Hello, first time posting. I’ve been having odd sensations on and off for a couple of years but on February was keeping my awake so went to GP. All blood tests normal and was then referred to neurologist.
My symptoms have been buzzing on my right shin resulting in a large numb patch and then this year buzzing on my left thigh with some numb sensations. I also now have a persistent burning feeling on my left arm above the elbow.
Pins and needles quite often too including the side of my face.
The neurologist did a few tests, tapping feet etc and then said there was nothing wrong with my brain but he would request a full spinal core MRI.
I had this at the weekend and now waiting for results.
Am obviously worried for the results but equally worried it will show nothing. Has anyone been diagnosed via only a spinal MRI before or at least the start of the process?
Anxiety is high at the moment and I’m worrying about everything!
Thanks for reading x
Hi @deborah1, so sorry to hear you’ve had these symptoms which now are disrupting your sleep - well done for getting everything checked out and hope you get some answers soon (as well as some more restful nights!!).
A spinal MRI kicked off the process for me after leg/middle body numbness. Even though lesions were found on my spinal MRI, I still needed brain scans & a lumbar puncture to rule out or diagnose MS. Sadly wasn’t one-and-done with just a brain scan. However, if it’s any consolation,n the whole process at least for me has felt like it’s gone super speedily over approx 5/6 months.
The McDonald criteria is a good place to start to understand the stages and steps of MS diagnosis: McDonald criteria | MS Trust
You’ve done exactly the right thing by getting checked out. Very normal to feel a little overwhelmed during investigations - know exactly what you mean by both wanting/not wanting a diagnosis! But hope you can soothe yourself by being proud of the fact you’ve gone to get a medical opinion - well done, it’s no easy feat. Definitely understand why you feel anxious and please pry yourself away from Google/doomscrolling if you feel like you’re spiralling. Really hoping you get some clear answers soon which help relieve and explain some of your nasty symptoms - wishing you all the best and hope you’re going very gently with yourself this week x
Not me no - in my case it was just a brain scan and I’ve never had a spine scan. However the symptom that took me to the stage of being scanned was optic neuritis and lesions on my spinal cord wouldn’t cause optic neuritis so no point in looking there. I don’t know if problems with legs and arms are caused only by lesions on the spinal cord or if they are also the result of brain lesions. Do you know what the neurologist meant by ‘no problems with your brain’?
I think that if your MRI shows no spinal lesions I would ask why your brain isn’t being checked for MS lesions?
Thank you both for the reply.
I think that is my concern - how does he know there are no problems with my brain?
I was in the room for no more than ten minutes - he got me to put my arms out, follow his pen, tapped my leg and feet with the stick with the ball on (sure it has a proper name!) and that was it. I don’t feel very confident at his diagnosis to be honest and felt a bit fobbed off.
I’ll wait and see what the spinal MRI said and take it from there, but thank you, you’ve given me the confidence to push for more tests if this is clear.