i have posted elsewhere on this site and reading through the comments I saw someone say to use this thread.
well here goes…years ago I complained of back pain, doctors said sciatica, only recently they referred me to the orthopaedic hospital, MRI scan was done and showed I had a few discs bulging and that they may be touching the nerve endings of my spine, recently I had to go back for results of another MRI which showed nothing and that the lower part of my back was fine, but for years I’ve been complaining of 1…numbness, pins and needles in my groin 2 numbness, pins and needles in my arm both with a cold, frozen feeling 3 tingling to my eye and nostril and I’ve started to limp after being on my feet at work after only 4 hours, I also have developed headaches to the point I could be sick. I explained all this to the specialist who has now discharged me from the orthopaedic and referred me to a neurologist team at my local hospital. Please could someone tell me if these are the symptoms of MS and if so how long does it take to diagnose this??
Sorry Sarah, I didn’t realise you’d already figured out that your best bet was to start a new thread, so I’ve answered you on your other post.
Apologies that I can give you any answers to your questions apart from to say that at least you’ve been referred to the neurology department, they’ll be able to do all the appropriate tests and hopefully be able to give you a diagnosis.
As to how long it takes to diagnose MS (assuming that’s what you have), the answer to that is that it can be days, weeks, months, or for some very unlucky people, years.
I hope that for you it’s a bit quicker than that to get some answers. It’s an unpleasant time waiting I know.
Thanks for replying sue! And I’m grateful for any advice at the minute! I hate this waiting game as it’s making me very anxious, my symptoms seem to come and go but lately they seem to come more often than what they used to, the doctor has put me on gabapentin but they don’t seem to be doing anything 300mlg 3 times a day
ive got the doctors again this morning to try something different, some days I’m in that much irritation with it that I wish someone would cut off my left arm and leg :-((
When I was going through the different stages of limboland my anxiety became quite bad. I think its a normal reaction to suffer from anxiety. Its a very stressful time for anyone and soooooooo frustrating. Under my last neuro I think I went from possible MS to probable MS and then I was told that if I had a lumbar puncture and it came out as showing up O bands, then I would get diagnosed with MS and started on a DMT.
I never got diagnosed at that point, the neuro went back on her word.
The neuro then said that that the results were not conclusive enough even though O bands were seen. I was told to go away and wait for something “disabling” to happen and report back to the MS nurses when it did. I tried to report relapses which I was having to the MS nurses but I kept getting dismissed and told that it wasn’t a relapse. That wasn’t good enough for me so I decided to refer myself to a different specialist MS neuro in the nearest city for a second opinion.
I saw this different neuro and he looked at my doctors notes, MRI and lumber puncture results and diagnosed me two weeks later. I did my research well and found that there are two types of neuro and health care trust out there. Those with a proactive approach to MS, who want to hit MS hard and fast and those who just want to wait and see what happens and save their valuable healthcare trusts budget.
If you do find out that you do have MS then it is not the end of the world. Many of us live normal and sometimes more fulfilling lives to those without MS.
Your right in what your saying and the waiting game is terrible, I just wish there was a quicker way of diagnosing me/people. When I went back to the doctors this morning all he could do was up my gabapentin by another 100mlg at night!
And today I’m suffering terrible with my left arm, the feeling of being punched in my arm a thousand times is what it feels like or should I say a dead weight. The doctor said he can’t do anything until I’ve had my MRI on my brain! Then it’s waiting for the results which is another waiting game. My last MRI I had to wait 6 weeks for them results.
How long is it after the MRI that I’ll have to wait?? I’m sorry I keep asking questions but I don’t know where else to turn to .
That’s brilliant advice Carol, and maybe what everyone in limbo land ought to consider. It’s possible to get vitamin D and B12 levels checked by the GP, probably the other vitamins too. I also take calcium and magnesium.
yesterday I was up to my eyeballs in coursework, as the day went on my eyesight started to worsen has the day went on, last night about 10:30 I got up from the sofa and my head felt fuzzy (like if been drinking or should I say was like I was drunk ) my eyesight was blurred and my balance was terrible, how I got in the kitchen I will never know. I tried to make my son a slice of toast but I failed miserably and burnt it because I couldn’t get to grips with what was happening to me.
All of a sudden I had a sever sickly feeling, stomaching cramping that I had to sit down, I called my partner ( who was a sleep in the sofa) and I asked him to help me to bed, my balance was all over the place. I got up stairs sat on the bed and my body started ditthering as if I was cold but I wasn’t, I got into bed by body started twitching and my muscles went into spasm, after that I had the pins an needles in my feet and all night my head remained fuzzy.
That sounds like a very unpleasant episode. I’d be tempted to go to A&E or at least phone 111 (not that they’re necessarily very good on atypical things!).
Has it continued today or got better over night? If it’s continued as bad as last night, then perhaps it’s an infection or something more serious. Have you tried your GPs out of hours service?
Regardless of whether you get to see someone over the weekend, I would suggest you see a GP at least on Tuesday.
Hi sue thanks for your concern. I still feel a bit fuzzy headed but nothing like last night, my left arm feels week and heavy but apart from it’s passed again.
I think you should start writing a bit of a diary about the symptoms you are having, how long they last and how bad they are.
To be honest, what happened to you yesterday doesn’t necessarily sound like an MS type thing. But that means nothing, just because I’ve not experienced what you have doesn’t mean you don’t have what I’ve got (if that makes sense to you).
But keeping records of what you experience, when it happens, maybe what you were doing immediately before, how long it lasts and how you feel later or the next day will make it easier for you to explain to the doctors you see. And if you get such an extreme episode like last night again, maybe you should get to see a doctor a bit quicker (like an on call doctor?).
I posted a thread on here a few months ago about my symptoms and awaiting an MRI.
Well…cut a long story short…my MRI came back inconclusive! But they did find a “fullness” around my brain!
Does anyone know what this means please ??? My doctor requested the results to be faxed over to him as soon as they came, when my doctor called me about the results even he was mind boggled as to what it meant and told me to wait till I see my neurologist in clinic to discuss my results.
If anyone knows what all this means I’d be so grateful because at the minute I’m a walking worry.
