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

[Deb61]

I'm sorry you're not feeling better.  I would say that perhaps an urgent care facility may be able to put some of your anxiety at rest.  Sometimes anxiety will cause the heaviness and tightness in the chest.  You are probably quite anxious about some of the weird symptoms you're experiencing.  

If you go to an urgent care center, maybe they can do an x-ray of your abdomen to see if you have fluid, gas, an internal organ swelling, etc.   Either way, I think you are justified in going to an urgent care center based solely on the chest heaviness and fullness.  It could be very well be anxiety, but it's better left for the judgement of a doctor.  Maybe something will show up, too, in your blood work that will give a clue as to what is going on.

I am keeping my fingers crossed that they will find some clue soon.  Keep me posted.

Take care, my friend.
Deb

[tmmontgomery]

Hello Deb (and everyone)...

Just wanted to give an update.

First of all Deb, I completely I understood your post, please dont think you're posting too much! I love the feedback and interesting information so please keep it coming.

Yesterday I went for some new bloodwork. My doctor ordered a pleathera of things but the main thing I am excited about is the thyroid stuff. So we will see when they come back. They took at least 6 vials of blood so I am sure they will find a little something if anything. And the lab I went do does electronic results so I will get the lab reports emailed to me! Imagine that!! :)

My doctor's office is in the same building as the lab so I dropped by after my blood tests to talk to the nurse because I just didn't want to suffer through the weekend... I'm tired of feeling awful and not being able to do anything about it. So I told her this and she said she would call me back... Which she finally did.

The doctor is changing me from Wellbutrin to Cymbalta 30mg. She said if I need to take an Ativan I can also do so. I am out so I am hoping that they will do a refill for me for that also.

There are a couple of things that are concerning me, and Deb and everybody, I would like your feedback and thoughts on these things.

Firstly, I am having these vibration like feelings going through my body. It is not really a tremor, as most of the time you cannot see my body shaking. But if you put your hand on my leg and sometimes my arm you can feel very deep pulses almost. They're faster than my heartbeat. I am not sure if I would call it a tremor but it feels very strange. I started experiencing it last week and I seem to be noticing it more this week.

I am also having some weakness in my hands. They feel stiff. Not sure if this goes along with the general body fatigue...? But I have definitely noticed it more this week.

Also the fullness feeling in the left side of my body... It seemed to come and go a few days ago and now it kind if seems to be staying with me. I haven't had any pain with it really at all... But it is concerning me a bit because I feel like the area around my lower rib cage is swollen. My mom and sister sister both said they didn't see anything but I can feel that it is very very slightly swollen. My stomach keeps growling and it kind of seems like it growls a little every so often kind of toward the side... Could this be GAS??! I mean, I just don't know what to think about it. But like I said said have pretty much had it since I've been sick!

Also having chest tightness/heavyness. Not sure if it's nerves or really something to worry about. I haven't really been having trouble breathing.. Just the sensation that my chest is heavy.

I am wondering if I should make a trip down to the ER just to get them to image my abdomen and see if they see anything.. I would really love to have an ultrasound done on it but can an ER order stuff like that??

Has anybody used Cymbalta, and if so how did you like it? Doc said it would help with shakiness/vibration feelings so I will be taking it shortly when I get out of bed!

I am so tired. :( and also tired of not feeling well.

thanks for any info y'all can provide!

[Deb61]

I just reread this, which I should have done before I posted, and it's a mess.  Hopefully, you can weed through this mess (if you want to) to figure out what I was saying.  Sorry about that!

Off to bed I go!
Deb

[Deb61]

The cognitive issues for me are the worst and most disabling symptom.  It is funny how MS affects people differently.  For some (like my sister), it affects people more physically.  I do have physical symptoms, but I'm mobile and don't expect to not be in the future.  You never know, though, because MS is so unpredictable, but I have this feeling about it.  Plus, most people with MS do not end up in wheelchairs.  

The cognitive issues are a battle for me.  There are medications to help with this.  I used to take Provigil which helped with the fatigue and cognitive problems.  Medications sometimes get a black eye, but I cannot function without them.  I was taking Provigil for a long time until my insurance company said no to them.  In fact, I started Provigil before my diagnosis (I think six months prior to).  I'm taking Ritalin now, but it's not strong enough.  I will be seeing my neurologist next Monday, so I will be talking to him about it.  

I have a very serious issue wth cognitive problems.  When I write them, down they sound worse than they probably are.  Presently, I'm having a real issue.  Thankfully, I'm seeing my neuro soon.  Basically, I"m a space cadet.  Someone can be talking to me, and I will not even know it but I will be looking of somewhere else.  I sometimes catch myself, but there's many times that I don't.  Additionally, I can only pay attention to a sentence or two at a time, otherwise I don't understand what is being said to me.  Understanding crowds make it almost impossible.  I cannot understand anyone in a crowd.  This could be related to my hearing problems, but it could very well be cognitive.  Lastly, I am very forgetful.  I've had very, very embarrasing moments with this  If I'm not taking medication, I cannot get up in front of a group of people to speak.  I forget what I'm going to say when I need to say it.  

As I mentioned, there's medications to help.  With a fast heart rate, it will probably rule out a couple of options for you (like Ritalin), but not all.  Provigil made me feel way better.  It took a few weeks and possibly a month or two to get used to the feeling of the medication, but after that, I felt halfway human.  

I understand the feeling of frustration, too.  I was undiagnosed for years.  I made the mistake of focusing too much on my health--which is so, so easy to do because I felt like poop all of the time.  I just wanted to unlock the mystery as to what was causing me to feel so bad and get the magic treatment to fix me up!  I talked to others--my family, friends, etc.  They help a little bit, but then after a few years a giant wall was built up.  They finally got tired of listening to me!  I thought I was being positive about it all, but they were just a sick hearing about stuff as I was physically sick myself.  Frustation, disappointment, bewilderment, and depression set in.  

I guess the best thing to do is to find a diversion--something that will really drive you away from thinking about things, a passion.  For me now, it's painting.  I go to museums research, taking lessons, etc.  I also like to help others.  Getting involved in church, book club, gym, etc. may help. For some people, exercising really helps.  Additionally, when you are finding yourself depressed, seek the care of your doctor.  There's no need to suffer when great medications are available.  I can literally feel the depression chemical when it's released in my bloodstream.  I hate it, and it is also very disabling.    

I've written a book.  I'm sorry about the length of my posts!  

Deb

[tmmontgomery]

Sarah,

Thank you so much for your well wishes. I have seen some positive things, while others seem to be the same, but I am trying to keep as positive as I can. As you know it can be very difficult to do sometimes, but you have to to keep moving on! Yes, my MRI results were very reassuring to a point, but I still do not know what is going on, so that is not the best answer. But no news is good news I suppose! I just want to know what is wrong with me so I can fix it. :(

Deb,

I know, I thought it was very interesting also that I haven't gotten those tests done, I am almost regretting not getting them done when I was in the office last week. I am definitely going this week to get them done though. I know that I am having symptoms of depression too.. I just feel like I can't go on anymore! But I am, and I will continue to.

That is very interesting about the flare ups. I am still wondering about MS... but as we have said... the negative MRI is definitely a good sign. What kind of cognitive issues to you have? What do you do when you are frustrated beyond imagination, and don't know what do to do anymore? I need some things that I can do to kind of calm me down, let me know everything is going to be okay. I am definitely going to read tonight, but what else helps you? What do you recommend? I think I have had a major problem in looking stuff up... today I scared myself silly with some of the things that I found. :( I know that I have to stop doing that.

[Deb61]

The tests that your doctor should order to find thyroid dysfunction are the TSH, T3, and T4.   With the symptoms you have, I'm surprised that you haven't had this test!  Thyroid disease is a great mimic of MS and can cause neurological symptoms.  BTW, I forgot to mention that a goiter on the thyroid can cause swallowing issues, too.  Hyperthyroidism and hypothyroidism can cause heart rate problems.  I do have blood pressure issues.  I have to take medicine for this, too.  I noticed the problem in my mid-20's and thought it was related to pregnancy, but I continued to have problems ever since then.

Flare-ups for people with MS is a new symptom or worsening of a symptom that lasts over 24 hours.  I've had symptoms that would come and go that would last two weeks that weren't always consistently there that would be considered as a relapse.  Some people have relapses that last months and some just over 24 hours.  Some symptoms last forever, some lessen, some go away altogether.  

It is certainly wonderful to hear that your brain MRI is negative.  Having no lesions in your brain or spinal cord completed probably with MS protocol on a closed machine 1.5T or greater does lessen your chance for having MS and is a really good thing.  Having said this, it doesn't lessen the urgency that your doctor(s) need to get to the bottom of what's causing your symptoms.  Just because it may not be MS doesn't mean that it can't be serious or disabling.  Cognitive issues are certainly disabling.  This has been a very big problem for me, so I know exactly how you must feel.

Keep posting away!  It doesn't bother anyone in the least.  Plus, many gain a lot of insight from reading the experience of others--I know I do.  

Deb