Hi, and Welcome to the forum! Sorry you are miserable like this and that these symptoms are happening as you prepare for a wedding. That bites.
Are you are clearly aware, no one here can say what this is, but we can talk about it in the context of MS.
I have some questions about your symptoms. You began with facial numbness, a very common presenting complaint in MS. However, was your "whole" face numb, about the same on both sides? Simultaneous and symmetrical numbness would be pretty unusual in MS from all the reading I have done. Numbness in the face is caused by the Trigeminal Nerve (Cranial Nerve #5). Bialateral involvement is common, but it usually acts differently on each side.
Dizziness is one of the most common complaints seen by any doctor in primary care, ENT, and neurology. It is also very common in MS. That is a hard symptom to hang any hats on. The particular sensation you are describing is certainly one we talk about frequently here.
The stiff neck immediately brings to mind a viral meningitis, which could account for most of the things that you mention. That was not an off-the-wall sugestion.
The MRI was negative. I would say that is a bone of contention here and with the field of neurology in general. The MS Society states the 5% negative MRI thing. And all of the studies of people MRI after a first demyelinating event show that as many as 20% may develop MS later when the first "baseline" MRI is negative. BUT, the field of neurologists by and large will not accept that a person can have MS with a negative MRI. I have heard of docs giving the diagnosis, but we have only met one or two in the history of this forum. At any rate, a negative MRI largely decreases your chance of having MS.
I assume that your neurologist did a thorough, head-to-toe neuro exam on you. Do you know if this was negative? Reflexes normal? Balance normal?
Moving on to your subsequent symptoms this sounds less and less like MS. You say that you began to have "stinging pains in my hands/feet/legs arms (that come and go in a minute or so)." MS does not cause widespread, simultaneous sensations like this (called paresthesias). MS causes random attacks on nerves. The problems happen here and there, asymetrically (especially in the beginning), but not all four extremities throughout. Also generally, the sensations last longer than a minute or two. And to qualify as symptoms of an attack of MS they must last more than 24 hours (this may be constantly or frequently recurring). Some experts are pushing for this definition to be extended to 48 hours.
You are also having tiny muscle twitches called fasiculations, it sounds like. You can see the muscles move under the skin, but the twitches do not cause parts of your body to move. Muscle twitches (fasciculations) occur when the muscle is irritated. In MS we see that kind of twitching in specific muscles that are weakened or spastic, but not all over. All-over twitching is seen after viral infections (example influenza, colds and others) and in vitamin deficiencies like B12 (levels below 450 are suspect) and can be very prominent in Lyme Disease. Yours do not sound like MS.
You also describe your face (your whole face?) feeling strange. If it was the whole face, again MS is less likely the cause. Bulging veins..I have no clue what to say. We have had others - undiagnosed I think - complain of this. Chest pain - This is possible in MS, but your doc should look elsewhere for cardiac problems. Neck pain can be from a variety of causes including MS. But, all these different problems are occuring in rapid succession and each are lasting just one to a few days. MS is rarely that rapidly changing. It "could" be, but the majority of people here with MS, will tell you that most symptoms hang around longer.
I'm not a big one to invoke stress as a cause of symptoms and won't here. Stress can, however amplify symptoms that are already there.
I don't see any need to change to a different neurologist if this one is treating you with belief and respect. I see why he feels that this does not look like MS. However, it seems that something else is definitely happening, and would ask for a thorough review of all the things that can cause symptoms such as this. Specifically, I would ask for testing for Lyme disease, not only the basic screening antibody test, but if it was negative for the more in depth "western blot" test.
You also might check over on the Lyme Disease Forum to see how much they think these symptoms sound like Lyme.
http://www.medhelp.org/forums/Lyme-Disease/show/148
I hope this helps,
Quix, MD
The kind of symptom you are having sounds more "systemic" a medical term that describes things that have an effect all through the body. Examples of systemic problems are things like toxins, vitamin deficiencies (was your B12 level checked?), and infections like Lyme Disease and viruses.