hi all,
i’m just after some advice really, my 30 year old wife is currently in hospital with numbness and pins and neddle like sensentaions in her legs and arms and is currently unable to lift legs more than 5cm of the bed. the feeling is worse in her legs at the momment but get sudden on set in arms and going into face, she went into urine retention on admission to hospital and failed a trail without catheter twice . she has had a mri of the head which has come back clear however drs and nurse have mentioned ms. she has now been in hospital 5 days and still not able to walk.
My question is will a MRI also diagonis MS or not and what other test could they do to rule it out. everywhere i have looked for research suggest her symtoms could point to MS.
i hope you can help
i forgot to mention that she also has low vit d and is on medication for this
Hi im 27 and was diagnosed with MS in january this year. Like your wife i was initially admitted to hospital for a weeks stay in june 2013 with similar symptoms to your wife i had numbness all up my left side, my legs were extremely weak, reduced sensations on my skin and i could feel anything at all when i went to the loo. While i was in hospital i had an mri of my brain but also the full length of my spine which showed lesions in my brain and spine, of which i started a 3 day course of iv steroids. Maybe you could ask them for an mri of her spine aswell as depending on where the inflammation is in the central nervous system it brings on different symptoms. Also as that was my first episode i was diagnosed with clinically isolated syndrome and i was then booked in for another mri in december 2013, which unfortunately showed more lesions. They can also do a lumbar puncture and an evoked potentials test, i had the evoked potentials but not the lumbar puncture as my neuro had enough info from my mri scans. I would suggest to ask as many questions as possible while she is in hospital and ask if they are planning on anymore tests!! Good luck and hope all goes well Sarah x
Hello. what a scary and worrying time you must be experiencing. The description of your wife’s symptoms sound as if a neurological problem could be presenting itself but at least she is in the right place to hopefully find a diagnosis. I can appreciate your concerns that ms would be a possibility as your lovely wife is experiencing very typical symptoms of the illness. An mri would be able to detect any lesions on your wife’s brain or spine. However I would imagine the team caring for your wife will use the results of all the tests she undergoes to give you a diagnosis. I am sorry that I have not been able to perhaps give you the answer that your post wanted but I didnt want to leave you without any response. I do hope that you both get an answer soon lovely. and that your wife’s symptoms begin to improve. Im sure it is a great comfort to her that she has such a strong and loving husband at her side at this time. please keep in touch and let us know how things go. Joy
hi sarah she has had a spine MRI which was looking for cadiua equnia and that has come back clear. MRI of head was also clear. Today she has developed shaking in both hands which has stopped her from eating her dinner. She is really concerned as i am and we just don’t seem to be getting any answers from our hospital.
I don’t want it to be MS, but do want answers to what is causing this.
hi sarah she has had a spine MRI which was looking for cadiua equnia and that has come back clear. MRI of head was also clear. Today she has developed shaking in both hands which has stopped her from eating her dinner. She is really concerned as i am and we just don’t seem to be getting any answers from our hospital.
I don’t want it to be MS, but do want answers to what is causing this.
Hi, I just wanted to say I hope your wife recovers soon and you get some answers. Take care, please let us know. Ally
Hi, im so sorry she developed the shaking in her hands, the hospital also thought I had cauda equina i think that is why I was seen so quickly like your wife and luckily it wasn’t. Although it does not seem like it at the moment she is in the best place and I am sure they are just not saying much until they know for definite what it may be. If at all possible if they suspect MS i would ask if possible to see a specialist MS neurologist as thankfully for me my neuro specialises in the subject and also lectures on it too. I would most definitely push as much as possible for answers, I did and i think that is why I think from point of the first onset to now and starting disease modify therapy it has been a very short 7 months. If nothing is showing on her MRI, they may want to repeat it in a few months. I know you must both be so worried i myself was I cried almost every day, nobody wants to be told they have MS but i always say it’s better to know to deal with it better mentally. I hope they give you both some more answers, let us know how she gets on Sarah x
We was told that the MRI she had was only looking for cauda equina and spinal cord compression so that could be why it has not shown anything (she also has serve facet joint degenation of l2-l5 and this was not reported on so make me belive the scan was not as detailed)
Her writing now looks like a 5 year old handwriting which is also worrying.
Thanks for the quick reply and i am going to push for more test, i have even printed out NICE guidelines to take to hospital with me tomorrow.
Hi again, if they only did the MRI looking for cauda equina im not sure they would have picked up anything relating to MS. In my case they were specifically looking for the lesions (areas of swelling and inflammation) once they saw these I immediately started on iv steroids for 3 days which dramatically improved my symptoms and made me stronger. Maybe if the MRI is repeated it may show lesions and then you could both ask for the steriods. Obviously I’m no doctor but only speaking from my experience. Good luck with it all. Sarah x
thanks sarah,
just a quick update, was seen by othro drs this morning who have admitted that my wife is on the wrong ward and is going to refer to medics/neuros today. he did seem concerned about the symptoms she had so hopefully will get somewhere
That’s brilliant news at least now she will be in the correct department of neurology, I would push them for another MRI and they will know specifically what they are looking for. I too was transferred from ortho to neurology and from there they were brilliant and things got moving quickly And I seemed to have more of a explanation for what was going on. Hope the neurology ward have more answers for you both. Sarah x
Just to give a update, my wife is still having all the symptoms and was seen by a neureo dr yesterday ( not MS specailist) and was told because her scan were clear that he has ruled out MS, he would not do any further tests and basically said she is making it all up. Also he said she was improving although she has developed shakes and still have no movement in legs and sharp pins and needles . She failed the finger to nose test, instead of touching nose she was touching eyes.
I was not happy as they would not do any more test and that the MRI she had was not full spine MRI and head was not done with contrast, so i kicked up a big fuss. she has had symtoms in 2011 and 2013 that were not investigated. Also i have no found out Vit d Defiency and hypermobilty is also linked to ms. So because of this want it completly ruled out.
Went to ward this morning and saw her ortho consultant who was not happy and has asked for second opion and they have agreed to transfer her to the neuro ward and carry out more tests.
i will keep you posted on how she gets on now
Good luck both of you and I hope you find answers soon.
xx
Best of luck, sounds awful… have they conducted an LP? Sometimes that yields more info than Scanning?
Hi all,
Just a quick question, my wife today has had her sensory evoked test done, and they have said that the results will be back with consultant today (the test never finished till 4.30pm). The voltage they used on ars was low, wife said 3 and on right leg 15.6 and on left leg 20.6. What we both want to know is it normal for the consultant to get the results so quick and for such a higher voltage in legs rather than arm.
Perhaps they meant they would be sending the results on to the neuro today as they are available straight away and you’ve read something into it? I don’t know about the volts etc x