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378497 tn?1232143585

Please help: couple of things

Hi, everyone--

Hope all is well, and for those quitting smoking--stick with it! You can do it. Don't think too far ahead...just do it in small increments--minutes, hours, a day...whatever works for you. Make it through that increment and then start the next.

OK...last night or early this morning, I was completely asleep and I think I must have been trying to turn over when I was awakened by the fact that my left leg had gone almost completely numb. It was the strangest feeling I've ever had, and it scared me a lot. It really freaked me out. I pulled the leg over and turned myself over and it kind of came back to life, but not with that "tingling" really that you get when your foot falls asleep; it just sort of woke up some. Parts of it stayed numb, especially along the back of my thigh. I also was having lots of random paresthesias in my right arm at the same time. It took me awhile to get back to sleep. That leg also did a lot of twitching and zapping and jumping, which was part of the reason it was hard to go back to sleep.

What was that? That leg is still having paresthesias this morning.

Just as a reminder: On third neuro, second neurosurgeon, etc. Clinical findings include: t2 spots (3 >3mm) in brain; myelopathy in t-spine (nonspecific); two t-spine disc herniations (to the right) that two MDs have said aren't responsible for my sx or severe enough to cause them; either "diffuse" hyperreflexivity or just "some with clonus in the right leg," depending on whom you talk to; normal EMG/NCT; +rombergs/hoffmans. Sx include episodic vertigo, what appears to be pre-trigeminal neuralgia in right face (many zaps, especially when I make a certain face), paresthesias in right foot (and now left leg entirely), notable weakness in both legs, paresthesias in arms and hands, especially right hand.

So, my question. I have a left-leaning disc issue in my lumbar spine, no nerve entrapment or anything. Could something about lying on my left side have done this? I don't have any back pain at all. I also have a left-leaning disc protusion in my c-spine, again with zero radiculopathy and nothing indicating a problem yet. Could that do it?

Yours in being completely weirded out,
Bio
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378497 tn?1232143585
Wonko, thanks for the bump.

Quix, that's not Teflon, that's Velcro. You remember exactly right. The upshot is that neurosurgeon 2 doesn't think anything is "t-spine related" and I don't need surgery; I don't want a thoracocotomy, thank you, so I was happy to agree with him. Neuro THREE (yes, three) just can't decide if this stuff is CNS or PNS and wants to see me again in three months; he also thinks it's *not* t-spine. Bless the man, he *did* say, "I really don't have any idea what this is right now," and he said, "You obviously don't have conversion disorder."

I haven't had SSEP or VEP. I do feel that neuro 3 is good, and I may call him tomorrow. Honestly, I'm so sick of going to doctors, and none of them can agree on a single thing, not even the state of my reflexes. I feel like watching and waiting for a couple of months unless something catastrophic happens. I will probably ask about VEP/SSEP at that three-month appt. And I have an MRI in October.

I am journaling some of it, just little notes in my daytimer to remind me (because I can't remember things to save my life).

Secretly, I think this is going to turn up as PPMS. I haven't actually said that out loud, but it's what I think. To me, this *feels* central, not peripheral. We'll see. That also happens to be what my grandmother has. Whatever it is, it's slowly progressive and doesn't go away.

One thing I know now: EVERY neuro should tell their patients that with neurological things, sometimes it can take a year or two or even more to really go through the tests and follow-ups and figure out what is going on. Even having been told that in the beginning of all of this would have saved impatient little ol' me a lot of aggravation.

Thanks, Quix.

Bio
Helpful - 0
147426 tn?1317265632
I'm not an expert on mechanical things of the back, but what you described is an entire limb that was numb, not just along a single nerve pathway (called a dermatome).  It is more in keeping with a central nerve problem I think.

I am having so much problem with you're being without a diagnosis with so much going on.  I guess that much of it is "subjective," being paresthesias, but you have lesions, central nervous system signs, brainstem symptoms.

I hope you're journaling all this.  A numb extremity may be the beginning of an exacerbation.  Have you had an SSEP on that limb?  Can you refesh my TB (Teflon Brain) with where you are in your diagnosis?  Do you have a good neuro?  If so, this should be reported to him/her!

Actually, your history is coming back.  The whole search for MS got sidetracked by the compression in the T-spine and the trip to the neurosturgeon.  Of course, there is no way to use the mechanical T-spine stuff to explain the vertigo or 5th Cranial Nerve stuff.  And, it does sound like TN precursor symptoms.

Somebody's neuro said to not call them unless a whole limb got numb.....BINGO!....call your doctor.

Quix
Helpful - 0
428506 tn?1296557399
Hi biowham, I can't help you, but I can bump!

(and I hope you are feeling better and are not so scared/weirded!)
Helpful - 0
378497 tn?1232143585
hello?
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