Dear all,
this is my first post. The last 6 months have been filled with huge concern over MS symptoms. I’ve written out my experiences over the last 6 months, and I would really appreciate to hear your thoughts on whether I could have this disease.
My first concern of MS began in September 2018, when I started getting muscle spasms in my ear. I looked it up online and the first thing that came up was muscle spasms being a sign of MS. I didn’t think much of it, since this was the only thing happening. But it lasted days. Twitching in foot muscles followed, lasting even weeks.
Around a similar time frame, in September, I noticed I was itchy. Like, all over the place, and for the first time felt a brief tingle in a finger on my left hand. I had remembered seeing things like tingling and itchiness from MS. Hmm. That night, strange tingling started happening in many areas rather constantly, like my head, and hand. It lasted into the next day along with burning as I became increasingly stressed at this being an MS sign. My concern of MS faded slightly but twitching continued.
In October/November 2018, things intensified as I noticed a throbbing tingling sensation, quite strongly, in my thumb. It would be 1 second of buzzing, then 3 seconds of nothing, then buzzing again. It would be like this for a week in the left thumb. Then, the index finger did the same, then the little finger. During October and November I experienced very odd vibrations too, in the back of my head, like buzzing bees inside the skin, which would happen for a few seconds at a time every now and then, in the same spot, for days. This vibrating has happened under my left ear and under my lip, where it has been happening today. This **vibrating in the back of my head has also been happening over this holiday period.**During December, more continued symptoms, like waking up with buzzing in my chin for a day. Throbbing buzzing in the left fingers, and a strange, cold, stinging like sensation that has been happening about once a day around the right side of my head. For a week in November, my vision was really off for a good week, I convinced myself it was dry eyes, but now I suspect it’s MS. The last 3 months have also seen gradually worsening cognition, mainly short term memory.
And now, the last 2 weeks have seen incredible turn for the worst. Indeed, the Christmas holidays,or any time off school, cause the peak of my anxiety, but I believe that to be unrelated.Constant fatigue despite adequate sleep. A couple episodes of vertigo lasting a few seconds. Just the other day, a wet sensation on my thigh that made it feel off, and the same in the heel of my foot last night, combined with an odd buzzing under my lip right now. The last week over Christmas, a strange head ache, but of a different sort, where there is a strange 2 second pain in the same place of the right side of my head, many times an hour. This is yet to subside. Other sensory changes have been noted. I am incredibly depressed and anxious right now. More than maybe ever before. For a good 5 days over Christmas, I had tingling all over my left hand which didn’t stop. I have a blood test on January 11th to begin the diagnostic process. I wonder what the people who told me not to worry will be thinking now?
It’s true that I’m a hypochondriac who suffers with anxiety and depression. I am 16. I am on the waiting list for CBT. My parents are fully informed of everything above, as I go on about it a lot. I have been wrong dozens of times about my worries, but never before have so many indicative symptoms been present like they are today. They come and go as well, just like how MS symptoms behave.
This was written in early January - since then, the following has happened:
Mid January through February 2019 - Identical light tingle sensation, usually for 3 seconds, then stopping, then another 3 seconds, under the big toe. This is the big distinctive pattern - the location of the tingling stays in the same for weeks often, but for a whole day it might not show up, then comes back in the same place. I’ve counted probably 20 locations now. This same tingling happened just under the left knee for weeks. Brief tinglings have been felt in left fingers (notice it’s mostly the left). My memory has been so off - short term. Really bad.
There’s more: So, the phone vibrating sensation located itself just under the middle of my nose on 7th February, whilst the tingling sensation, which has been located under the left big toe, continued. On 7th February also, burning has been felt in short bursts in just about every place you can imagine. This continues today. The pattern has been completely now identified now - the buzzing or tingling locates itself in one spot, and it stay there whenever it happens, for weeks.
February 9th, the same buzzing at the tip of my left thumb, that lasted for 3 weeks and concluded not long ago, has returned. It is buzzing now, as I type, also my right hand just burned.
This is essentially my report on my symptoms, I’m sure I’m missing stuff out, but for context on how much this happening - the left index finger tingles yesterday, and this morning, this time on my right side, my right ankle area keeps momentarily buzzing like a cellphone.
I am seeing a neurologist tomorrow at 5:30PM, finally. But, I’m so nervous that I want to know what you all think.
Kindly,
Josh