Worried I may have MS

Hey everyone,

I’m Will, and I’m 21 years old. I’m here because over the past 6 months my health has been deteriorating slowly, with no obvious cause, and recently I’ve discovered just how close my symptoms match those of MS, and it’s really scaring the hell out of me. 6 months ago, I felt at the peak of my health, and now I feel like I’ve hit rock bottom. These are the symptoms I’m experiencing:

> Enlarged lymph nodes - this was my first symptom, I went to the doctor many times and never got an explanation for this, eventually I just tried ignoring them, hoping they would go away on their own, but if anything they’ve only gotten worse up to this point. Occasionally they sting or ache, but overall they don’t cause me much pain.

> Urinary urgency - I would say that over the past 6 months, I’ve had to go more and more frequently, but about 3 weeks ago it got drastically worse. I now feel the need to urinate 10-15 times during the day, and about 5-10 times every night. It’s causing me to have horrible broken up and poor quality sleep. I find that unless I drink very large amounts of water (3-5 litres per day), I get bladder pains, which only go away after drinking more water. Originally I thought this may be a UTI, but I get no stinging sensation when I have to go, just tenseness and pain in my bladder if I try to hold it in. I have had 2 courses of anti-biotics, and the problem remains.

> Leg tingling / Full body shaking - This one really scares me, a few weeks ago I was sent to A&E because I started getting violent muscle spasms, which lasted about 10-15 minutes. I was told I had an episode of Rigors, which they believed to be caused by an infection, but after 2 courses of anti-biotics, this is still an issue. I find that the symptoms leading up to these full body spasms are very predictable. Usually it starts off with bladder pain, feeling the need to urinate but not being able to, then my legs start tingling, and quite often my legs feel “weightless”, which is a very scary and surreal sensation. Once I notice these symptoms, if I don’t take quick action to drink lots of water, and warm my body up, it usually leads to full body spasms (which I’ve experienced 4 times now). During these full body spasms, all my muscles feel extremely tense, escpecially those around my stomach and bladder. I also feel extremely cold and I find relief from warming myself up. These symptoms almost always occur in the evening / at night, in the morning my symptoms usually don’t feel too severe.

> Temperature - I find it very difficult to get the temperature right, especially at night. I usually wake up many times during the night feeling extremely warm and dehydrated, with my sheets completely covered in sweat. I dread going to sleep these days, as I always know exactly what to expect.

> Digestive Issues - What I eat has started having a massive effect on the way I feel, Wheat, sugar and carbs seem to severely aggravate my symptoms. I find that unless I avoid certain foods, a lot of mucus starts to build up, usually in the form of post-nasal drip. I find it very difficult to avoid swallowing a lot of mucus, which aggravates my symptoms even more. This gives me the constant feeling of needing to spit, the more phlegm I manage to cough up and spit out, the better I feel usually. I also find that I get quite constipated unless I’m very careful about what I eat. The severity of all my symptoms seem to correlate with eachother.

I could probably continue posting other small changes I’ve noticed, but I think that’s the worst of it. I feel like I’m living life at 5%, unable to do any of the things I could previously do, it’s having a big impact on my mental and physical health, and could really do with some guidance. Do my symptoms seem typical of someone with MS? Or am worrying too much?

Thank you in advance for any help, I really appreciate it.

Hello willP That’s quite a lot of symptoms you have, not surprised you are worried. I want to talk about your enlarged lymph nodes. This is caused by an infection of some sort and MS is not an infection. Have you been prescribed antibiotics? A persistent problem such as enlarged lymph nodes need investigating. Could be nothing serious but still needs sorting. Some of your other symptoms you mention could relate to this issue. Go back to your gp, take someone with you if you don’t feel confident. I’m not saying you don’t have a Neuro problem, just suggesting you maybe get this sorted first. Good luck x

If your GP doesn’t listen and won’t investigate the reasons for your enlarged lymph nodes, either see another doctor in the practice or find a new GP. There is a reason and it needs to be investigated and treated. It’s probably nothing serious but until it’s been investigated your GP can’t be sure.

As Blossom says, get that sorted first and see if anything else resolves itself as a result. Then get the rest investigated.

I can’t really comment on how typical your symptoms are of MS as I’ve ony been diagnosed for a few months. MS is very individual so my experiences are not necessarily the same as another person’s, which unfortunately doesn’t really help you.

Good luck.