I don't have any answers (sorry to say), but I just wanted to let you know that I have EXTREME joint pain (including jaw), as well as muscle pain more typical of fibromyalgia, and MS is one of the things my doctor is thinking due to other symptoms.
It also seems like a lot of people with MS (and I'm just going by the postings I've seen on forums, not by hard statistics) also seem to have fibromyalgia - so maybe you have some overlapping disorders?
MS is such a weird disease, the symptoms can vary so much. Hang in there; eventually we'll get our answers!
I've had joint pain since dropping 720 lbs. of bacon on my knee in a factory when I was about 19. (If I make it another 5 weeks or so, I'll be 52.) Never related it to anything but that. Ortho doc said he could do an exploratory for nerve damage, but thinks the chances of making it worse are as great as those of making it better.
Lately I've been having warm or cold spots on various parts of my body, mostly limbs, when there's obviously nothing in the environment to cause them. I've also been having tiny little muscle twitches (left leg, ring finger, both upper eyelids, and back of neck, a little right of center) though different parts of them; if it weren't for all this other stuff, I'd put that off to stress.
Is my memory right that ANA is measured as part of the CSF?
I don't usually experience pain in my joints. When i have pain, it's either paresthesia (typically in my face, hands or feet - I guess where the most nerves are) or spasticity in my muscles.
Because of your joint pain, I would think fibromyalgia or lupus would be a possibility, but of course I'm no expert!
Thanks, Deborah. What other symptoms did you have? Did they rule out lupus with you?? I did have the spinal tap with showed nothing (but that was only in about year 5).......I had the EVPs, everything..........I hate thinking that there is treatment out there that I need to be getting to slow this down if it does wind up being MS :((
Can you tell me more about your symptoms? Were you 'sick' for 17 years or did you have symptoms off and on?? Did they look at lupus, too??
Mocha
I have sensations of pin p r i c ks, tingling, patches of warmth and am told those are parasthesias. Maybe this will help you. I had symptoms for almost 17 years before a lesion even showed on my brain. It may be possible to have symptoms without the lesions. My spinal tap didn't show any o-bands but I had elevated csf myelin. I was just diagnosed 11/10/08 and a confirmation of the MS on 02/10/09.