relapse question

[mindwhirl]

Can new sx pop up during relapse? I was on the upswing, very little tingling and clumsiness remain and no veritgo for 2.5 wks,  Today left side of face feels prickly, left arm refusing to cooperate fully, which are intermittently familiar to me. Now right side feels fuzzy with vision blurring, which is great fun since my left eye has been funny too!  Right arm just seems heavy. The right side was my good side!
There has been no clearcut end to my last bout, and it has definitely not been 4 wks.
BTW I am undx, and I personally think it is an odd presentation of headache free migraine intermingling with migraine with headache.  Past doc also suspected C6 disc protrusion as cause.  Awaiting LP results.

[Quixotic1]

I discussed whether cervical lesions can cause facial paresthesias with my MS neuro, whom I consider to be quite brilliant.  I discussed it in my journal entry

http://www.medhelp.org/user_journals/show/156096/My-MS-History-is-Rewritten?personal_page_id=302

He made it clear that the nerve handling facial sensation, the Trigeminal Nerve, is involved in a complex of intercommunicating nerves that reach as far down as the 2nd cervical vertebrae.  That is what I based my remark to you on.  C6 is too far down.

Having lesions in the periventricular region and especially in the corpus callosum really does sound like MS if the mimics have been ruled out.  However, you are at risk for docs erroneously ruling out MS because your MRI has not deteriorated.  This is false.  The symptoms we have in MS are only approximately reflected by the lesions visible on the MRI.  This runs counter to what a great number of neuros believe and will tell you, but it is based on solid science.  You can have worsening symptoms and an MRI that does not change.  The MRI can remain unchanged for years in MS despite obviously worsening disease.

Again, when complex migraine enters the picture, it does get muddy, but your problems sound more like MS with migraines baffling the picture.

Good luck.
Quix

[mindwhirl]

My "normal" migraines can be 1-sided, sometimes both sides, sometimes I have sinus symptoms, i.e. runny nose, sinus pressure.  I have extreme sensitivity to noise, light, and smells.  Sometimes I have a tension headache tag along.  They come anywhere from just in the front, to only in the back, just in the temple, to all over.

Nausea is almost always awful. Usually I can't think, and I have gotten so exhausted I could barely walk.  Sometimes I can't focus my eyes.  Of course to go along with the pain I'm extremely irritable.

From reading about migraines it looks like there are several varieties, including ophthalmic which could explain my complete loss of vision in 1 eye one time which only lasted less than a minute and basilar which can cause vertigo, and lots of non-headache symptoms like vision problems and parestheia.

I was having migraine headaches 1-5 times per week each lasting 2-24 hours until I started Neurontin for pain 1.5 months ago, and now they are almost nonexistent.  I started having migraines by middle school.

[Wind_and_Water]

Could you describe your "normal" migraines?

[mindwhirl]

Thank you for your reply.

I'm getting antsy waiting for my results, going back and forth between "it definitely isn't" and "maybe it is."  As long as I don't have to ever have another LP!

I did post about my MRI(s) before, but a brief overview is:
_C6 protrusion, I believe with mild effacement of thecal sac(?), from 2.5+ years ago
_ 2 non-enhancing lesions~6mm and 2mm on periventricular area and corpus              callosum~ 2+ years ago (report mentioned poss. demyelinating disease)
_ 6mm lesion still there 1 yr ago.--2mm not found and nothing new

My neck was scanned on the first MRI, head on the last 2.

Docs have disagreed about whether C6 could affect face. Also, it has not been imaged again since.

The migraine theory is because nothing else has been found to explain the symptoms, and I have a variety of presentations of my "normal" migraines.  I'm just grasping at straws at this point.

[jensequitur]

What Quix said!

Since you're currently undiagnosed, you don't quite fit the statistic, but it's quite common to have three or four relapses the year after diagnosis.

My first year, it seemed like I was always having a relapse - either that or I was so debilitated from the heat that it felt like a relapse.

[Quixotic1]

Hi, and welcome to the forum.  I think for the great majority of people with MS, the definitions of relapse and remission hold more true, but more many they do seem to be too rigid.  

From the experiences we've shared on the forum, and speaking in the context of MS, I would say that "yes" it seems that you can have relapses superimposed on others.  Many of us have spoken about new symptoms appearing in the middle of an already identified relapse.  And there is nothing about MS that would prevent a new attacks a few weeks after a previous attack.  The immune system acts up when it will.

It seems you are thinking that a complex migraine without headache is causing your problems.  This doesn't make as much sense to me, though I confess that I still don't understand all the implications and possibilities involved in the concept of complex migraines.  If this were a migraine, then we would have to believe that a whole new vascular pattern is showing up on the heels of a different one.  That does not ring true with what I have read - at least to my mind.  The complex migraine seems to have a pretty set pattern in each person.  Again, this can't be taken to the bank.

Does the C6 protrusion actually impinge on the cord?  Can impingement be seen on the nerves in the foramina?  Only then would it be responsible for some of the arm and leg things you discuss.  It would not account for facial paresthesias.  Those would have to have problems at C2 and above.

Have you told us about your MRI?  I'm sorry to jump in here after a long absence, but we apear when we can.

Welcome again,

Quix, MD