Hi, I’m new here and have been looking for someone to talk to about my symptoms and frustrations for a while. MS has been mentioned to me as a possibility of the cause of my troubles so I’ve come to the MS Society to see if I can find some reassurance or advice.
I’m a 29 year old woman. I had a baby 13.5 months ago and shortly after she was born, I noticed that the left side of my back was numb and I was getting pins and needles a few times a day. Over a few months, it spread further down my back and the pins and needles became more frequent. It was not painful so I tried to ignore it and hope it would just go away. I mentioned it to my GP once after about 7 months and she didn’t know so said it should improve and did nothing. About a month later I went back, again about something else and saw a different doctor so mentioned it again, she didn’t know what the cause might be but referred me to a physio. It took 6 weeks or so to get an appointment with them, in which time the numbness was spreading across to the right side of my back. I saw the physio who said I would need some more specialist assessment and she referred me to the Musculoskeletal Clinical Assessment and Treatment Service (MCATS). It took 6 weeks to get an appointment with them in which time the numbness had spread to my little and ring finger of my left hand. When I saw the woman there, she manipulated me into various positions and said, it was an unusual presentation but possibly a trapped nerve in my neck, so she sent me for an MRI of my cervical and thoracic spine. That was 3 weeks ago. I’m still waiting for the results of this which I should be getting on 8th Jan at my next MCATS appointment.
Over the last 8 weeks since I last saw the MCATS, I’ve been experiencing a numb, heavy left arm a lot of the time (like I’ve been asleep on it). I have significant weakness in that arm and am now struggling to pick up and hold my 13.5 month old. I can no longer open bottles or jars, although my movement is not really affected, just strength.
In the last couple of weeks I’ve also been having occasional pain around the front of my ribs under my bust (on the left again) and twice I’ve had palpitations and dizziness at the same time. I’ve also been getting a tingly feeling in my right temple for a couple of weeks on and off too.
The last 2 days have been horrible. I’ve had pain from the base of my skull, down through my shoulder right down to my wrist. My arm feels constantly numb, heavy and rubbery. I can do very little with it due to lack of strength! I had to resort to going to my GP this morning as it was just too much to bear and paracetamol wasn’t touching the pain.
He manipulated my neck in various positions and that didn’t trigger anything new, it just stayed the same, which he said is not what you would expect with a trapped nerve in the neck. He compared the strength in both arms and noted the significant weakness in my left. He thinks that the MRI will not show a trapped nerve (although couldn’t suggest what it might show) but he said when we’ve got the definite results, I’ll have to go back to him and be referred to a neurologist and for some conduction studies.
I’m sorry this is such a long post, it’s nice to write it all down clearly.
If anyone has any advice or similar experience, I’d be grateful to hear from you. Could it be symptomatic of MS?
Thank you for reading.
Natalie
