Hi, there have been a few research papers suggesting a head or spine injury may play a part in the development of MS. Or put another way may increase the likely hood of MS developing.
I had a nasty knock to my head and got euphoria for two hours, next day migraine. Then six weeks later I got vertigo and sensitive eyes, my first possible MS relapse. I was also a bit stressed and it could of been an ear infection.
Just wondered if anyone else had a head or spine injury before their first MS symptom?
yes, I had a very severe head injury during a car accident many years ago. I have wondered at various times in my ‘ms’ life if this may have been connected.
The car accident was when I was 21yrs & ms started (I now know) when I was 27/28yrs. The ‘experts’ have always told me that there was no connection between the two, but over the years I’ve read various things that have made me think otherwise…I believe it’s highly probable there IS a connection.
Are you interested in hearing from people with MS who have never had a head or spine injury? I’m one of those. To know whether head or spine injuries make MS more likely, you would need to know whether head or spine injuries have happened to more people with MS than to people without MS.
The head or spine injury could start off a cascade of inflammation. There may be other things that start off this cascade. I became stressed not long after this injury. I was also in a stressful job for over five years before the head injury. So my CNS had quite a beating.
It’s just what I have been reading and I am open minded. Yes I’m interested to hear from any MSer who have had an injury or not.
Stress and anxiety do harm us but with sleep we recover as it lowers levels of cortisol. I’m not saying stress is the main cause of MS. TNF alfa is suspected as being a protein that is released when we are stressed and might be the missing link between heightened MS activity and stress. There’s a bit about it on the Barts MS blog.
Hi, I have been under investigation for a few years now and am still unsure exactly what is going on.
In 1990 I had radiation therapy in the neck area for hodgkins lymphoma. Shortly afterwards I was tested for MS as I had l’hermittes which is caused by inflammation of the cervical spinal cord. MRIs were clear as was a lumbar puncture and VEPs etc. I was told that the radiation had caused temporary inflammation and it will resolve. It did after several months.
15 years later I had numbness in my left arm. Had another clear MRI and was sent on my merry way. The numbness resolved after several weeks.told
Then 3 years later I had more numbness, fatigue weakness etc and it felt like an MS attack. My GP told me it must be a virus as the recent MRI was clear. After 8 weeks I was almost back to normal. Then a year later drop foot started to develop. In 2011 I saw a neurologist and a lesion was seen on the cervical cord.
I was told that when there had been inflammation of the CNS in the past then as you get older 45+ then you can get age related neurodegeneration in the area of previous inflammation. He told me that he had another patient in a similar position to me who had tried to hang himself 20 years previously. Another neuro I saw thinks possible progressive MS but cant give a definite DX as LP was negative and brain scan clear.
So past injury can cause neurodegeneration later in life that may look like MS and some people may get that DX whether or not its right or not.