please help!

[officermike]

I am a 39 year old make who has had gallbladder removed. Low testosterone hypoglycemia and nodules on thyroid.  Recently I have been having bouts of weird symptoms that come and go but are getting more frequent.  I get this off balance sensation and light-headed but not dizzy. My arms and legs feel weak and muscles sometimes feel sore like I worked out. Mostly in my neck sho ulder and upper arms. I seem to stumble over my words and forget what I'm talking about ALOT. I have a hard time concentrating and just feel unwell always. Are these possible MS symptoms. If not any ideas? Thanks in advance.

[SarahL2491]

golly Mike, not trying to discourage you but to look for MS, you have to rule out over 20 mimic diseases and usually, not always, have to have lesions shown on MRI and a 2nd one confirming changes or more or the addition of a CIS (isolated event witnessed by a medical professional) with MS symptoms showing.  It's difficult to diagnose and many of us spend years going from doc to doc.

Honestly, I just don't see it yet as MS.  There is no set pattern of events, which is part of what makes it so hard to pin down.  Usually but not always, it starts on one side or the other of the body, not both.  In my case, I would fall for no reason, trip over things that were not there, etc.  

Have you been cardiac evaluated yet?  As I said, there are many mimic diseases with our same symptoms and of course, if you google symptoms, MS will pop up about 95% of the time, because the range of symptoms is so great for us.  MS refers to multiple lesions in the brain, so perhaps one of your doctors would give you an MRI to make sure but that might also point to something else.  Other things cause lesions, migraines, cardiac issues, just to name a few.

Keep looking, if they want to give you these two meds, ask what their rationale is.  What do you think, doc, that these two drugs are accomplishing?  They have to be basing it on something.  Drugs don't make things go away, they allow you to cope with what is going on, some more effectively than others.

The cycles and light headed feelings are throwing me out of the MS consideration, but that said, we are only MS patients helping each other and we too have our total frustration with doctors.  Good luck but truly hope that you do not have to join our little "club".  It's one that no one really wants.  Try new doctors, keep your medical information all together, try a teaching hospital where there are fresh new minds eager to take on puzzles!

[officermike]

I had my nodules aspirated and my levels were low along with my cortisol levels then they balanced back out. The off balance and light-headed feelings come and go and last for hours. It seems like it comes in cycles and its getting more and more frequent. All the docs want to do is have me take ativan and traedone.

[bigsissie]

You should post this in the Thyroid disorders. All of the problems you list can be caused by your thyroid levels being off. Have you had your thyroid tested to see if your levels are ok? Best wishes, Sissie

[kwarendorf]

Hi Officer Mike -

I agree with JJ. It's time to see your doctor. Muscle weakness and balance issues are often MS symptoms. Your balance issues may also be caused by many other things. Does it happen when you stand up, or get up from lying down? It does for me and it turns out not to be related to my MS. It's orthostatic hypotension. Which is a fancy way of saying that sometimes when I stand up my blood pressure drops.

So your symptoms could be connected, or not. But it's definately time to see your doc,

Kyle

[supermum_ms]

Hi there and welcome to our MS community,

I don't think your sx's are being caused by something like MS, because you mention sx's that are not particularly specific to MS, very generic. What you've experiencing can be associated with many other conditions, MS does have many mimics and I think you're going to find out, that it's being caused by the combination of what you've been dx'd with.

I would suggest you visit your Dr and discuss everything to see if anything can be done to help your situation.

Cheers.........JJ