Can you help?

Hi Everyone Here is my story… I am a 29 year old single woman, at the end of July this year I found myself having an episode. I was at a pretty intense interview for a job that I deperately wanted and found during the course of the day that I was having problems walking, keeping my balance and much to my shock holding a pen and being able to write coherently. I wasn’t aware of having any symptoms like this before and although I was scared and confused I put all of my symptoms down to being stressed, tired and nervous. At the end of the day as I walked from the office block to the tube station I became even more scared. The station was very close and had taken me less than 10 minutes to walk there that morning but it took me over an hour to drag myself there at the end of the day. My leg wasnt doing what I asked it to and I couldnt keep my shoe on at all (I blamed that on wearing unfamilar girly shoes for the interview as opposed to my favoured trainers) I really began to panic later that evening when I realised that not only were things slipping out of my hand when I tried to pick them up but that I also could not co-ordinate my hand and arm properly to enable me to eat. I’m sure I dont need to tell any of you how scared, alone and embarassed I felt at that point. I was still attributing all of these symptoms to stress and had a very important day at work the next day so I dutifully went to the office. Im not entirely sure how I made it through that day, all I remember is that no matter how scared and debilitating my symptoms were I had absolutely no pain at all and therefore was adamant that there couldnt be anything wrong with me. I did get myself to my local walk in centre where after a 3 hour wait I was seen by a nurse. I told the nurse that I had no feeling in my right arm or leg, the only way I could describe it was to say it was like dragging dead weights around with me. The nurse told me that I had a trapped nerve in my back and offered to prescribe me pain killers. I went home, lay on my sofa and hoped that with a bit of rest this trapped nerve that was giving me no pain at all would heal itself. After a weekend of being able to do nothing I made myself get up for work on Monday morning. Having a shower was difficult, but nothing compared to attempting to straighten my hair and put make up on with a right arm that just felt completely dead and wouldnt move the way I wanted it to. I lasted all of 20 minutes at work. By this point I could barely walk, the effort of dragging my dead leg around with me was exhausting, I couldnt type, I couldnt write, I was wiped out. I phoned my GP and was able to get an appointment within half an hour. I have always felt as though I have received an excellent service from my GP practice, but now excellent does not seem like a good enough word. I saw a locum doctor as my GP was on holiday, the doctor listened to me, examined me and explained everything that she was thinking to me. The doctor said that she would like me to see a neurologist and that she felt I needed an MRI scan, she wrote me a sick note for 2 weeks and said that she would try and get a referral through as soon as possible in the slim hope that I would have one or the other before I returned to work, I didnt hold out much hope. However shortly after getting home I received a call from my local hospital and had an appointment for a scan that evening. It was the first time I have ever had to have an MRI scan, I didnt really know what to expect and was understandably a tad nervous about the whole thing. As I was lying in the scanner I was trying to name every character in Eastenders in order to take my mind of the itch I had developed on my nose, and I remember thinking that I was going to feel really silly for wasting everyones time if it is just a trapped nerve. As they pulled me out of the scanner and began to unstrap me one lady asked how long I’d been like this, as I went through my story I just remember thinking that question might mean they have found something. I was a bit disorientated coming out of the scan so they sat me in the waiting room with a glass of water, but I was then instructed I couldnt go home yet as they wanted a doctor to talk to me. This was different, I’ve had scans and tests before and have always been sent home as soon as they finish with a report sent to my GP so he could give me the good news. After a little wait a doctor came to talk to me, he told me that the scan was abnormal but that as I had been that way for 4 days I could go home that night and see what the GP decided when he got the report. I’m not the biggest fan of hospitals and opted to go home! The next morning I received a call from my GP who explained that the scan showed swelling on my brain and that he had spoken to the neurologists at the hospital and arranged a bed for me to go in for obs. When I got to the hospital I saw a registrar who seemed very dismissive, she told me that she was just about to go home but that as I was already there she would examine me. The registrar told me the scan showed areas that could be inflammation but they did not know what caused it. They took blood from me and sent me home again with instructions to return to the day clinic for more blood tests and a lumbar puncture on Friday. The registrar also said that she would want me to come to the day clinic the following week for 3 days to have IV steroids. During the course of this week there was no significant change in my symptoms for better or worse. I returned to the hospital for the LP, not an entirely pleasurable experience but eventually they found the right spot and were able to get some fluid out. After the 2 hours I had to spend lying flat on the bed the consultant came round and said that he wanted me admitted that day to start the IV steroids as soon as possible as he didnt want to wait until Monday to start them. The steroids took quick effect and I felt my spirits lift as I was able to do more and more. I never knew the joy I would feel at being able to walk up a flight of stairs. Since being discharged from hospital about 4 weeks ago I have had a bit of an unsettled journey. The elation at being allowed home and thinking the steroids were a miracle cure did not last long when I woke up the next day and could barely move my arm and leg. Physically I am still very much learning what I can and cant do. I appear to now be having spasms which are brief but crippling and I’m scared to try driving again in case it happens when I’m behind the wheel. I am exhausted constantly, I have sporadic tingling on the right hand side of my face and I am worried it has also affected my bladder. I have also, of course, experienced the emotional highs and lows that you would expect. The letter from the hospital says that I presented with symptoms likely due to demyelination and that it is probable I have MS, although the letter states that it is a clinically isolated syndrome. About a year ago I had almost constant pins and needles in both hands and sometimes I would feel the same sensation accross my torso. The GP sent me for nerve tests which came back fine and the symptoms eased so I never bothered to look in to this further. I also had labrynthitis in December last year and was really poorly for quite some time, but unusually I had not knowingly had any kind of virus before this started very suddenly in the middle of the night. The report from the hospital states that I have an acute active lesion in the left of my brain, but also states that I have other areas of damage accross the right and left of my brain. I have an appointment at the neurologists clinic this week and am scared about what is going to be said. Having read so many stories on here of the pain that people have had to go through I am not expecting to get a diagnosis at this point. I am trying to compile a list of questions to take to the neurologist but I am unsure what kinds of things I should be asking, can anyone give me ideas of what they asked at this stage or of things they wish they had asked? Thanks for listening :slight_smile: