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Peripheral Neuropathy or MS?
About 6 months ago, I started getting severe lower back pain along with leg and foot pain/tingles/numbness. Doctors first thoughts was a herniated disc along with bilateral sciatica, but and a MRI ruled that out. As time has gone on, I now have arm and hand pain/tingles/numbeness.
Every so often I have memory troubles and problems with speech. I was first given gabapentin and was soon taken off it because doctors thought all of my problems were stemming from the medication, I was then put onto Pregabalin to see if my symptoms would change. After a while, seeing that my symptoms hadn't improved or changed, I was weened off of it to see if It was the mediation giving me all these problems. But.. they're still here and it's starting to get me very down. During all this, I have experienced other symptoms, one of which being left sides facial twitching/ muscle spasms, left eye twitching and some weird visions in my right eye. I also experience headaches/migraines but have suffered with chronic migraines for the past 3 years.
I have now been told by the neurology team that it is a 27 week waiting list and will be seen by the neurologist in september.
I don't think I can wait another 5 months with all the pain without knowing what is going on. My mum works in a hospital and has said that a lot of my symptoms fit peripheral neuropathy, but there's some worries about my facial twitching and memory issues.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated
Every so often I have memory troubles and problems with speech. I was first given gabapentin and was soon taken off it because doctors thought all of my problems were stemming from the medication, I was then put onto Pregabalin to see if my symptoms would change. After a while, seeing that my symptoms hadn't improved or changed, I was weened off of it to see if It was the mediation giving me all these problems. But.. they're still here and it's starting to get me very down. During all this, I have experienced other symptoms, one of which being left sides facial twitching/ muscle spasms, left eye twitching and some weird visions in my right eye. I also experience headaches/migraines but have suffered with chronic migraines for the past 3 years.
I have now been told by the neurology team that it is a 27 week waiting list and will be seen by the neurologist in september.
I don't think I can wait another 5 months with all the pain without knowing what is going on. My mum works in a hospital and has said that a lot of my symptoms fit peripheral neuropathy, but there's some worries about my facial twitching and memory issues.
Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated
How did your appointment go, Lauren?
Do some research into neurological effects of sleep deprivation -- it's pretty crazy what long term sleep issues can do (including mental health issues like anxiety and depression). Were you able to set up a sleep study?
Additionally, a multivitamin would not be enough to fix a deficiency if you have one, and many with neurological issues do. Not sure where you live, but in routine blood work B12 is checked; vitamin D and magnesium are not.
Hope your doctor was helpful! He seems on the ball in that you were checked for medication side effects -- I had a lot of that, and it became very confusing trying to figure out what was real and what was an adverse effect.
Do some research into neurological effects of sleep deprivation -- it's pretty crazy what long term sleep issues can do (including mental health issues like anxiety and depression). Were you able to set up a sleep study?
Additionally, a multivitamin would not be enough to fix a deficiency if you have one, and many with neurological issues do. Not sure where you live, but in routine blood work B12 is checked; vitamin D and magnesium are not.
Hope your doctor was helpful! He seems on the ball in that you were checked for medication side effects -- I had a lot of that, and it became very confusing trying to figure out what was real and what was an adverse effect.
Hi, thank you to the both of you for your replies.
I've always had problems with my sleep, ever since I was really young so I suppose I never would have thought of that as an issue.
I had blood tests a few weeks ago and the doctors had told me everything had come back fine, and I do also take vitamin tablets as I like to try as stay pretty healthy.
As for the counselling etc, I am already under a counsellor through work as I do suffer with depression but that has been under control for a while now.
I am due to see the doctor this afternoon as the pain especially in my arms and hands has increased and I am starting to lose some grip and so I have become quite clumsy.
I'll be sure to keep you update
I've always had problems with my sleep, ever since I was really young so I suppose I never would have thought of that as an issue.
I had blood tests a few weeks ago and the doctors had told me everything had come back fine, and I do also take vitamin tablets as I like to try as stay pretty healthy.
As for the counselling etc, I am already under a counsellor through work as I do suffer with depression but that has been under control for a while now.
I am due to see the doctor this afternoon as the pain especially in my arms and hands has increased and I am starting to lose some grip and so I have become quite clumsy.
I'll be sure to keep you update
Agree with JJ above. As part of figuring out your situation, I'd suggest a sleep study because deprivation can cause many neurological symptoms, including awful cognitive issues.
Another thing to consider would be vitamin and mineral deficiencies ... D, B12 and magnesium would be the majors that could cause neurological symptoms. Low magnesium, in particular, can cause the twitching you are experiencing; that is my situation and has been verified by my neurologist. Magnesium can also help with migraine -- quite a bit of research in this area.
And the counselor/psychiatrist referral is a preemptive strike -- you would be surprised by the number of neurologists who, when they're not sure what's up, decide it's a psych issue. Having that cleared in your chart already is helpful.
Having said that, all these unknowns are scary and anxiety can heighten symptoms so it's important to get that element addressed as well.
It's a frustrating road, I know. Keep us posted.
Another thing to consider would be vitamin and mineral deficiencies ... D, B12 and magnesium would be the majors that could cause neurological symptoms. Low magnesium, in particular, can cause the twitching you are experiencing; that is my situation and has been verified by my neurologist. Magnesium can also help with migraine -- quite a bit of research in this area.
And the counselor/psychiatrist referral is a preemptive strike -- you would be surprised by the number of neurologists who, when they're not sure what's up, decide it's a psych issue. Having that cleared in your chart already is helpful.
Having said that, all these unknowns are scary and anxiety can heighten symptoms so it's important to get that element addressed as well.
It's a frustrating road, I know. Keep us posted.
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Hi and welcome,
Unfortunately, if the soonest you can see the neurologist is September, it might be worth considering finding an alternate neurologist and or being preemptive whilst you wait and organize getting the assessments done for some of your specific issues to diagnose exactly what type they are eg visual testing with an ophthalmologist to identify common vs uncommon visual issue, physio therapist assessment of abnormal sensory and motor functions and recommended therapy, speech pathologist assessment to diagnose type of speech disorder etc etc
You may wish to seriously consider seeing a psychologist, whilst it may include an assessment of your mental health, which to be honest is never usually a bad thing to have but the point would be to have the additional support that you'll possibly need whilst going through all this, please don't dismiss this without considering all the benefits...
Please keep in mind that 'IF' you are saying you first experienced bilateral pain/tingles/numbness in your back and lower limbs and then within months it now includes bilateral pain/tingles/numbness in your upper limbs as well, it is 'less likely' to be caused by a neurological condition like MS and 'more likely' to primarily caused by an associated peripheral nervous system condition.
In regards to MS, the types of symptoms you are experiencing are usually associated with spinal cord lesions, MS spinal cord lesions though are typically small and generally cause symptoms to present down one side of the body....MS spinal cord lesions are not typically big enough to cut across the cord and cause bilateral and or symmetrical symptoms, and whilst bilateral symptoms definitely can happen, it's a lot less common than unilateral.
On top of that though you would of had to of had another attack months after the first because of the time line you've mentioned, and this too would of had to have caused a large enough lesion to cut across the cord and bilaterally affect your upper limbs.....large lesions are generally visible on a spinal MRI, lower strength MRI's can actually fail to show small MS spinal cord lesions but if there was a lesion large enough to cut across the cord your spinal MRI would typically of shown up a bigger lesion.
There are many issues that can affect cognitive skills and or facial twitches, most common are probably medication side effects but often when there is unrelenting pain and uncertainty of what is medically going on, things like sleep quality or deprivation, stress and worrying etc can build up over time and cause lots of additional problems, you might wish to consider if anything like that could be causing you more problems than you have though about.
Hope that helps.........JJ
Unfortunately, if the soonest you can see the neurologist is September, it might be worth considering finding an alternate neurologist and or being preemptive whilst you wait and organize getting the assessments done for some of your specific issues to diagnose exactly what type they are eg visual testing with an ophthalmologist to identify common vs uncommon visual issue, physio therapist assessment of abnormal sensory and motor functions and recommended therapy, speech pathologist assessment to diagnose type of speech disorder etc etc
You may wish to seriously consider seeing a psychologist, whilst it may include an assessment of your mental health, which to be honest is never usually a bad thing to have but the point would be to have the additional support that you'll possibly need whilst going through all this, please don't dismiss this without considering all the benefits...
Please keep in mind that 'IF' you are saying you first experienced bilateral pain/tingles/numbness in your back and lower limbs and then within months it now includes bilateral pain/tingles/numbness in your upper limbs as well, it is 'less likely' to be caused by a neurological condition like MS and 'more likely' to primarily caused by an associated peripheral nervous system condition.
In regards to MS, the types of symptoms you are experiencing are usually associated with spinal cord lesions, MS spinal cord lesions though are typically small and generally cause symptoms to present down one side of the body....MS spinal cord lesions are not typically big enough to cut across the cord and cause bilateral and or symmetrical symptoms, and whilst bilateral symptoms definitely can happen, it's a lot less common than unilateral.
On top of that though you would of had to of had another attack months after the first because of the time line you've mentioned, and this too would of had to have caused a large enough lesion to cut across the cord and bilaterally affect your upper limbs.....large lesions are generally visible on a spinal MRI, lower strength MRI's can actually fail to show small MS spinal cord lesions but if there was a lesion large enough to cut across the cord your spinal MRI would typically of shown up a bigger lesion.
There are many issues that can affect cognitive skills and or facial twitches, most common are probably medication side effects but often when there is unrelenting pain and uncertainty of what is medically going on, things like sleep quality or deprivation, stress and worrying etc can build up over time and cause lots of additional problems, you might wish to consider if anything like that could be causing you more problems than you have though about.
Hope that helps.........JJ
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