Hello all! New to the forums and new to these weird feelings im having. So I am a 21 y/o male in college. In the beginning of the school year I noticed I was seeing a lot of black dots and floaters in my eyes but didnt think anything of it. 6 months later Im having a very hard time with school and my relationship and ended up having what I think was my very first panic attack. For 3 hours I was shaking, twitching, and couldn’t speak correctly in sentences. My gf held me as I thought i was dying the entire event. I was left with symptoms for months after the attack and had short of breathe, light headedness and foggy head, chest and arm pain. Doc prescribed me Zoloft and Xanax and after a month of zoloft stopped as it was making everything worse. I found myself getting addicted to Xanax as it was my only slight relief and have stopped that aswell. My gf left me during this period and I became depressed. I then began having weird sensations in my arm and leg on the left side as if i could feel the blood circulating in my limbs or a buzzing sensation. After a few months I began to have suspicions of ms as my uncle was diagnosed in his mid 20s. Neuro performed MRI of head and full spine, nothing shows. Performed lumbar puncture and nothing shows. Neuros are now annoyed of me as they belive im just an anxious young kid lol. Neuros did find however what they call a Capillary Telangesthia in my right pons. They claim this could explain my left side feelings but not for the rest of my body. The buzzing sensation has now reached everywhere under my belt after a few months and the muscles in my WHOLE body are twitching like crazy. Most of these symptoms are the worst in bed at night. Ever since the buzzing reached up my legs and below the belt I have trouble using the restroom. Constipated and trouble peeing sometimes. I feel as if I cant tell if i need to use the restroom or not. Saw a new Neuro this week who literally told me I have too many symptoms to belive I have anything and refused to speak about MS or perform any other tests. I now am losing hope and losing peace all together as I cant even reach closure. If any body has any advice or opinion what Im feeling it would be greatly appreciated. I know i have anxiety before this all happened, I will also admit I have a rep for Health anxiety BUT I know what i am feeling is real and I know i have an uncle with MS. Thank you for any responses its all appreciated!
Hi Ravgez
It sounds to me that the neurologist is correct, and you don’t have MS. 95% of people with MS test positive for Oligoclonal bands in their cerebrospinal fluid (i.e. what is extracted during a lumbar puncture). So clearly this leaves 5% of people with MS with no ‘O’ bands in their CFS, but they do have lesions in their brain and / or spine. So to have neither lesions, nor ‘O’ bands it seems pretty conclusive that you don’t have MS.
Now your problem is that if it’s not MS, but you have physical symptoms, you need to find a sympathetic doctor who will help you to explore what else it could be. There are many illnesses which share a number of symptoms with MS. By insisting to the neurologist that you are certain it’s MS, clearly that isn’t a doctor who is going to help you! Do you have a GP who is on your side? Try asking them for help.
You also sound like you are from outside the UK so it may depend on the health system where you live.
Sue