Hi All....I'm pretty sure this is the forum that I used to post in 15+ years ago, back when I was in my 30's. At the time, it was run off some servers in a basement at a hospital in Boston. All the login names seemed to have changed except maybe a couple that still look familiar. Has anyone been around here for 15+ years? I think I recognize a couple screen names....

Anyway, I am back because I'm have a re-occurrence of my still undiagnosed neurological symptoms - same numbness and dizziness but now worse and now a new symptom which frightens me quite a bit - leg weakness. I'm having an MRI in a couple weeks - brain, C, & T-spine. I am now 53. I can trace all of this weird stuff back to sensory symptoms and waves of dizziness since I was 28 - so, yes - 25 years of ago. These things waxed and waned for maybe up to 10 years with a few months of nothing in between the 10 years here and there but then poof - it all vanished for 15 years. In those first few years, I had at least 2 MRIs - brain & c-spine - both negative. Never had a spinal tap. MS specialist offered (seemingly begrudgingly), and I was thinking about doing that when my symptoms essentially vanished.

Well, now this crap is back, and it's not giving me much of a break...and I'm pretty depressed about it as I had talked myself into it not being MS for 15 years and actually thought it was gone for good. Plus the leg weakness is really frightening....none of my symptoms seemed to have gone after my mobility before. All of these symptoms wax and wane, but since this stuff and started up, it hasn't gone away, so it's a flare of "something". Two other symptoms which actually started months ago, which I had been successfully ignoring - a numb patch to the right of my spine, just below the bra strap - not entirely numb, just a weird feeling that I notice and also really loud tinnitus that sounds like hissing pipes when water is running. I blew both of these latter two things off, but they have been going on a few mos., and now I am suspicious they're related.

I'm not sure if I have any actual questions for you all....just saying "hi" for now....from a forum old-timer. Does anyone know what happened to that fellow who was always such a walking encyclopedia of knowledge - he had read every PubMed article and was up on the very latest in every trial. He was on Copaxone, as I recall. His screen name was an ode to his dog....but then I think he changed it. I wish I could remember his screen name....

Cheers all,

hootswithowls