Hello, I’m not someone given to hypochondria, I’m just trying to find out a reason for why I haven’t felt quite right on and off for some time, since about 2012. Back then I had a weird illness where I felt very fatigued, weakness and tingling in my head and limbs. The GP ran blood tests and found nothing, so they put it down to a virus. (I appreciate this is possible.) Since then I’ve had a lot of fatigue, my muscles in my arms feel weak and tense at the same time, quite uncomfortable at times. My leg sometimes feel weak and numb and I feel I could fall over. But I carry on and have been working etc.
In 2013 I started to get a weird feeling, like a pain, in one eye. I was sent to ophthalmology and they couldn’t find anything, only said my eyes are dry and they’ve kept seeing me because the pressures in my eye are slightly high. I’ve been using dry eye drops, the discomfort in my eye hasn’t gone away. In 2014 I started experiencing occasional double vision and blurring. Neither ophthalmology nor my optician were bothered about this during appointments earlier this year and just told me see how it goes.
For about 3 weeks I’ve been experiencing more severe weakness, tingling and numbness in my head and one my right side to the point where it’s severely impacting on me. I’m using a walking stick because my foot feel feels so peculiar I’m worried I’ll fall over and my arm is so weak it’s difficult to do things. My GP has referred me for a MRI scan on my neck as she wonders if it’s a trapped nerve or something wrong with a disc. Having read about MS I wonder if I ask to see a neurologist? Or whether that will make me sound like a hypochondriac? I totally appreciate symptoms can many different conditions, I’m just fed up feeling so weird all the time, and it would be helpful to know why.
Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks for taking the time to read.
I think ‘one step at a time’ would be my suggestion. You have an MRI in the pipeline; why not wait and see what that tells you and take it from there? If there’s anything funny-looking about your cervical spine, that is likely to prompt further action of one sort or another. If nothing shows up, well, you can cross that bridge when you come to it.
In the meantime, please do not hesitate to go straight to your GP to report anything else strange and new that pops up and worries you. You aren’t making a nuisance of yourself; GPs are human and they know that weird stuff is worrying.
Alison
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Thank you Alison for taking the time to respond, I really appreciate it. I’ll see what happens with the MRI next week and take things from there. Thanks again, and all the best to you.
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Hello again. It transpires I’m going for an assessment and not an MRI scan, to see if one is needed. I’m seeing an orthopedic specialist. I mentioned what I’d read about MS to my GP, with double/blurred vision and past experience of weakness and fatigue as well as current weakness.They said that because my knee and arm reflexes were ok then my symptoms would not be anything like MS. I wondered if this is true? Any thoughts would be appreciated.
Well, you’re still making progress towards finding out what it is, even if only by clarifying what it isn’t. If the orthopod feels that your troubles are within her/his scope, then hurrah for that. If an MRI is indicated and gives more clarity about what is going on in there then hurrah for that too.
Everything, negative findings as well as positive ones, is information.I know it’s frustrating, waiting, but that tends to be the name of the game, I’m afraid.
Good luck.
Alison
Thank you Alison for your wise words.
Since I last posted I’ve seen an orthopaedic doctor who decided not to do an MRI and instead to send to me to physio. However, it was pretty clear he didn’t know what the problem was with me. I’m now being referred to a neurologist. I’ve been told it could take 6 weeks to be seen but I realise I’m not only person in the system. At least I’ll soon be seeing a neurologist and they can assess me. In the meantime I’ve started to keep an ongoing record of symptoms in the hope this will help in some way.
I’m trying to remain patient, and I’m thankful that I’m being taken seriously, even though it’s obviously going to be some more time before I have any idea of what’s going on with me. But I’m sure I’m not alone in that.
Best wishes to everyone.
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