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MS, AS, or something else?

Hi I am a 37 y/o male. A few weeks before Christmas I started having muscle soreness in both arms mainly and every so often in my legs as well. I have also had strange sensations in my head as well as a very itchy scalp and skin crawling feeling in my head as well. All of these symptoms come and go sometimes I have them for a week and then nothing for several weeks then have them again for a couple of weeks then nothing for a few days then back again. Last week I started having pins and neee type feelings in both cheeks that come and go and today started having the sore feeling in my wrists. I have seen my regular doctor who is currently treating me for Lyme disease it has been almost a week since being on antibiotics and the symptoms are still coming and going. Also the symptoms seem to be less and most of the time go away completely at night and also first thing in the morning. I also have been diagnosed with ABPA, GERD and a large hiatal hernia. I am also currently taking prednisone,(10mg a day) Doxycycline (for Lyme disease), and 1000mcg of b12. Oh btw my doctor did not do blood test for Lyme he said most of the time the Lyme tests are inconclusive. Please any help you could offer would be greatly appreciated!
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5265383 tn?1669040108
What were the results of your neuro exam?  Was it carried out by your family doctor only? Do you have weakness?  Numbness?

Both als and ms are more about weakness.  Als shows mixed upper and lower neuron signs in the same limb -- so your leg could be weak and show spasticity (upper motor neuron), but it also has twitching and fasciculations (lower motor neuron sign).

To confuse the matter further, sometimes other things can cause symptoms.  My neurologist was very concerned about ALS (the above was a description of my own right leg), but my LMN signs ended up being symptoms of a magnesium deficiency.  Once my magnesium levels were normalized, fasciculations disappeared and I rarely twitch unless I get lazy about supplementing.

I wasn't worried because I had twitching and fasciculations "all over", which would not be the case for early ALS or MS.

MS can cause symptoms anywhere affected by the CNS, but there would be no all over symptoms until you were much further on in the disease.  RRMS tends to start with visual symptoms from optic nerve involvement, or weakness in a single or two same side limbs.  Sometimes severe dizziness or vertigo. Bladder problems can also be an early symptom (although there are many non- ms causes for that).  Pain is "most likely" due to spasticity, or from an awkward gait causing structural issues.  Or from a relapse of a facial neuralgia.

It's unlikely you would have parathesias in your cheeks and pain in both hands and legs due to either condition.  Big breath.

I do wonder, with the coming and going you are experiencing, if it could be nutritionally related?  Something for you to address with your doc.  Does your stress level, work pattern and diet stay completely constant, yet you still experience these on and off symptoms?

Just writing this in case  it ends up not being Lyme (I have no experience with Lyme save for a brief acute and treated Lyme infection), and also to reassure you about MS/ALS.  I'm not a doctor though; hopefully yours is helpful as you try to untangle this!




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I have not had a neuro exam yet. My doctor wanted to see how the Lyme treatment went first. My diet probably should change and my stress level is pretty high. I accepted a new position as a manager and have had a lot of stress about my other medical conditions as well. One other thing I did not mention is that a couple of weeks before all this started I had an endoscopy done due to having a piece of food caught in my throat. Also the day after the procedure I could barely walk or move my arms but that went away after 2 days. Thank you again for your information?
987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi and welcome,

I'm not sure what 'AS' actually stands for but if you mean "MS, ALS or something else?" i think it would have to be the something else.....whether or not the something else would be lyme disease i honestly don't know enough about it to comment but it does seem odd for your dr to diagnose and treat you with lyme disease if there is zero basis for you having lyme disease. I wouldn't think the antibiotics would have any toxic effect, the yo yo symptom pattern is likely to be more to do with the nature of lyme disease...

I'm not sure  how active the medhelp lyme community is but it might help to connect with the lyme community and see what advice they can give you.

hope that helps....JJ
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Thank you for your response. I did mean ALS. I will post this on the Lyme disease thread as well but just out of curiosity what makes you rule out MS and ALS.
You mentioned your symptoms are in all peripheral limbs, both arms and sometimes in your legs too, it only started less than 3 months ago, you also said your symptoms most of the time go away completely at night and also first thing in the morning.....the symptom pattern you describe is very inconsistent with neurological conditions like relapsing remitting MS, from what i know of ALS it wouldn't fit the continual progressive pattern of ALS either.

I'd recommend you keep in mind that you have been diagnosed and have only started being treated for lyme disease for a week, lyme would likely be more consistent with your history, symptom type and pattern, location etc for your dr to have even put lyme at the top of the list.....no one online can ever really rule anything in or out, my opinion is based on what you've mentioned being too dissimilar to be likely explanations.

Hope that helps.......JJ

Yes this helps me tremendously and sets my mind at ease. Thank you so much!
Avatar universal
I have Lyme.  Lyme symptoms come and go at times and a lot of them are numbness and pins and needles.  But I think a lot of that nerve issue is from the damages caused by the antibiotics killing off the Lyme Disease.  The belief is that the die off of the Lyme Bacteria releases a toxin that the body is not able to get rid of efficiently in a timely manner, therefore causing toxin buildup and more damage and symptoms to the body.  It's called a Herx reaction.  Short for herxheimer reaction.
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Thank you for your response however I just started the antibiotic last Monday. I was having these symptoms before. Originally I was on a very high dose of omeprazole for my GERD and most of the symptoms I was having lined up with side effects of omeprazole. In fact after coming off the omeprazole my symptoms all went away for almost a month and then came back so that's why I'm concerned.
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