Hi,
I’m new to this page after questioning whether my symptoms might actually be MS!
I had spinal surgery 3 years ago for spinal stenosis & Herniated disc’s. I had countless spinal injections which never worked and countless different medication I’m now left with what is called “failed spinal surgery”! As my pain never went away and is starting to get worse.
I have numbness down my right hand side from my back down to my feet, along with muscle weakness. My knee buckles and I now have to crawl upstairs or grip the handrail to get me upstairs.
I’m constantly tired! Often in bed before my children.
I suffer with regular migraines and tension headaches. And lose my voice with no other symptoms regularly.
I also have light bladder weakness but I’m a mum of two so have always put it down to that! Note: I gave birth via c-section on both.
Am I looking into my symptoms too much? Im nervous about talking to my GP as I don’t want to come across as a
Hypochondriac!
I guess I just question yes I may have the above spinal issues but is there something else going on as well?
Thanks in advance
No, you are asking a perfectly reasonable question.
I think most of your symptoms could be caused by a dodgy back and long term pressure on the nerves, but expect you know that already. The only way to find out is to be referred to a neurologist and go through the usual investigations for MS.
I speak as someone that had a laminectomy and diagnosed with PPMS a few years later, so I understand your concern and hope you get some answers.
Interesting, as I was misdiagnosed with SS for years before getting the MS diagnosis. In all that time, nobody had thought to get me an MRI scan on my head.
So sorry to hear you’ve been suffering in such a way.
I suffer from ankylosing spondylitis and my sacral joint has fused in part. I also have a protruding disc in my lumbar spine. I’ve had some of your symptoms because of that condition.
However I had an urgent mri recently in case it was cauda equina syndrome (I had burning sensation in my legs, problem with passing water, fatigue, pain etc which was worse than usual). I’ve since been referred back to neurology for another MS review because I’ve developed weakness on my left side, my left knee has been buckling as well as muscle spasms on top of the above.
I asked why would I need another MRI and I was told that there are different types of MRI for what they are looking for (machine grading, using dye, looking at specific parts of the spine). The original MRI only looked for a disc protruding on nerves in my lumbar. My more recent one was specific for MS lesions in the cervical spine and my brain.
You are not being a hypochondriac in the slightest. You are suffering with quite serious symptoms and you need to go to your GP and ask for a referral as soon as you can. Any doctor worth their salt will never think less of someone presenting with symptoms like yours. At the end of the day what you are presenting with could be a number of conditions and you need to get it checked out- keep pushing until you get answers.
Hope that helps and you get some answers soon.
Gareth
PS going to bed before the kids do is painful enough in itself and you are not alone in doing so.
It took eight years to get from surgery to diagnosis in 1998. At first I blamed everything on a dodgy back, but it eventually became clear something else was going on, as symptoms like leg dragging, foot drop and paresthesia got slowly worse.
I did suspect it could be PPMS, but wasn’t in a rush for diagnosis, as there are no treatments and didn’t fancy the label.
Obviously, things are different today and hope you get the certainty you need.