Hi everyone I’m a newbie looking for someone to make some sense of what feels like a complete and utter nightmare.
I was diagnosed as hypothyroid (hashimotos) around 2007 and have suffered with various symptoms on and off since then which I have always thought were a side effect of the thyroxine that I take. I have had pins and needles nightly which often turns into cramp and then a dead feeling in my left leg and foot, a foggy head and lack of clarity of thought and shaky hands for the best part of two years. Around 6 months ago I began to suffer with terrible tiredness to the point of exhaustion and I thought that my thyroid levels were unstable rather than anything else.
I stupidly put off seeing my Gp and just thought my symptoms were probably as a result of too much work and not enough rest. Then in early January I was involved in an incident which caused me an extreme amount of stress and left me feeling as though I was having a mental breakdown.
Initially I couldn’t eat or sleep and I was constantly vomiting for around 48 hours. My husband took me to see my Gp who gave me some sleeping tablets to help me sleep and told me to take a few days off to calm down. I also tried a mindfulness app which helped with the panicky feeling. Then the physical symptoms started - the pins and needles are now constant down my left side, my left foot feels almost dead, I’m shaking so badly that I can hardly pour a drink into a cup and I had double vision which is now just a horrendous pain behind my left eye. No amount of pain relief dulls my eye pain and on Friday I felt so overwhelmed I just wanted to run away.
Thankfully my husband is amazing and he took me back to see my GP just after the initial symptoms started and she has mentioned that she thinks I may have MS.
I am booked in this week for an mri scan and I have an emergency appointment at the eye clinic later in the week.
At the moment I’m struggling to understand how I have managed to go from having what felt like a few niggly aches and pains to being a shaking, confused woman that can’t see properly or walk straight. Is there any other explanation for what I’m experiencing or is my GP correct in thinking I have MS ?
at the moment I cant decide whether ignorance is bliss or is it better to know and if I do have MS what happens next ?
Any positive stories would really be a help, thank you x
hello hun.
Well yeah, you`ve been through and are still suffering a rotten set of problems.
My daughter has hashimotos and suffers all kinds of symptoms. Fatigue and poor concentration seem to be the worst.
Yes, you could have MS, but then there could be a list of other causes too.
Your gp shouldnt have mentioned MS really…but that`s done and plonked firmly in the middle of your mind.
So, have the MRI, go to the eye clinic and then back to your gp for the results…unless he refers you to a neurologist.
Pins and needles could be a trapped nerve.
Let us know how you go on luv.
pollsx
I have hypothyroidism as well, I have many of the symptoms that that had describe, I did experience and episode last year with inflammation ony spinal cord, which has now gone down, but my symptoms are still there. A recent lumbar puncture showed inflammation connected with MS, but my brain scan is now clear. I do often suggest that the two conditions are linked, but I’m always told no not at all??? I think they are!! I hope that you get some answers soon, but welcome to the waiting club xx
Hi Melsy
I have to say that normally thyroxine doesn’t cause side effects, especially not as you describe.
Unfortunately, thyroid disease (both under and over, Hashimotos and Graves diseases) can occur together with MS in the same person. They are sort of linked but having one only increases your chance of having the other by a very small amount. There are a whole load of circumstances that lead a person to have an auto-immune disease of whichever stamp. This can include heredity, but also environment, viruses encountered, your age, gender, and many other things.
As Poll said, your GP shouldn’t have mentioned MS. There are a whole host of things that share symptoms with MS, even a simple vitamin D or B12 deficiency. The symptoms you describe could be MS but could be something else entirely.
What your GP should have done is to refer you to a neurologist who would then do the tests (MRI, Lumbar Puncture maybe, Visual Evoked Potential maybe), then the neuro will make a decision as to what s/he thinks it might be. Only a neurologist can diagnose MS. A GP cannot.
So when you next see your GP, ask if s/he has referred you to a neurologist as well as for an MRI, because to do it the wrong way round might just add to your time waiting for results and possibly a diagnosis. You could also ask if the GP has (or will) order blood tests for Vitamins D and B12.
Sue
Your situation doesn’t sound like ‘blissful ignorance’ to me! Seriously, you might as well find out what the matter is; then you know what you’re dealing with. I don’t know about you, but things that happen to me - even bad things - tend to be easier to deal with in reality than they had been in my overheated imagination. Things do not look great at an insomniac 0330 hours, do they?
Your GP’s hunch might be right and it might not be - it is when the GP hands over a hunch that the hospital specialists get to work. MS is often something that is a possible that needs to be excluded, but not everyone with suspected MS turns out to have it. The wheels are turning now on the process to find out what ails: that is good. Just try to take things one step at a time, and I hope that you get some answers soon.
Alison
hi melsy
i’d like to add my agreement with poll, alison and sssue.
it may be ms and it may not be ms.
but if it is ms you should be offered a disease modifying drug (DMD) and be allocated an ms nurse.
carry on with the mindfulness.
carole x
Thank you everyone for taking the time to reply. My bloods have come back and the Gp has said that yes she has referred me to a neurologist and although my Iron levels are low my haemoglobin was fine.
I think I’m just worrying too much and that isn’t helping and in turn making my symptoms worse. I will keep you all updated and once again thank you xx
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