[Kitty]

Hi and welcome to NeuroTalk Colleen, Elmwood and Monkey!
I'm sorry your neuro issues have caused you to have to be here but this is a wonderful group of friendly folks who collectively have tons of experience and knowledge with MS. Join right in wherever you feel comfortable and ask questions as you need to. We all know how frustrating and scary not knowing what is wrong can be.

[Monkey]

Hey! You're from GA too

[sralphlew]

Hello everyone, I joined just today.

[Kitty]

Hi sralphlew and welcome to NeuroTalk! I hope you find some answers here or at least get a few of your questions answered. Join right in anywhere you feel comfortable.
We have a large MS community and lots of folks with lots of different experiences to share.

[poormommy]

Been suffering w/dx of Psoratic Arteritis thought to be the Anklosing Spondylitis after putting up with Inflamatory Bowel disease or Chrons and aches and pains for years. Recently, I started researching Enbrel and the side effects because my Rhemy wanted me to try it after trying Humira and Sulfasaliazine before that. Upon looking up the side effects on the web, I relized that I have many of the symptoms of MS...and have had them for years. I just thought I was "wired" differently since my mother has suffered from many of the goofy things that I put up with. Once i realized I have many of the syptoms, I went back to my G.P. with a list of the things that bug me such as: heat...kills me can't work outside in temps above 70...even get hot in the house when moving around...numbness in my hands when I wake up..numbness in my legs when on feet too much..legs are the worst, they feel like boa constrictors wrapped around my calves all the time..they never losen up..run a low fever just about all the time..shooting pains throuout life..jumping muscles thruout life..twitches, trouble peeing, weakness in hands which results in shaking when forcing them to do something tedious, etc. G.P. decided to get an MRI of my brain, lower back and cervical area. I went and picked up the results yesterday and this is what the MRI Brain W and W/O Contrast

There are five small T2 hyperintense fooci scattered within the left periventricular white matter. These are variable size ranging from a couple of millimeters up to approxiamately 4.5 mm. There is also a thin rim of periventricular T2 increased signal at the posteerior aspect of the lateral ventricle on the left. There is a single 9.8 mm oval-shape T2 hyperintense focus within the posterior aspect of the right periventricular white matter. The findings certainly could be related to multiple sclerosis though other demyelinating etiologies including vascultits, chronic ischemic microangiopathy as well as infectious etiology such as Lyme's disease cannot be totally excluded. Clinical correlation is necessary.


My MRI for my lower back states that:

At L4-L5 there is a broad-based disc bulge producing mild flattening of the thecal sac but no significant spinal or neural foraminal stenosis.

At L5-S1 there is a broad-based disc bulge which produces contact with both the bilateral S1 nerve roots and produces moderate bilateral neural foraminal stenosis.

Impression: Broad-based disc bulge at L5-S1 producing contact with the bilateral nerve roots and moderate neural foraminal stenosis. This appears to be slightly increased from the prior exam. No other significant changes. (my previous MRI was in 6/2009)

The cervical spine MRI appeared normal.

I called but haven't heard from my G.P. today, I have an appt for next week.
I called my Rhemy's office since I finally recieved approval from the insurance company yesterday to take Enbrel, and left a message in regards to the fact that I don't think I should start Enbrel until we can figure out the MS issue and recieved no response yet.

Some of the concerns that I have are: are the lesions above similar to what other MS patients have? Does anyone here have Anklosing Spondylitis and MS? BTW, I may also have Sjogren's as well...dry dry nose and mouth, low grade fever, told to check out the Sjogren's foundation website by Rhuemy.

The reason I never pursued MS is because I thought you had to have eye issues with MS, which I have never had eye issues related to MS or Sjogrens.


Sorry to be so long, but the battle I have fought is much longer, been laid off since Jan 2010, not long after I had the tarsal tunnel release that was supposed to eliminate the pain I have. I sometimes think my employer laid me off to be rid of my health issues...

Thank you for bearing with me, Poormommy

[SallyC]

Welcome to the board, PM, nice to meet you.
Sounds like you have a lot on your plate. I hope you don't have to add MS.

Please come in and join us..

[poormommy]

Originally Posted by SallyC

Welcome to the board, PM, nice to meet you.
Sounds like you have a kot on your plate. I hope you don't have to add MS.

Please come in and join us..

Thank you..guess it sounds like I am wineing, first time every posting anywhere. Sorry for the misspelled, another feature of my list of issues. I was actually a go-getter manager type, help everyone and not depend on others kind of person that ignored things until I could not ignore any more.
So I am giving the web support thing a try. Thanks again.

[SallyC]

Originally Posted by poormommy

Thank you..guess it sounds like I am wineing, first time every posting anywhere. Sorry for the misspelled, another feature of my list of issues. I was actually a go-getter manager type, help everyone and not depend on others kind of person that ignored things until I could not ignore any more.
So I am giving the web support thing a try. Thanks again.

Don't fret about any whining you may do, because whining is an important part of this forum.. Who else is gonna hear our whines and cries for help and completely understand, as we do. Family and friends mean well, but they don't have a clue..

[chadc870]

hello my name is chad and i'm 42 years old and i've been having weird things happen to me since about november, let me start there. my father who battled cancer had finally lost his battle to his cancer in november which is about when i started to notice changes, i thought the changes were from the emotions of the loss of my dad but as time went on i have noticed more and more. by the time february came around i was missing a lot of work as they said i had irritable bowel syndrome and put me on a barage of meds. well by the time march came around my job fired me for missing too many days, at this point i was having headaches everyday almost non-stop which would flare into a migraine at the drop of a dime, then my left eye would go blurry. i would have this feeling of pins and needles run down my arms and get numbness in my fingers, and i stumble around, run into walls and trip like i have no balance control, my lower half hasn't went numb but tingles thank god, if i don't write things down i cannot remember them. i get tremors a lot almost like my body is totally shaking on the inside if that makes sense. i cannot go out in the heat anymore as it makes me shake even worse, i used to take very hot showers and now had to be for the most part cool or i get nausea so bad it makes me have to lay down. by this time i have been to3 different family drs. who keep saying it is anxiety and depression they are full of it it seems all they do is read each others reports. well i finally found a good fam dr who cares and is willing to run every kind of test till we figure it out, i got referred to a neuro who i went and seen and what a joke he turned out to be, he hardly looked at my mri of my brain which came back abnormal, i told him i had a severe case of mono about nine yrs ago he didn't seem remotely concerned about it, his diagnoses was he said i had the migraine gene-now howe can he come up to this if there wasnt any testing for it?? i also told him i have this jaw pain on the opposite side of my one sided migraine that goes int my ear and is very painful he told me to go see a dentist and told me to quit taking my pain meds and use a heating pad and most of all find a hobby. now i don't know a lot but i know when i'm in severe pain and this guy tells me to quit my pain meds. as far as the heating pad i told him i cannot be around heat of any kind and he said WHY. he told me i have anxiety and depression and i told him that if he had to live with whay i have he would have anxiety and depression and i walked out of that visit. i know have an appt next week with a neuro that's specialty is ms. hopefully they can figure this out as i have been living on retirement since april(medicaid pending) and i'm almost broke due to all these drs i've had to see and all the different meds i have been put on.
i'm sorry i wrote a novel but i but i feel i have been let down by the very ppl that are supposed to help and I'M SCARED!

[chadc870]

in addition to the story i wrote, one last thing that happens more frequent now is the bottoms of my feet feel like someone is hitting them with a hammer.
my meds incude daily:
neurontin= 300 mg 3 times a day
oxycodone= 5 mg 4 times a day
proprananol for bp 2 times a day
paxil 40 mg once a day