Numbness in left side of body

[tmmontgomery]

Hello all,

I have been having multiple miserable symptoms for over a month now, and I just don't know what to do. I wake up every day and feel miserable, most of the time worse than the day before. I have been to a neurologist who took basically an entire body scan (minus my legs) to check for MS or anything else that might be causing my symptoms. Got the results back yesterday and everything came back normal.

Symptoms are as follows:

-Generalized weakness (feeling like I have no energy at all)
-Weakness on left side of body. Does not interfere with walking or movement, but my internal medicine doctor said my grip was slightly less on my left side than right, and my left eye, when looking all the way to the left, seems very slightly shaky.
-Heaviness in left side of body, mostly in leg. Again, this does not have an affect on my walking or balance.
-Vibrating sensation in body. Mostly in foot. Comes and goes it seems.
-Feeling that I'm in a dream. Things don't seem as real or solid as they used to. When I do a task, I have to reassure myself that I'm actually doing it. When I wake up, I have to make sure I tell myself who I am (even though I already know and never forget.) I feel sometimes like my body is foreign, my hands move but I don't know how they're moving. or I walk and I know i'm walking, but it just feels like I am on autopilot.
-Shakiness, especially in hands. Not pronounced, but it's noticeable.
-Feeling of fullness in left side of abdomen.
-Trouble swallowing sometimes.
-Tired, bloodshot eyes (feel like I have been looking at a computer screen all day, even though I haven't.)
-I don't feel as sharp as I usually am. Sometimes I have to read something more than one time to really get it, and I've noticed when I talk, sometimes I trip over some words.

There are more symptoms, but I don't want to confuse anybody or start listing too much, as I know sometimes that can make it hard to see what's going on. As I said, my neurologist said that I checked out fine physically when he did my exam. Said there was nothing out of the ordinary, no signs of Optic Neuritis, no trouble with balance or anything like that, so I'm pretty sure it's not MS. His office said my MRI looked completely normal, no lesions.

I saw a very good internal medicine MD just a few days ago who said that there were tons of things that could be causing the symptoms that I'm having. I have been through a significant amount of stress lately, so he prescribed Wellbutrin 75 MG once a day to see if that would help with the brain fog. I have been on it for two days, with no affect being seen yet. I realize these types of medicines take a little while to work.

So what could this all mean??? I wake up every day feeling worse and worse, it has caused me to basically stop my life and stay at home with my mom. I want to get back to normal so bad!!! It is very frustrating because I don't feel like my normal self. I haven't driven in three weeks. It's even hard for me to ride in a car without feeling very freaky. What kinds of things besides MS can cause these types of symptoms?

thanks for any type of light anyone can shed on my problem. very desperate for answers. I love the internal medicine doc, but you can't see your doctor every day so in between I'm TRYING to find anything to help.

-taylor

[tmmontgomery]

Thank you doctor. Would a low lymphocyte count have any significance? It was about 14%, only one point lower than the lowest number in the range.  I have also had high granulocytes as well, running about 78% a couple of points high as well. I have had two CBCs at two different doctor's offices ran by two different companies and they both had these numbers.

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

thanks for any help!

[Dr Sharma]

Hi there. I understand what you are going through. Your multiple symptoms are suggestive of MS and need to be excluded. The other differential diagnosis of MS which can be ruled out with blood tests, CSF analysis, CT, MRI scan, EMG can help rule out other diagnosis. these are complicated migraines, tumor or other cord compression like spinal stenosis, stroke, herpes simplex encephalitis, HTLV -1 associated myelopathy, myasthenia gravis, diabetes, lyme disease,  SLE, sjogren’s syndrome, sarcoidosis, paraneoplastic syndromes, guillain barre syndrome, parkinson’s disease, cervical spondylosis etc. MS is a chronic demyelinating disorder where the disease phase is characterized by active phase and remissions. It has multiple symptoms and signs and is a diagnosis of exclusion. The symptoms of multiple sclerosis are loss of balance, muscle spasms, numbness in any area, problems with walking and coordination, tremors in one or more arms and legs. Bowel and bladder symptoms include frequency of micturition, urine leakage, eye symptoms like double vision uncontrollable rapid eye movements, facial pain, painful muscle spasms, tingling, burning in arms or legs, depression, dizziness, hearing loss, fatigue etc. The treatment is essentially limited to symptomatic therapy so the course of action would not change much whether MS has been diagnosed or not. Apart from clinical neurological examination, MRI shows MS as paler areas of demyelination, two different episodes of demyelination separated by one month in at least two different brain locations. Spinal tap is done and CSF electrophoresis reveals oligoclonal bands suggestive of immune activity, which is suggestive but not diagnostic of MS. Demyelinating neurons, transmit nerve signals slower than non-demyelinated ones and can be detected with EP tests. These are visual evoked potentials, brain stem auditory evoked response, and somatosensory evoked potential. Slower nerve responses in any one of these is not confirmatory of MS but can be used to complement diagnosis along with a neurological examination, medical history and an MRI in addition, a spinal tap. Therefore, it would be prudent to consult your neurologist with these concerns. Hope this helps. Take care.