Curious Symptoms, no real answers

[Linda_1013]

I’m a 45 year old female, healthy all my life until I turned 41, now I’m a mess. I developed a shingles and had them on my head and right eye.. treated and cleared up no problem. 2 years later, got them again, really bad in the same place, except they were also in my nose and maybe the roof and side of my mouth if that’s even possible. I treated and they cleared up. Shortly after I noticed I started getting ridiculous zapping pain on the RIGHT side of my face, referred to a neurologist, got some blood work and MRI. I was diagnosed with trigeminal neuralgia and started treating with gabapentin. Meds were awful and couldn’t function at all on them, headaches, blurry vision and incredible fatigue. Tried lyrica, carbamazepine, they were the same... now I’m on Lamotrigine and it’s great, but noticed other symptoms like my hand falling asleep and dropping things, intermittent double vision, cold or hot feeling in my feet with ridiculous pins and needles on my soles and the base of my toes. Also half my lip, the roof of my mouth and right cheek, really never came back, so sometimes  slur. I also started having a weird popcorn like tick in my arm and thigh, something in my calf... I noticed a tremor in my eye cheek and arm, mostly at night and in the morning. My balance is crap and I have become awfully confused sometimes.. I forget my daughters birthdate, forget where I’m going driving to work and don’t know words for stuff I use everyday, like remote control and stapler. I’ve been dealing with this for four years and it seems to crop up every three to four months, last a week or two and then some symptoms get better and others stay.. My neurologist diagnosed me with TN, also Trochlear Headache, Migraines, also possible Carpal Tunnel.. under the advice of friends, I saw other doctors to include a geneticist and Rheumatologist.. Now I also have hyper mobility syndrome... I refuse to believe I’ve come down with all of this is three years and can’t keep up with any of it. I had an MRI when I was first diagnosed with TN and the neurosurgeon said I had some white matter, but no MVD because I’m not a good candidate.. I’ve had two ablations and they did nothing. Recently I finally got another MRI and it was clear as a bell. My blood tests always come back clear except for Vitamin D and B12 are low. So anything else is ruled out. My neurologist suggested I see a psychiatrist now for depression. I’m now absolutely bonkers and really fed up, I try to ignore these symptoms and make pretend they don’t happen, but they do... oh yeah, the eye doctor suggested I get reading glasses, so now my double vision is magnified. Anyone else out there like me... I’m feeling kind of hopeless and crazy.

[specialmom]

So, varicella zoster is a beast.  That virus lives along the nerve.  People often have more than one episode and you can have a complication from it called post herpetic neuralgia. Painful!  It's basically nerve damage. It is semi rare but when it happens, it's terrible.  Whenever someone gets a tingle of shingles starting, if they can get the medication (even from an ER) within 72 hours, they have less of a chance of post herpetic neuralgia forming. Is your pain along the same area where one or both your outbreaks occurred?  
Anyway, that may be the reason for the 'zaps'.

The rest---  well, MS seems like something I'd want to rule out.  You've had a lot of testing done with no findings.  But that is difficult to diagnose.  Vision, cognitive issues, etc. are all things people with MS complain about.  Have you spoken to your doctor about this (forgive me if you say you have already)? Have you been to a neurologist?  or just gp?

[Linda_1013]

Thank you for your input, I’m so grateful.. post herpetic neuralgia was the initial diagnosis, but the symptoms remained after a year and then two so the diagnosis became trigeminal neuralgia... my neurologist ruled MS out right away, my second MRI is clear.. absolutely nothing there, that’s why we are settling on stress and/or depression... as I try to rule out things, I keep getting diagnosed and treated for LOTS of things... I just feel like it’s too much of an improbability to get so many ailments after living an awesome, happy active life... it’s like my body fell apart in two years... in four years I developed, hyper mobility syndrome, asthma, TN, Trochlear Headaches and Migraines... then probable carpal tunnel syndrome... it sounds ridiculous... I have always been healthy, active and very happy, my kids and job have really suffered these last few years... I just want to get back to normal and figure out what’s really happening...

[H_Lawson55]

Try to get away from stress. Flare ups are from I understand due to major stress. Sorry to hear about the shingled. It really sounds like you have 2 different things going on though. My opinion only