Could this be MS? (Slight numbness)

Hey guys, new to the MS Society, and worried sick about my symptoms.

I’ve got very minor numbness in the pinky finger of my left hand, and in the two smallest toes of my right foot. There is no pain or unusual sensations associated with the numbness, it just feels like it has had an extremely small amount of anaesthetic applied.

In terms of severity, the numbness is about as minimal as it can be, most of the time I’m not even sure if it’s still numb because that’s how minimal it is.

These symptoms initially began with minor numbness of the pinky and ring finger of my right hand, which then became both hands being numb and the foot joining in over a period of about 3 days. It is now day 4 and my right hand is back to normal, but left hand and right foot still remain slightly numb.

Doctor says I could have banged my ulnar nerve, but there is a 0% chance of this, since it happened in both hands at once and is also present in my foot.

After waking up, these symptoms are practically gone, and then return at some point throughout the day. For clarity, I’ve never had any brain fog, speech issues, visual issues, nerve related pain, issues lifting my legs, other mobility issues or unusual tiredness, and I’m currently almost 29 if that makes a difference? I did have slightly low vit D on a blood test a few years back.

Any thoughts would be much appreciated.

Hello

There could be many reasons for numbness, MS being just one of them.

What did your G.P. (I assume it was a G.P.?) say when you pointed out that you couldn’t have hurt both hands and one foot simultaneously? Or did you point that out?

I should go back to the G.P. if your hand and foot don’t revert to normal sensations within a few days. If s/he thinks there’s a possibility of neurological damage or disease, s/he will refer you to a neurologist.

But both the G.P. and neurologist are not going to be looking at you with a view to seeing if you fit a specific diagnosis, they’ll look at the symptoms and from there decide what tests might be needed to ascertain what is causing the sensory problem.

Best of luck.

Sue

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I did mention how extremely unlikely it is to happen in both hands, and a single foot at once. Then she continued to go on about how it’s probably pinched ulnar nerve, though I don’t see how that could possibly cause my foot numbness.

She booked me in for a blood test for a few things, such as Vitamin B12, Red Cell Folate, Thyroid function, Haemoglobin A1c and a bone profile.

Just wanting opinions here before I go and spend £600 on a private MRI just to fast track this process.

I had an appointment with the neurologist a few weeks ago and he said that some of my symptoms could be caused by my thyroid, I have an underactive thyroid he didn’t say it was just that it could.

Kay

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Personally I would wait for your blood results before shelling out money for MRI. I did all that as i wanted to get back to work. My MRI showed a large area of high signal foci in the deep white matter of my brain. the radiologist said it could be demylinating disease but more likely down to my AGE.

It took 10 years with NHS MRI to and 2 veps to get told i had MS. I believe if that first MRI had been taken seriously i may have been sorted quicker.

having it done privately is not a fast track sadly. its just a waste of money. I am blessed with a relative in Italy who is a radiologist and my mother sent the films to him, and he disagreed with the first radiologist and said he would have taken me much more seriously.

I had to have a referral by a neurolgoist before i could have my private MRI.

I agree with Crazy Chick. There’s no point in spending loads of money on a private MRI until at least after you get your blood test results back. If the bloods are showing a deficiency of something, or some other reason for the numbness, then you can get that resolved.

If the bloods are all clear, you could at that point request a referral to a neurologist. If the wait is too long, then consider a private neurologist. In order to get a private MRI, you’d have to have someone lined up to read the scans, so you’d be best off seeing a neurologist first before having the scan. The neurologist might even have a different idea of what is causing your numbness.

Sue

Yes agree. I had to have referral by a nuerolgoist to have my scan privately. It was cheaper to see the neuro privatley then having the scan anyway.

personally, if it was intermittent and has now gone away i dont think its MS related. But what do i know. The symptoms you have mentioned are also common with UTIs. But if these problems persist then your neuro/doctor will do some diagnostics. But i think its way too early to think about MS.