help with multiple scerosis and fibromyalgia

[LoriB47]

I was diagnosed 6 months ago with fibromyalgia.  Being an MRI tech I had been worried that my symptoms were related to MS since I had seen that fairly often.  My neurologist was not convinced that the fibro was causing all of my symptoms and sent me for an MRI.  When I had one done 4yrs ago one or two "white spots" showed up but were contributed to chronic migraines ( had them since I was 16-IBS also, 47now).  The new MRI showed 30+ lesions including one in the brainstem.  Therefore I was given the diagnosis of MS also.  I am having a hard time trying to tell what symptoms are MS and which are the fibro.  It has begun causing me a great deal of stress which I know only makes things worse.  I am and active mother of 3 boys (18,14,&12) with a full time job and want my life back.  I am currently taking Lyrica and Betaseron.  How can I tell when the MS may be relapsing with the pain from fibro there?
Some of my current symptoms are neck, upper back and shoulder pain that causes severe ha's, leg pain and weakness,  difficulty with speech-mostly just can't find the right words-I recently had and episode where half of my lt hand went numb for several hours and within an hour of that happening I had a band of numbness around my head as if I was wearing some sort of tight hat.  I am getting confused, frustrated and I'm actuall scared to tell anyone for fear of being called a hypochondriac or just being told I'm making it up.  I don't know what to expect and I'm scared for myself and my family.  Can you help me figure out how to sort this all out so I can get a grip on this and get my life back?  I really want to stay positive and fight this but it is hard!  Any suggestins are greatly appreciated!!  Thanx!

[Fluffysmom]

Hello,

Do come and read the Health Pages on the MS forum, if you haven't done so already.

Your symptoms do sound like they could be MS symptoms, and you should probably speak with your neurologist about them.  He/she will want to know if the current disease modifying drug  is working.  If you're getting so many symptoms, it may be time to check and see if the Betaseron  is doing all that it should.

I know you've visited our forum, your post about MRI machine strengths was helpful.  I found them to be a great bunch of people; very caring and supportive, funny, etc.  I'm not diagnosed with MS, have been in what they call "limboland" for more than 8 months.  I had so many small lesions show up on my brain MRI after I started having tremors, loss of balance, fatigue, etc., that the radiologist didn't even count them all.

I hope to be seeing you around.  Take care,

Kathy

[selmaS]

I would like to invite you if you haven't already to stop by the fibro forum....there are many there that may be able to answer ur questions.Remember everyone is different, so someone else witht e sane dx may have different symptoms.There are health pages in each forum, read thru those, they may be able to help u determine fibro or MS!

Good luck
Godspeed
"selma"