How common is it to get the run-around for months or years (with clean MRI & other test results) before eventually being diagnosed with MS after all?
I am a 24-year-old female. I've had MS-like symptoms since Feb 25 of this year. It was worst in April and May (dizziness, numbness, brain fog, stiffness, severely blurry vision, ringing in my ears, debilitating fatigue, elevated heart rate, insomnia, headaches, panic attacks, and some weirder ones). I had an MRI of the brain and spine, evoked potentials, and a bunch of other random tests (mostly heart and blood related). I was told everything was normal, and accused of "anxiety."
By June I had started feeling much better. A neurologist then told me I had "post viral syndrome" and would be completely cured by August. (He also said "I don't believe you had an optic neuritis")
I got somewhat worse again in July, then better in August through October, and have been slightly worse again this month. Even so, my symptoms are only a tiny shadow of what they were in the spring -- now it's just blurry vision, mild hand stiffness, and slightly reduced sensation on my back. Occasionally I'll have a muscle twitch, tingle, or heart palpitation. But I never have brain fog or dizziness anymore, my energy is normal, and I can run six miles! My vision is just bad enough to make me nervous and annoyed, but good enough to drive and (usually) read the computer screen without a problem. I take magnesium, b complex, b12, c, and probiotics religiously, and avoid sugary foods.
Anyway, does this sound like the beginning of an MS story? What were your experiences of waiting to be diagnosed? How much time between first symptoms and diagnosis? How many of you had normal MRIs the first time? Were you told that you DIDN'T have MS only to be diagnosed with it later? Were you given diagnoses of "anxiety" or "post viral syndrome"?
I know that mystery MS-like illnesses are common, but none of the people who post about them stick around to tell what eventually happened...tell me your stories!
-Becky