As an introduction, I hope you don’t mind if I start with a list of my symptoms (!!!) …
dizziness (occasional bouts of this for about 15 years, now becoming more common);
fatigue (really aware of this for last 2-3 years);
a range of aches and pains (rib cage pain on and off most days for last 15 months, upper arm pain that feels like I’ve been weight lifting (on and off for about 12 months) and recently pains in lots of random places, including wrists and ankles. I’ve also been a long term migraine sufferer and have had quite a few headaches recently
sensory problems - lost feeling in one toe for about 6 weeks last year, now often get tingling feeling in my toes and occasionally right down my left arm
memory/ concentration problems (getting really behind at work, just feel I’m not coping with stuff I’ve always been able to do)
depression and anxiety (now on antidepressents which help me sleep but haven’t had much in the way of other effects - my Dr prescribed them saying that ‘depression can lead to perceptions of pain’ but I’ve always felt that I’m depressed because I feel so awful, not the other way round!)
very severe eye pain - have had this three times since Dec. - it felt like a toothache but in my eye. I don’t think I had any vision problems so don’t think it was optic neuritis but could have been??? My doc did a blood test for temporal (or giant cell) arteritis which was negative.
clumsiness (every now and then I drop things, out of the blue - like I have dropped my toothbrush in the middle of cleaning my teeth three times in the last few months)
and I think that’s about it until today’s new discovery … that I have ‘brisk reflexes’ - I went to see an osteopath to see if that could help all the aches and pains and she tested them. She is going to write a letter to my GP asking for me to be referred to a neuro. Hooray! at last someone is on my side!
So, I don’t know if all this is MS or not - I realise it could be other things but a possible MS diagnosis been in my mind for nearly a year now and I’ve wanted a referral to neuro for ages, even if just to rule neuro stuff out. I just never seem to be able to ask when I go to the GP because there is always a new theory and something different she wants to test. Am I right, though, that brisk reflexes are a definite sign of neuro problems? Is this just one symptom too many to ignore that possibility? I would SO like some answers as I’ve been thinking I’ve been going mad for ages now. I know I come across to docs as a hypochondriac but I really am experiencing all these symptoms and I just want to know what’s wrong, even if that means an MS diagnosis. Having said that, I’ve started worrying myself today that I could also potentially have a brain tumour - if you Google brisk reflexes the options that come up are MND (don’t think I have that), AIDS (definitely don’t have that), MS and brain tumour. Here I go again - no wonder the doc thinks I’m a hypochondriac.
Anyway, I guess this long post is just to say does this sound like it could be MS? OR anything else? I’ve made an appointment with the doc but its not for another week and a half. I could ask for an emergency appointment but I guess I don’t need that and anyway, it would probably be with a different doc. Despite putting everything down to depression, my own doc has been quite supportive. She’s organised x-rays and loads of blood tests so it hasn’t just been the ‘your depressed’ route. By the way, I am on calcium and vit D because of a premature menopause. When I had the eye pain, she tested for vit D levels and they are very slightly low, despite the supplements but it’s nothing significant and not likely to be the cause of any symptoms.
Sorry, this has been such a ramble but I’ve been in pieces today and just need to share it all with someone. If you’ve kept reading this far, thank you very much. 