cactus46

About three weeks ago I had an experience that has turned everything upside down. I work at the customer service desk of a large grocery chain. I wear a compression glove/wrist support on each hand because my fingers and hands tingle and go completely numb to the point that they are unusable. This started to bother me about 6 months ago during the day. I also had extreme pain in the palm of my left hand. (I have worn metal wrist supports while sleeping for seven years. I do this to prevent me from curling my wrists while sleeping which makes my hands go numb. If I don't wear them at night I would have problems with my hands in the day. Sounds like carpal tunnel? Maybe.) But when I started having numbness in the day even when I wore the wrist supports at night, I went to my doctor. My other strange syptom 6 months ago was when I woke in the morning my hands were closed in a fist and I couldn't open them. My doctor thought it was coming from my neck and shoulders so I went to my chiropractor. I found some relief but no cure. I discovered the glove I wear at a Walgreens Drug Store in October. I got them because the metal wrist supports were too bulky to wear at work. They have been very helpful to control the syptoms but as soon as I take them off my hands go numb, and I do feel varying levels of tingling throughout the day when I am wearing them. Sorry, this is getting long....anyway, customers always comment on the gloves and always assume it's carpal tunnel. I always say, no, neck and shoulders. Three weeks ago, a young man around 22yrs old commented, oh yah, just like my aunt. She has MS. I was dumbfounded. I had never even considered it.

I did some investigating and listed some symptoms from the past 4 years. Here's what I came up with.
Four years ago my youngest daughter (I have 6 kids) was baptized. I have no memory of that occasion.
3 1/2 years ago I was seeing zigzag lightning flashes in my periphial vision in both eyes on and off through the day. That lasted for 6 months.
2 1/2 years ago I would experience hand jerks and lunges either when holding my hand still or when reaching for something. Often I would miss what I was reaching for and knock something over. That lasted about 10 months.
3 months ago I started waking up in the morning with an excruciating backache and pain in all my joints. I am unable to move and get out of bed without extreme pain and effort. I have to roll out on to my knees and slowly struggle to my feet. Once I'm up for about 10 minutes I'm fine. I have no problems during the day unless I sit down too long.
Last 2 months some bladder urgency and incontinence. Lovely!!

I saw my family doc yesterday. I had my blood drawn to rule out lupus and rhumatoid arthritis. Waiting to hear. I also had an open brain MRI last night (they had a cancellation). Waiting on that also. I see the neurologist March 2nd. So I'm playing the waiting game. Now I won't feel better until we put a name to it. I think it could be MS but am keeping an open mind. Oh, I have also had vision problems lately and in the past 6 years had two episodes of shoulder pain, once left and once right. I told my family doc I felt like a hypochondriac with my list of symptoms, but he was very empathetic.

One more thing. I live in Arizona! I thought it was supposed to help arthritis type illnesses.

If you made it to the end, thanks for reading.