Hi everyone I’m new to this site so hello. I just wanted some opinions. For years I’ve been suffering with some pretty debilitating symptoms. Im currently 31. When I was 14 I had 2 years off school because I just felt so ill and constantly tired. At 17 I started getting constant recurring UTI’s and have been on low dose antibiotics ever since (these make me have Thrush etc etc) I also have frequency and urgency. About 5 years ago I started getting blurry vision. It’s quite bad when it happens but only lasts about a week then disappears. I get tingling in my left shoulder especially when I’m hot (like when I’ve just got out of shower). For the last 2 years I’ve had an awful time with swallowing. I get food/ tablets stuck in my throat daily and just can’t swallow properly. I’m constantly exhausted. Sometimes my eyelid on one side drops and I look really strange. I have bad migraines. Suffer with chronic depression and recently I feel totally “out of it”. It’s like I’m becoming really stupid. I can’t concentrate or think properly. Anyway someone said I should get checked out for MS and my GP referred me to a neuro who I saw last Friday. He looked at me (in my eyes, got me to follow his finger and all that) and said he doesn’t think I have MS. I just wondered does anyone know what he was looking for that made him say that? Can he tell without a scan? This may sound insane but I actually want to have a recognised diagnosis because the thing that gets me down more than anything is the feeling of loneliness. I live in constant fatigue and pain but can’t tell anyone because people just think “there’s no way someone can feel ill that often”. I’ve really had enough of life to be honest. Anyway I do have an MRI in a few weeks but the neuro doesn’t expect to find anything. Why?
Hi, welcome! Though I’m sorry you’re having such a bad time.
If your neuro doesn’t expect to find anything with MRI, then the clinical tests didn’t seem to show up anything that that would be caused by a lesion. A lesion that might show on an MRI scan (be caused by MS). The clinical exam is the most important part of a MS diagnosis. MRI scans are supporting evidence.
I wonder, has your migraine been investigated as a cause for your symptoms?
I hope you get answers soon.
Ahh ok thanks for this. I didn’t realise. So a neuro can get a good idea of whether or not you have MS just by looking at you.