MS or Not - Multiple Sclerosis Message Board

Stephm1390 · 11-01-2006, 09:16 PM

I am 24 years old. I had a baby 9 months ago. About 3 months after the baby I started getting vertigo and dizziness about 5 times a week. It lasted for about a minute at a time. It happened even when I was sitting. Presently the vertigo has subsided, but it happens occasionally, usually when I am driving I feel very uneasy. My balance is also off. About 2 months ago I started getting a tingeling/ numb feeling in my mid back that lasts for 30-60 secs then goes away. This happens several times a day, almost every day. It almost feels as if something in my backbone is moving. Also, once I was sitting normal, and the 3 smaller toes on my left foot went numb for several minutes. Also, I am having a hard time remembering simple things.. like wether I brushed my teeth (when I had just brushed them a minute before).
I have had some test done...some blood work, CT Scan, and brain MRI. My neurologist says the report showed no lesions, although he has not personally seen them. He wants me to see an ENT doc.. and also come back and see him for further testing. Has anyone had neg. results, continuous MS symptoms.. to find out later that they have MS? Also, My mother has MS. She was diagnosed in her early 30's. Thank you anyone who can help me.

duttin · 11-02-2006, 04:20 PM

Steph,

An ENT is a good start when the Neuro is stumped.I was DX'd in June but my Neuro had recently sent me to a ENT for balance issues,the brain lesion didn't coralate with the balance issues.Through the ENG/VNG ,disorders were found in the left cerebral hemisphere and or brain stem.These were not detected on the recent MRI.

Toni

shellymay · 11-02-2006, 04:40 PM

Nuffs3,

So you can have lesions that can be detected from the ENG that aren't detectable on the MRI? This is interesting. I had a ENG at an ENT's office and for some reason I can't get them to send the results to any neurologist. The ENT told me that my brain wasn't sending signals right on the left side of my brain and that it didn't have anything to do with my ears.

Michelle

lymegirl · 11-03-2006, 08:40 AM

I was dx with MS about a year after I had my second child, although I symptoms for several months before that. I had minor findings on my MRI but no brain lessions and nothing was standing out as being obviously positive. There was some slight abnormalities which my neuro was not convinced were definitive signs of MS. Kinda a wait and see and put down as possible MS.

I did progress. Balance got much worse as years passed, bladder urgency from the beginning got worse, leg started dragging and became more noticeable. Went to many neuros in 6 years. All thought MS and nothing they could do, as was a progressive form. I was doing OK had 2 young kids and just pushed on. Still was able to do almost everything, went to the gym, ate well etc.

Even though I pursued appts with different neuros, and we went over and over what else could this be I wish I had pursued this further with more research on my own because I found out a year ago I have lyme disease. I am treating this but it has gotten very far throughout my central nervous system and it is slow going and possibly permament damage.

We had lyme in my family and it was caught early treated with abx and cured. There is a whole other side to lyme which causes such varied symptoms as heart problems. CNS problems, balance problems, brain fog and lots of wierd symptoms.

Check this out. Do your own research. Every neuro I saw said you don't have lyme, it's not in your spinal fluid. I later found out lyme is found in positive patients spinal fluid in about 5% of the time. You must go to a Lyme Literate MD (LLMD) for eval for this, as most Drs (even infectious disease Dr) are not up on this disease and think it is simple joint aches that is treated with abx for a shrt time. NOT TRUE.

I share my story to help others who are struggling and questioning their dx or lack of. I'm not saying you don't have MS, but if you are in doubt do YOUR OWN research. The Drs do not know everything. Best of luck.

Erica Kane · 11-03-2006, 12:38 PM

You sound much like me many years back. I had a baby at age 24, and a month after she was born, right out of the blue, I suddenly got so dizzy and the room started to rock like I was on a boat in very choppy waters.

Freaked me out - thought I was having a brain aneurysm or a tumor or who knows what? It was really, really scary.

I had several different diagnoses before finally hearing I had MS. The list? Dehydrated, inner ear disease, and oh, my favorite - hyperventilating because I was a nervous new mother.

I KNEW none of those were right - this was some serious equilibrium problem that I'd never had before - but for some reason, when you're young, they have a hard time taking you seriously.

I wish you well and if it does turn out to be MS, know that medical science has come a long way since I was diagnosed - back then there were no drugs to treat it like there are now. Your chances of being OK are very good - keep looking for the answers you deserve.