Hi all. I’m 50 years old and had brain and spine mri last week. Waiting on results but the numbness and pins and needles in my legs is near killing me right now. I know it’s not been confirmed but I can’t stop bloody googling and I have 2 uncles with ms. I’ve convinced myself I’ve got it before I know I have!! Does anyone know anything about clonus beats or brisk reflexes? Just reading notes from last appt
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Hello @nikkid0206 can’t say I know much about either but I think that brisk reflexes and a higher than normal number of beats can be features of but not diagnostic of MS.
It’s 19 years since I was diagnosed but I do remember having my reflexes assessed and my foot being bent down then released while the neurologist held my calf ( or something like that) and at another appointment the neurologist running something along the soles of my feet.
I think that unfortunately you might be entering what is often called ‘limbo land’ of waiting to hear results. No great advice to offer on that I’m afraid ( I wasn’t good at waiting and used to make slightly annoyed phone calls to the neurology unit. Didn’t do me any good!)
The diagnosis was on the basis of the MRI scans and a history of symptoms. My main symptom was Optic Neuritis ( lost most of the vision in my right eye)
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Hi @nikkid0206, must be really stressful to not have anything confirmed and only a few notes from doctors to go off, especially if you have a family history of MS as well as in pain at the moment.
I have no idea re: the reflexes/beats, but wanted to say that with temperatures being so hot at the moment, this can make symptoms a bit worse. Ice packs/fans/cool drinks can help a lot, whether it’s MS or not. I know someone with another nerve issue who also finds temperatures tricky, so definitely try keeping cool.
As I’m sure you’ve seen on your searches too, there are a lot more very effective treatments for MS available than ever before. I never found out anything massively helpful from endless googling - if I could go back in time, I’d tell myself to wait for doctors’ opinions and really limit the amount I was searching (e.g. 10 mins a day etc)! You can get really lost and extra stressed, but there’s nothing online which will ever beat hearing from people who have trained for years to interpret results.
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It’s awful being in limbo, waiting to see what’s going to happen and what the test results will show. I do not understand the technical terms, but have a feeling that ‘brisk reflexes’ are abnormal in some way.
I hope that you get some clarity soon about what is wrong.
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