I have ms symptoms but had clean Mri.

[Ionlymakeboys3]

Hi everyone. I decided to post here because I need some input. Im a 25 yr old woman... About three years ago I started getting horrible migraines and dizziness. It lasted for about 6 months then I started to get tingling in my toes and numbness in my knees. I went to the er one night bc the dizziness was so bad and the doc said I needed an Mri to rule out ms. I didn't even know what ms was but anyways my Mri was good and sent me home with no answer. I continued to have episodes of tingling and numbness. One day months later I had this episode where my hand was tingling and then it felt so hot like I had rubbed jalapeño juice all over it. I was walking to the store when this happened and the sun made it soooooo bad I felt like my hand was on fire, this lasted all day long, I ended up going to sleep and woke up fine. That was in July 2015. I found out a month later I was pregnant and didn't have any weird symptoms my whole pregnancy. My headaches went away numbness tingling all subsided. Well fast forward to now, ever since I had my son in February my headaches are back, I had an episode of severe vertigo I lost some vision in my right eye and I freaked, went to the er thinking I was having a stroke, they did an Mri to make sure my vessels were okay since I was 5 months postpartum and everything was fine. I had an episode of the fire hand about two weeks ago and maybe a week later had a weird symptom. I was sleeping and my baby woke up, I got him and layed back down in bed the lights were still off, and I felt like something warm fell onto my forehead and started running down my face. I instantly started wiping it off and I felt nothing on my hands, I sat up in panic thinking something was dripping from the ceiling and I turned the light on and there was nothing there even though my face still felt wet. It was a weird thing and hasn't happened since. I get burning sensations on my face once in a while. I have pain in the middle of my spine, hurts most when I stand up for a while and lay down. I had an eye exam and I had spots in my vision field test, doc said since I had an Mir she isn't worried about brain tumors, but could that mean ms? I also have white flashes in my vision but that's kind of constant. Does ms come and go like with the burning hand, and some things happen more often like the tingling toes and knees? I'm just wondering if this sounds like it could be ms even though I had no brain lesions. I have been so fatigued lately and I have had blood tests heart tests you name it and everything is okay. This can't all be in my head (I hope) ... Thanks for any input!

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

Could you please brake up your future posts into smaller blocks of text, people with MS commonly have visual and or cognitive issues which makes reading and retaining large blocks of text very difficult...thank you!

Q: "I had an eye exam and I had spots in my vision field test, doc said since I had an Mir she isn't worried about brain tumors, but could that mean ms? I also have white flashes in my vision but that's kind of constant."

A: It's usually a lot easier to answer these types of questions with your actual diagnostic evidence eg specific information from the visual field report, type of field test, unilateral-bilateral, 'spots' meaning, normal or pale optic disc etc etc

As it is, i would only be guessing what you could possibly mean and if it might relate to MS in some way....eg scotoma is the technical name of a blind spot (or spots) and they can occur in any part of the visual field areas, these vision losses or blind spots are associated with brain tumors, stroke, glaucoma, diabetes, hypertension, or head trauma...

Q: "Does ms come and go like with the burning hand, and some things happen more often like the tingling toes and knees? I'm just wondering if this sounds like it could be ms even though I had no brain lesions."

A: MS is a neurological condition that effects the central nervous system and there are many many other medical conditions that cause similar or some of the very same symptoms but with MS, the symptoms and neurologically abnormal clinical signs are primarily caused by the brain and or spinal cord lesions.

The way the lesion's 'basically' works, the lesions interrupt to permanently cause focal neurologic deficits, a person with RRMS is more likely to experience the same issues and in the same locations and over time, with each attack the previously remitted symptoms will return or worsen, and as new demyelinating lesions develop the more additional symptoms and neurological clinical abnormalities are experienced.

Keep in mind that not every lesion detected on an MRI will actually cause symptoms and not every MS symptom can be mapped to a specific lesion on the MRI but it is highly unusual for someone to be diagnosed with MS and not have any type of brain or spinal cord lesions show on multiple MRI's, generally because they wouldn't meet the MS Mcdonald criteria.

It could happen but for neurological conditions like MS to be the most likely medical explanation, there would usually be some objective neurological abnormal evidence of lesion damage showing up somewhere in their tests and or clinical assessments eg Acquired Nystagmus - an abnormal function in the areas of the brain that control eye movements, Babinski sign - positive extensor plantar response is a sign of damage along the corticospinal tract etc etc....if there isn't any consistent or suggestive test or clinical evidence to put MS high on the list, the alternative medical explanations for those symptoms are usually more likely.

MS will just about always pop up googling symptoms because it effects the central nervous system, but comparatively there are many others, and usually much more common medical explanations that could also explain most of the symptoms associated with MS.....if you have pain in the center of your spine, it's possible for there to be a structural issue causing you problems, have you had a spinal MRI or any peripheral nerve testing done?

Hope that helps.........JJ

[barbbenet]

You're entitled to have followup MRI's, even if you need to see multiple doctors.  With a clear MRI, you may still have MS.  First, your doctor (preferably an internal med specialist) needs to rule out other possible causes.

Diagnosing with the MRI makes patient encounters easier for doctors, so few do the old fashioned work of serious 45 minute exams and studying all your symptoms.  Hospitals and the machine companies are deeply invested in relying on the costly and profitable machines.  Keep searching for answers as long as your insurance and other resources allow.  Read all you can and try again in a few years if necessary.

[Ionlymakeboys3]

Thanks for your reply! I keep coming back to the question of if it could be ms because my symptoms come and go, and I get new ones and when I look up what could cause them ms always pops up. I have only seen a neurologist a few years ago for my migraines, my doctor says my extreme dizziness and fatigue is because I'm breastfeeding! Lol maybe I need a new doctor.