Hi,
I am a 48 yr old female and I have not been diagnosed with MS. I have seen a neurologist and am waiting to have a brain and spine MRI. The neurologist advised that it’s possible I have Progressive MS.
Approximately 18 months ago, my left hand/forearm started to numb and tingle. Eventually the numbness and tingling continued up my left arm and for the past 6 months or so the numbness and tingling in my hand does not go away.
In that same time (6 months) the numbness and tingling began in other parts of my body. My left leg and foot and then the same on the right side. Although the numbness and tingling is predominantly in my left arm and left leg, it does also happen more often now on the right side of my body as well.
I often feel fatigue, weakness and heaviness in my arms and legs.
Recently I had been feeling exhausted, whole body tired for a couple a days and on the third day, I woke at 4am and both my arms were completely numb with some tingling. Eventually over the next few hours the symptoms improved but they never went completely away. I saw my family Dr who advised that if it is MS, then what I was experiencing was an “attack” in which he described my symptoms as exasperated. Since this happened last week, I continue to feel completely exhausted. My body feels heavy and weak.
I understand that I will know more once the MRI is completed but I thought I would reach out to other who may have or do have the same or similar difficulties. Any thoughts are welcome …
Carrie
hi carrie
even if you don’t get diagnosed with ms, what you are experiencing is certainly neurological.
my first symptom was pins and needles in my left foot.
after 2 months i started to worry, googled the symptom and it came up with obstructive pulmonary disease which could lead to amputation of the feet!
so i totally freaked out and ran to my gp who was marvelous, referred me to neurology and the neuro was wonderful.
after mri and LP he told me that he was sorry but i have ms.
to me that was great news given what dr google had put in my head.
my ms never got really bad although the story has been like a nightmare at times.
the best thing is that it only got worse in little stages
which i cried about each time but not for long.
what i’m waffling on about is don’t google it, wait for the specialist.
i can’t understand how he said it could be progressive ms.
my neuro said it was very likely ms but he couldn’t say for sure before MRI and LP.
anyway you’ll know soon enough.
my diagnosis came the week before my 50th birthday.
so we are at a similar age although i’m now 58.
i’m really sorry for waffling.
carole x
just read it back.
i should have said that when you mentioned progressive ms, did you mean primary progressive?
are you familiar with the names of the 3 delicious flavours ms comes in?
relapsing remitting = relapses (attacks) then remission
primary progressive = a steady decline
secondary progressive = when relapsing remitting ceases to have definite relapses and just declines generally.
the labels don’t make any difference to our experience of it.
however RRMS means you are entitled to start a DMD.
have a happy new year
carole x
Hi Carol,
Thank you for your replies 
I have done some googling about MS in general, don’t really understand the different types.
You’re right, I’ll just have to wait … UGH!
Happy New Year to you as well.
Carrie
hi carrie
most people are first diagnosed with relapsing remitting ms.
this site offers leaflets about the different types which i found very useful.
first of all for myself to read and come to terms with
then for my family to read and get some idea of what was wrong with me.
good luck
carole x
Hi Carrie
Been recently diagnosed and my consultant told me could only definitely diagnose after at least 2 attacks and MRI and lumbar puncture. As well as my current symptoms - all issues with balance, I had a severe optical neuritis 6 years ago so he linked that to my current symptoms to make the diagnosis.
A diagnosis of ms is not the end of the world after my first MRI scan I was told could be early onset Alzheimer’s or MS. Of those 2 I know which one I’d rather have been diagnosed with!
Maybe that’s why I’m a bit relaxed about it all at the moment.
Jane