Hi there.
I’ve been looking through this forum for a while trying to build up the courage to introduce myself. I apologise if this is quite long. One of the main reasons it’s taken so long is I don’t even know if I belong here! Back in March I had some strange symptoms come on literally within an hour, I was walking to town in the rain and my right foot went numb though I wasn’t cold. The thing that really made me worry was when I got to the shop and I could only feel the cold rain on half of my face, I could literally have drawn a line where I had sensation and where I didn’t.
I’m very lucky that I work in a GP surgery as a receptionist and I just mentioned it to one of the doctors and said “this isn’t normal, right?” I’d been having neck & head pain for quite a while so he thought it could be to do with that so he prescribed me Amitriptyline which did help with the pain after a couple of weeks. He also referred me for a neck MRI as it could have been a trapped nerve. I only had to wait a few weeks before the appointment came through and the MRI was completely clear.
I mentioned this to a friend who is a physiotherapist and she looked concerned, she asked me
“Do you still have the numbness?” - Yes
“Tingling?” - Yep
“Do you find you forget what you’re saying even mid sentence?” - Yes
“Have you had any vision problems, blurry or double vision?” - Yes to both
“Are you Fatigued” - Extremely.
“Spasms?” - Yes again.
“Brain fog” - oh yeah! I have also lost fine motor skills in my left hand.
I’m sure there were other questions but hello brain fog!
She spoke to the GP who then referred me for a brain MRI. This took a little longer to come through but I’d had the scan done by mid May. As my GP put this through as urgent, the results came through a couple of days later, again completely normal with one tiny area of high focus (whatever that means).
From mid-May onwards my symptoms almost completely disappeared barring the spasm in my left side so I put my symptoms down to stress.
Then last week I put my glasses on as I got out of bed and my left hand was very uncoordinated as it was a few weeks ago, so I got up to get ready and my right leg gave way. I was able to walk afterwards but the fuzzy sensation in my face and feet was back, this has now spread to my right thigh, not complete numbness but like I’m wearing a thick pair of socks. I’m awaiting a neurology appointment but the waiting time is approx a year in Cornwall.
Now that I’ve rambled on enough about my symptoms I guess I just had a couple of questions. My main one being do other people have symptoms on both sides? My numbness and tingling is all on my right, but my spasms and fine motor skills seem to be affected on the left! Does it still sound like MS or am I just anxious and blowing things out of proportion? I’ve read a lot of stories on here about peoples first symptoms and everyone is different, I will say that all my symptoms are mild, but added together are worrying me. Has anyone else had a clear brain and cervical spine MRI (no contrast) but still have MS? I’ve tried to talk to my friends about this but when I explain a symptom, for example I’ve started tripping on completely flat floor, and the other day I was so dizzy I walked into a wall, I just get “oh yeah I do that all the time lol” in return, which adds to me feeling crazy. Thank you for your patience as I’ve gone on, any advice or guidance is welcome.
