hand. I have thenar and hypothenar atrophy, and flattening of my palm. It has been getting more evident since July. When looking at the back of my hand you can see a big dent in between my thumb and forefinger, and my hand is beginning to look very frail. I also have some mild rebound and hyperactive reflexes.
I've undergone all sorts of blood tests, which have all come back fine. No Wilson's disease, no thyroid issues, no vitamin deficiencies, no Lyme, no myasthenia gravis. I had an EMG, which came back clean, ruling out Peripheral neuropathy and ALS. I had an MRI of my brain. No lesions or inflammation they could see of my optic nerves. Finally, had an MRI of my brachial plexus, which was clean, ruling out thoracic outlet syndrome.
No images of my spine yet.
Does any of this sounds like possible MS to anyone? My big question is, is neurogenic muscle atrophy possible in a condition like MS?
My doc knows something is wrong, but just doesn't know what yet. He said seeing as the EMG came back clean, that my symptoms point to my brain, but my MRI came back mostly normal
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