Numbness in left side of body...MS?

[tmmontgomery]

Hello all,

I have been having some miserable symptoms for over a month now, and I just don't know what to do. I wake up every day and feel miserable, most of the time worse than the day before. I have been to a neurologist who took basically an entire MRI body scan (minus my legs) to check for MS or anything else that might be causing my symptoms. Got the results back Wednesday and everything came back normal. Did a CT scan a few weeks back at the ER (went because I was feeling so awful) and came back completely normal.

Symptoms are as follows:

-Generalized weakness (feeling like I have no energy at all)
-Weakness on left side of body. Does not interfere with walking or movement, but my internal medicine doctor said my grip was slightly less on my left side than right, and my left eye, when looking all the way to the left, seems very slightly shaky.
-Heaviness in left side of body, mostly in leg. Again, this does not have an affect on my walking or balance.
-Vibrating sensation in body. Mostly in foot. Sometimes in abdomen and chest. Comes and goes it seems, or maybe I'm just not noticing it at certain times.
-Sometimes tingling in my left foot. It seems to only to do it when I'm sitting criss cross apple sauce... it might just be my foot going to sleep, I am not sure.
-Feeling that I'm in a dream. Things don't seem as real or solid as they used to. When I do a task, I have to reassure myself that I'm actually doing it. When I wake up, I have to make sure I tell myself who I am (even though I already know and never forget.) I feel sometimes like my body is foreign, my hands move but I don't know how they're moving. or I walk and I know I'm walking, but it just feels like I am on autopilot. Almost like I am loosing my mind.
-Shakiness, especially in hands. Not pronounced, but it's noticeable.
-Feeling of fullness in left side of abdomen.
-Trouble swallowing sometimes. It comes and goes. It almost seems if I think about swallowing, that's when it seems to get harder to.
-Tired, bloodshot eyes (feel like I have been looking at a computer screen all day, even though I haven't.)
-I don't feel as sharp as I usually am. Sometimes I have to read something more than one time to really get it, and I've noticed when I talk, sometimes I trip over some words. Here lately though my speech has seemed pretty much okay.

There are more symptoms, but I don't want to confuse anybody or start listing too much, as I know sometimes that can make it hard to see what's going on. As I said, my neurologist said that I checked out fine physically when he did my exam. Said there was nothing out of the ordinary, no signs of Optic Neuritis, no trouble with balance or anything like that, so I was pretty confident it was not MS at that time. His office said my MRI looked completely normal, no lesions. I was reading elsewhere in the forum about the whole no lesion MRI thing. I haven't done any type of nerve testing, and I am thinking that that would be the next step because of the heavyness and sometimes tingling. My nuero is wanting to do a tilt table test to I guess check for dysautonomia? Because I told him sometimes I feel like I'm going to pass out (MISTAKEEEE!!) even though I know I'm not really going to pass out... it's just that feeling I get. It's almost like a rush of adrenaline. Not really sure how to describe it.

I saw a very good internal medicine MD just a few days ago who said that there were tons of things that could be causing the symptoms that I'm having. I have been through a significant amount of stress lately, so he prescribed Wellbutrin 75 MG once a day to see if that would help with the brain fog/dreamy feeling. I have been on it for three days, with no affect being seen yet. I realize these types of medicines take a little while to work.

So what could this all mean??? I wake up every day feeling worse and worse, it has caused me to basically stop my life and stay at home with my mom. I want to get back to normal so bad!!! It is very frustrating because I don't feel like my normal self. I haven't driven in three weeks. It's even hard for me to ride in a car without feeling very freaky.

I have really thought about it being MS... but from what I can understand, most of the time MS isn't really debilitating in it's first stages right?. It's more just annoying. Like I said, the thing that has got me really unable to do anything is the feeling of dreamyness. I can deal with the physical symptoms all day, but when it comes to my mind and not feeling like myself, like I'm a zombie almost, it's very scary.

thanks for any type of light anyone can shed on my problem. very desperate for answers. I love the internal medicine doc, but you can't see your doctor every day so in between I'm TRYING to find anything to help.

-taylor

[tmmontgomery]

Hi all again! Just wanted to give you a very quick update.

Results from Ultrasound and ECHO are both back.
ECHO was fine, but Ultrasound revealed an enlarged spleen.

My doctor thinks it could be a relapse of Mono. which I had about a year ago. They want to do more bloodwork to see if it could be EBV or the actual mono flaring. It would explain why I've felt bad for over two months, and especially the full feeling in my left side, which is the swollen spleen.

Sarah, in a tilt table test, they monitor your blood pressure and vitals while basically emulating you standing up and laying down for extended periods, to check for orthostatic intolerance.

Still not feeling any better at all. :(

Had a lightheaded spell yesterday that really scared me, although I think it was because I was up trying to do too much and had not had anything to eat or drink.

[SarahL2491]

What do they do when they do the tilt table thingy?

[tmmontgomery]

Hi All! Just wanted to give you an update on what has gone on over the last few days.

I went back to the internal medicine doctor on monday. He said that I looked better (which i will take as good news, right?) :)

He did say that he was not happy with my vitamin B12 levels, it was around 480. So I am doing a weekly nose spray and taking B12 lozenges everyday. Not sure what good that is going to do but hoping that helps.

He switched me from Cymbalta to Lexapro, which is what I was on when I was 14 and 15 for the foggy feeling. I have been taking it for a week with no difference, but I am going to give this one some time since I know it worked well for me the last time.

I told him that I was concerned about the weak feeling  my heart was having and also about the fullness feeling I was having in my side, and he said it would be no problem to do an Ultrasound and ECHO. So I had those done Tuesday and Wednesday, respectively. Waiting to hear the results on both of those. Just so grateful that my internal medicine doc is allowing me to do whatever it takes to get some peace of mind. I really really like him. Even though his office is a real pain to get a hold of over the phone.

I got the last little bit of bloodwork that hadn't come back when I went to the doctor back a few days ago, and my vitamin B6 level seems to be a bit high, about 10 points above the normal range. Anybody know what that could indicate?

Ugh. Still not seeing any major improvement. Wanting to be me again so bad. hoping these meds will help my mind a bit.

any comments are very welcomed as usual!!

[Deb61]

Durn it!  I was hoping that your doctor would find something that could easily be fixed with medicine . . .

Hang in there.  It sounds like our doctor will find something--they seem to have the right attitude, anyway.

[Lulu54]

Hi Taylor, one of the hardest things to keep in mind during this journey is how much patience it takes.  Neurological time slows to a crawl - I find it almost as slow as geologic time..   Ok, that's an exageration, but it does take a long time to get appointments and even longer to get answers.

Hold the steady course and keep working with these doctors to find your answers,

best, Lulu

[tmmontgomery]

Hey Deb and everybody.

Most of the bloodwork that I got done on Wednesday is back, and everything is normal.

:(

There are some other people of several forums that I have posted in suggesting that I insist on more Thyroid testing. I am not sure if it will help... but I guess it could be a start. Neurologist's office called and said that the Doctor is STILL insisting on doing the tilt table test. Not sure why he's obsessed with it. Obviously they are not too concerned because it has been a week and a half and haven't heard from the cardiologist. I don't really appreciate their attitude or service.

I ended up not going to the ER or clinic or anything because I figured I would just wait on the thorough bloodwork to come back, in which it did, and there was nothing wrong.

And also, when I took my anxiety medication last night it seemed to ease the breathing/heavyness in my chest.... so maybe this all has something to do with stress... I have no idea though. I wanted the blood work to find something so bad, and now I am back to square one pretty much... so depressing. :(

I took my last Ativan last night and was so scared that I wouldn't be able to get it refilled because it was originally prescribed to me from my MRI... but it is the only thing that has helped me during this entire ordeal... and thankfully the nurse was able to talk the doctor into giving me some... I told him about all the stuff I have gone through lately with tornadoes in my area and stuff... so I think he sympathizes.

The nurse's exact words when I talked to her:
"Your blood work all seems to be normal, but some hasn't come back... but we're digging to get to the bottom of this Taylor!"

made me feel a smidge better.