Possible MS?

[hoganmlhogan91]

Hi, in January 2017 I woke up one morning with very loud ringing in my ears, headache, foggy vision, and shortness of breath.  In February and march I had 6 weeks of continuous headaches.  Then followed by muscle twitching all over especially my legs and now some spasms.  Lots of fatigue, cognitive problems and a weird sensation of an electrical current through my body.  I have gone to countless doctors visits , mri's of my brain and spine has no lesions.  The only thing that has been positive is an Epstein Barr virus that is active.  My Emg and Nerve conduction studies were normal.  

Any ideas?

[supermum_ms]

Hi and welcome,

It's highly unlikely to be related to a neurological condition like MS, and at a guess it's more likely to be related to the active Epstein Barr virus, otherwise known as mono that showed up in your blood tests.

"Interpretation of EBV Antibody Tests

EBV antibody tests are not usually needed to diagnose infectious mononucleosis. However, specific antibody tests may be needed to identify the cause of illness in people who do not have a typical case of infectious mononucleosis or have other illnesses that can be caused by EBV infection. Symptoms of infectious mononucleosis generally resolve within 4 weeks. If a person is ill for more than 6 months and does not have a laboratory-confirmed diagnosis of EBV infection, other causes of chronic illness or chronic fatigue syndrome should be considered.

The interpretation of EBV antibody tests requires familiarity with these tests and access to the patient’s clinical information.

Interpretation of EBV antibody tests and diagnosis of EBV infection is summarized as follows:
http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=30857&clcid=0x409
Susceptibility to infection
People are considered susceptible to EBV infection if they do not have antibodies to the VCA.

Primary (new or recent) infection
People are considered to have a primary EBV infection if they have anti-VCA IgM but do not have antibody to EBNA. Other results that strongly suggest a primary infection are a high or rising level of anti-VCA IgG and no antibody to EBNA after at least 4 weeks of illness. Resolution of the illness may occur before the diagnostic antibody levels appear. In rare cases, people with active EBV infections may not have detectable EBV-specific antibodies.

Past infection
The presence of antibodies to both VCA and EBNA suggests past infection (from several months to years earlier). Since over 90% of adults have been infected with EBV, most adults will show antibodies to EBV from infection years earlier. High or elevated antibody levels may be present for years and are not diagnostic of recent infection."
https://www.cdc.gov/epstein-barr/laboratory-testing.html

Keep in mind that the majority of MS symptoms are also associated with many other medical conditions but in MS the symptoms are from the damage caused by brain and or spinal cord lesions, and because of the way MS lesion damage basically works, 'all over' is one of the red flags pointing away from neurological conditions like MS..

Hope that helps.........JJ

[hoganmlhogan91]

Thanks for the reply.  Can an ebv virus stay active for 6+ months??  Ive been in bed most of the time.  My neurologist said an infectious disease doctor wont see me for ebv.   What do i do?  My ebv is a current infection.

[supermum_ms]

As far as i know, when newly infected with mono it can stay active for up to 12 months whilst your immune system is creating the antibodies.

Most EBV infections happen during childhood and cause only mild symptoms, or no symptoms at all but if the EBV infection happens during early adulthood, it can develop into glandular fever and like most viral infections it usually lasts for 2-4 weeks but it can knock you about for months...

It takes around 1-2 months after the infection for glandular fever to develop, and your contagious for about two months after the EBV infection, most commonly transferred through saliva which is why it's also known as the kissing disease.

EBV is said to be the most common viral infection with general population stats in the 90% range, that's 9 in every 10, millions and millions of people have had it, so it's not a serious condition that would ever require medical treatment from an infectious disease specialist.

What you do is the same as any other virus you need to ride out, you focus on eating really healthy and not skipping meals, 8+ hours sleep every night and keep your physical activities to with in your limits, stay hydrated etc I'd recommend focusing on lowering your anxiety levels 'if' this situation has started to effect your mental health at all, worry and stressing can make any situation worse so being proactive about your mental health is never a bad thing...

Hope that helps.....JJ