Help! I’ve been referred to a neurologist to discuss my symptoms. I have a twitch / spasm in my arm. It’s getting considerably worse. It’s uncontrollable. At night it goes numb, pins and needles etc. I’ve had a brain MRI and that’s clear/fine. Could this be the start of MS?
Hi,
Welcome to the forum.
I’m not a doctor, but I think pins and needles can be caused by lots of things (there’s a big list on the NHS website if you google it) - MS is just one possibility. They might just want to do a spinal cord scan. To definitively diagnose MS they seem to require lesions in two areas of your central nervous system - and the spinal cord itself is just one area, I think. So if your brain is clear, that’s looking good.
The neurologist appointment may take some time. Meanwhile, could your GP do something to help with the symptoms? I was put on amitriptyline for neuropathic pain, it worked where nothing else had. Perhaps something like that might give you a better night’s sleep?
This is from the professor of neurology at Barts.
“Why is getting the correct diagnosis of MS so important? Firstly, some of the MS treatments we use have life-threatening complications; you don’t want to expose people without MS to these complications.”
Am I sure that I have MS? - by Gavin Giovannoni - MS-Selfie (substack.com)