Hi all,
Apologies in advance for the length of this post.
Creating this post partially to vent, but also looking for possible new insights rather than reading the same old ‘MS symptoms’ articles on healthline, NHS, medical news today etc over and over again.
I’m a 32yo male seemingly in the prime of life however strange things have been happening to me this year. The more symptoms that appear the more I think I might have undiagnosed MS. I’ll try summarise what’s being happening as succinctly as possible,
Mid March to mid May: unexplained pain in my rectum. Like a dull ache a few inches inside and on the left side. Was persistent for about 7 weeks. Blood tests normal and FIT test and faecal calprotectin test ruled out colorectal cancer and IBD. Given steroid treatment for suspected haemorrhoids but this did absolutely nothing to ease symptoms. I suspect the pain was muscular as I realised I could ease pain by stretching (basically lying flat on my back and bringing knees to chest) or using massage gun around the area. The pain eventually cleared up around early-mid May and I thought nothing more of it. In hindsight, with everything else listed below, I now wonder if this was an MS symptom.
Late May: I catch either covid or influenza. In bed for a couple of days with fever and fatigue. Nasty cough develops. Appear to be improving however a week later I’m back in bed with fever/fatigue. Cough gets worse so I get put on antibiotics. These seem to do the trick (doctors think this may have been a secondary bacterial infection after an initial viral infection)
5 June: Still on antibiotics but feel well enough to return to work. Feeling good. Out of nowhere I become incredibly dizzy and lightheaded at work. Nearly collapse. After lying down for an hour the feeling doesn’t pass. I phone my GP who advises I go to A&E. A&E blood test is positive for D dimer. I’m checked for blood clots/pulmonary embolism but all clear. Advised positive D dimer is due to recent infection. Told to go home and rest up for a week.
12th June: After resting for a week, despite being over the chest infection I still feel faint/dizzy when out and about. I phone my GP. More blood tests. Woken in the middle of the night by out of hours GP. High D dimer, potential emergency, get to A&E. A&E do the same tests as before. Happy no blood clots, advise D dimer still high due to recent infection and discharge me.
Over the next couple of weeks I have a few more spontaneous dizzy spells.
2nd July: Left side of face starts tingling (doesn’t stop tingling until about 2 weeks later). Left side of body feels a bit numb.
5th July: Call GP as left side of face still tingling. More blood tests. Another out of hours GP call. D dimer still high (same level as before). Another A&E trip. More tests for blood clots - none found. Discharged
6th July: Follow up with GP. GP issues urgent referral to neurologist for facial tingling. Referral says suspects lesions on brain (!)
13th July: random pain at various locations around rib cage (‘MS hug’?). Lasts for an hour or so but keeps recurring throughout the day.
18th July: Another random dizzy spell appears whilst at work. This seems to initiate fatigue which last a couple of days - a strong desire to just lie down and sleep, even after 12 hours sleep the night before
21st July: wake up with pain in right shoulder. Feels like torn or strained tendon/ligament. Pain gradually gets worse over the next few hours before disappearing completely. I get full range of motion back in my shoulder with no pain - I’m baffled by how quickly I returned to normal. 4-5 hours later the pain returns with a vengeance. On a scale of 1-10 the pain is a 9. I spend 40 mins or so lying on the floor in agony. Can’t focus on anything else due to the pain. Ibuprofen, deep heat, massage gun, hot bath …and ultimately alcohol do nothing to alleviate it. By bed time (about 4 hours later) the pain has reduced to a 6 (possibly helped by self medicating with alcohol (out of shear desperation)) and I can feel my shoulder muscles twitching.
22nd July: shoulder pain gone when I wake up (thank god), however my shoulder is left feeling like the muscle is dead - just completely numb and fatigued like I’d done a super intense workout on those muscles. Makes me think the pain the day before was due to cramping.
23rd July: I woke up today and I felt twitching at the back of my skull. This went on for a couple of hours.
So to summarise my confirmed symptoms are as follows (in order of appearance):
Pain in rectum
High D dimer
Recurring dizzy Spells
One sided facial tingling
Recurring muscle pains/cramps/spasms (all in upper body)
I’d now also add depression and anxiety to that list.
If you’ve read all of that, first of all thank you, but secondly, in your knowledge/experience, does this sound like MS or possibly something else you know of? Clearly something’s wrong and I feel like my life is now on hold until I get to the bottom of it. I have the urgent referral to a neurologist but it sounds like this could be months of waiting. Any response you have to all of this will be hugely appreciated thank you