Hello - I am a 31-year-old mum of 3 from London. I have just been referred by my GP, who suspects possibly MS, to see a neurologist. I’ve had some weird things going on for a few years but I’ve always put them down to pregnancy, post-pregnancy, having a busy job and young children, etc. etc. I don’t know if the appearance of my symptoms was in this order but this is kind of how I noticed them! 1. I often have a bit of double vision or blurry vision. It’s not particularly troublesome and it usually passes after a day or a few days. 2. I get tingling feelings and numb sensations in my legs and sometimes spreading to other parts of the body. Sometimes a leg will go kind of “dead” or goes into a weird muscle spasm. Again, I’ve had this for ages and it’s not been too troublesome, but lately happens more often and more badly. 3. I have some problems with bladder and bowel control. Needing to go very urgently, sometimes leaking, etc. This got worse again during my second pregnancy and hasn’t got better since I gave birth (8 months ago). I get an awful urgent need to go IMMEDIATELY and unless I can literally get to a toilet within a minute, it just comes out. I can’t hold it in. 4. After the birth of my twins (second pregnancy) I was not particularly well. I had a lot of very severe fatigue and it has got better, but I still have days where it is quite debilitating. But I kind of just put it down to having 3 daughters under the age of 4!! 5. The most recent thing is that I’ve had a weird speech problem. Sometimes, particularly if it’s been a long conversation, I get this feeling like I can’t quite control my lips and tongue. It’s like speaking when you’ve had too many glasses of wine! And I get these weird gaps when I know what I’m saying but the next word or syllable just doesn’t come out! People have started to notice and I can see them thinking, that’s weird. My husband noticed and mentioned it a few times, in a way that I knew he was worried. And the other day, I had to take my oldest daughter to the GP and it happened there. I was so mortified and of course the doctor noticed. But she was really kind and got ne to take a little break while she saw another patient (by which time I could talk normally again!) and she asked me a lot of questions about how I’d been feeling and basically got all of the above. But it wasn’t that I was hiding it - I just kind of thought, oh I’m tired, oh, it’s pregnancy related… etc etc etc. So the GP made an urgent neurology referral and I should apparently be seen quite quickly. And I am scared. I’m terrified that I might have MS and that all these things are going to get worse. Especially the speaking, which is really upsetting me. The GP also said I should stay off work for the moment (I was supposed to be back off mat leave at the end of this month) and while I know that’s sensible, I’m upset because I was looking forward to going back. Now I’m worried that I might never be able to.
Don’t panic yet. Yes, your symptoms are all common ones for MS, but they’re also common for a lot of other things. If it does turn out to be MS, your issues will most likely continue like they have been – intermittent and just popping up when you’re particularly tired. It’s not going to instantly put you in a wheelchair or prevent you from living your life.
I had MS for 40 years before I was diagnosed, and while I did have to make a few changes to my activities over the years (no more really long walks up and down hills, naps on weekends), I still managed to raise 2 children, work full time with a 75-mile roundtrip every day, and do all the other things that had to be done. It was only a few months ago that I finally had to quit working, and I’m doing much better now without all that stress and extra activity.
See the neuro, let them run tests, and make a point to rest.
Thank you for replying! I don’t mean to be overdramatic and fatalistic…and you are totally right that the odd bit of blurry vision or occasional pins and needles is hardly drastic and life-changing! I have been worrying about work (teacher). I’m supposed to be back from maternity leave for the last week of term and the speech thing is concerning me a bit. It’s not all the time! It tends to be that I can speak quite normally for about 10 minutes and then it’s like I just can’t get my lips and tongue round the consonants and I start slurring words a bit. And then I’m obviously getting uptight trying not to and I’ll get stuck on words. The problem is that teachers really do have to talk quite a lot…
Please try not to stress out too much , keep a log of your symptoms and show this to your neurologist. There could be quite a few reasons why you’re experiencing weird symptoms. Good luck with things.
Hi Jessa, your experience sounds similar to mine, I have 4 children and in the past I’ve put my random symptoms down to being busy tired etc. I’ve had dizziness, tingling, numbness, shooting pains for a few years now but it hasn’t been debilitating, after Christmas I was really struggling with intense fatigue, brain fog and word finding difficulties, I’m also a teacher and it was having a big impact on work. I went to gp and got a neurology referral but the wait was several months so I booked to go privately. I’m actually feeling better now apart from the on going symptoms from before so I feel a bit silly for going! I hope your appointment comes through quickly, its so worrying and the waiting makes it worse.