Hello, Please help. My husband became unwell in March 2012. Symptoms were, pins and needles, numbness, severe headaches, confusion, dizziness, balance issues, struggled walking, memory loss, fatigue. At first the Dr’s thought it was a mini stroke, but this was never confirmed. Since then he has never felt 100%, but some days feels a little better but some days are just awful. He still has the above symptoms along with new ones, blurred vision when walking, loses feeling in right leg now and again, depression, anxiety, struggles to understand simple tasks and conversations, nausea and vomiting. He has had an MRI scan and this showed some white marks, but we were told it’s not too much to worry about, but will be re scanning my husband again. They have told us whats it’s not but we have still had no diagnosis. I would appreciate some advice or to know if this is MS or what other peoples stories are? Any help would be much appreciated? Thank you
Hi there, sorry to here of the awful times your hubby and you are going through. As you will see from many posts on here MS is something that can take a very long time to diagnose and the symptoms are synominous with very many other illnesses.
You hubby’s symptoms are the same as many peoples on this site so MS can’t be ruled out but I was particullarly alerted by the nausea/vomitimg. Has he been checked for Labarynthitis or other ear/vestibular disorders?
x
Hi Natjjj,
I am replying because I saw nobody else had, although I do not think I - or anyone else here - can answer your question about whether this is MS. MS is notoriously difficult to diagnose, because there is no definite test, and there are at least 100 conditions that can produce similar symptoms. So nobody - not even a doctor - could reliably say, from reading a list of symptoms, whether that person has MS.
The fact your husband hasn’t been diagnosed means that whatever it may be, there’s certainly not enough evidence of MS…yet.
Without knowing what the interpretation of the “white marks” was, and in particular, whether they were noted as suggestive of demyelination, it’s difficult to say. But it’s possible that if a re-scan showed more of them, it might be enough to clinch a diagnosis.
The thing with MS is it has to be distinguished from a one-off attack. Some people have a single episode, which, in all respects looks very like MS, but never go on to have another one. That means they never meet the “multiple” part of multiple sclerosis. It’s possible this is what has happened to your husband: he’s had some kind of attack that looks a bit like multiple sclerosis, but unless or until there was more evidence, it wouldn’t actually BE multiple sclerosis. They will look for that additional evidence when they scan again, but may not necessarily find any.
I’m sorry this doesn’t really help you in your situation. All I can really say is that although a fast diagnosis would be nice, a correct one is better. If they try to diagnose on insufficient evidence, they may get it wrong, which could result in your husband being given some quite heavy-duty treatment for something he doesn’t have, and/or missing out on correct treatment for whatever it is he does have. It’s good that they have NOT discharged him, and are continuing to monitor.
I’m sure if there is new evidence, it will be found. But until then, the medics’ hands are tied, really. It should be possible to get treatment for some symptoms, even without a definite diagnosis. There is probably nothing for loss of sensation, or for memory loss or confusion. But things like pain and nausea should be treatable, without necessarily having to know exactly what caused them. Please push for this, if it isn’t happening. Most symptom relief can be prescribed by a GP, and doesn’t have to be authorised by a neuro.
Tina
x
Whoops! And after all that, somebody beat me to it anyway! Sorry BtC - hadn’t meant that you were nobody. Your post wasn’t there when I started, honest.
T.
x
Many thanks for your comments. My husband has managed to get a last minute appointment at the Neurology hospital in London he is under tomorrow, as he had another ‘attack’ just before Christmas plus some new symptoms (swallowing problems and painful joints) so hopefully will get more news then. Thanks again x