I've never looked at Fibro sx before....momx7....seems all your sx are listed in that link....why don't you consider that as you've been dx'ed already? Have you talked to folks on a Fibro board to see what they experience? Might be of benifit.

One last thing; You said: I also don't see HOW anxiety would cause numbness to come and go in same place like this (and with it being 1/2 my body

I don't think you followed my links last week when I found this...so I'll do a cut/paste so you can read some...and follow the link: (Mayoclinic)

http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/con...877/DSECTION=2


Signs and symptoms of conversion disorder typically affect the function of motor or sensory skills — such as the ability to walk, swallow, see and hear — and simulate a general medical or nervous system condition.

Afflictions usually develop suddenly, following a stressful event. The signs and symptoms are related to psychological rather than physical factors, and are not produced voluntarily.

Conversion disorder symptoms include:

Loss of balance
Numbness
Paralysis in an arm or leg
Loss of the touch sensation
Inability to feel pain
Inability to swallow
Inability to speak
Hearing impairment, or deafness
Vision impairment, including double vision and blindness
Hallucinations
Seizures or falling down inexplicably
Convulsions
Abnormal gait, or other difficulty with walking
Trembling
Vomiting
Diarrhea
Inability to urinate
Conversion disorder is one of several types of somatoform disorders, in which signs and symptoms create the appearance of a medical illness that has other no medical explanation. Conversion disorder differs from other somatoform disorders — such as hypochondria and somatization disorder — in that it affects primarily sensory and motor functions that are normally under voluntary control.




Have a good night!

I DO believe I have Fibro, I just think it's more than that because of other SX that don't look like fibro like,
muscle weakness
abnormal reflexes
slurred speech and "loss of word"
memory loss
Jerky Eye Movements
Flashing lights in eyes
shacking/tremors
electrical shock sensations
Odd tingling feeling over body, like when you get chill bumps but I don't get "the bumps"
Increase in severity of symptoms with heat
Swallowing problems - comes and goes
Cold hands and feet
Ears ringing - almost all the time, maybe all the time now
Vertigo
Feeling of floating when laying down
Low body temp
Feeling like I'm dreaming and just can't focus on what's going on
Facial tingling
Feel like I'm not emptying my bladder all the way sometimes
When I look up my eye lid doesn't always move up
Unable to tell hot from cold water with my feet
I get optical migraines/painless migraines


Now I know some of these might not be MS SX but I don't think these are Fibro SX.

I never had VEP's. We are not worried about the cost of the test. My neuro didn't even talk about more test. He's bottom line was the MRI was fine - No MS than, He can't help me other than giving me Cymbalta.

Let me say this gentley...you just descibed most of the conversion disorder symptoms. I'm not saying it's what is going on, but something to consider.

When you think about it, this disorder is fixable, MS isn't. You owe it to yourself and family to consider this. You are feeling these things, and they are real. But there are other reasons that you've yet to investigate. Your Fibro also covers many of the sx you describe.

After you see the Optho/Neuro tomorrow, maybe you'll have a clearer understanding. You want answers, just like me, but when we are in this situation, and we are determined to understand it, we HAVE to consider all the possiblities.

You say you have no stress and just blow stuff off....well, that's how we hold bad things inside and under this belief, we release them physically because we have not dealt with things. We all have bad things happen to us, especially me! Be kind to yourself and consider it. Thats all I'm saying about this, and won't bring it up again. Its your decision. Good luck

You've had a clean MRI, clean LP and the Optho/Neuro will determine if you've ever had ON. The VEP is something the doc could order tomorrow. Then the neruo/psyc test is left...you could ask for that tomorrow too....

Have a good night!

All of the following symptoms were found in the fb tables I posted:

muscle weakness – upper extremity weakness, lower extremity weakness
slurred speech and "loss of word" – Dysarthria (imperfect articulation of speech), word finding difficulty
memory loss – Impaired memory
Jerky Eye Movements - Nystagmus (rapid eye movement)
electrical shock sensations - Burning, aching, dysesthetic electric
Odd tingling feeling over body, like when you get chill bumps but I don't get "the bumps" - Burning, aching, dysesthetic electric
Swallowing problems, comes and goes - Dysphagia (difficulty swallowing)
Cold hands and feet - Raynaud’s phenomenon (elevated cold sensitivity in the extremities)
Ears ringing - tinnitus
Vertigo - Vertigo (sensation of spinning)
Feeling of floating when laying down – Disorientation or Vertigo
Low body temp - Neurally mediated hypotension (low blood pressure)
Feeling like I'm dreaming and just can't focus on what's going on - Impaired concentration
Facial tingling - Paresthesiae (abnormal sensation-burning, prickling)
Feel like I'm not emptying my bladder all the way sometimes - Hesitancy
Unable to tell hot from cold water with my feet - Raynaud’s phenomenon (elevated cold sensitivity in the extremities)
I get optical migraines/painless migraines – migraine

The rest might be buried in the tables, but perhaps I just didn’t pick up on the description? Have you had the rest objectively tested; for example, did the neuro find abnormal reflexes? Are you sure the symptoms are not getting worse from increased fatigue (which seem to go part and parcel with these kind of diseases), instead of increased heat? Is the trembling due to weakness or a warning of diabetes problems? Could some of this be attributed to thyroid problems? Etc...

Abnormal reflexes
Flashing lights in eyes
When I look up my eye lid doesn't always move up
Increase in severity of symptoms with heat
shaking/tremors

Cherie

Hello Julie,

Dump that dope of a neuro and find one who will pay attention to you! it does not appear that your neuro is a specialist in MS.

Run don't walk to your next doctor!

Dave

For some people it takes a long time to be diagnosed not only with MS but other conditions as well.

I really don't know how to put this but, you do have fibro, a chronic condition. Anyone with any chronic condition can benefit from therapy. Additionally, many of the symptoms you have described are similar to anxiety and depression. I would encourage you and support you 100% in seeking therapy while you wait for a diagnosis.

Because of the fibro that you are dealing with, your kids and husband would benefit from therapy as well. Chronic illness do put a stress on the family unit. Your kids see how you react to it and that is how they will learn to react to things. Working through some things together will only be beneficial to your family unit.

Also, sensitivity to heat is common in other conditions as well. Along with MS tremors, I have essential tremors (hereditary condition). Heat aggravates that as well. Heat can aggravate hormones and create issues in many women especially peri menopausal and menopausal women.

What had your neuro said about your physical examination? You've had tests done but what about the physical exam? Did the abnormal reflexes show up on the physical exam? Do you have evidence of a neurological condition on physical exam? etc. These are the questions I would now be asking the neuro and/or your PCP.

Hang in there. Everything will work out as it is supposed to. In the meantime, as you wait, seek some sort of counseling to help you through all of this.

As the others have said a lot of what you describe fits the description of siymptoms of anxiety and depression PLUS a whole lot of other medical condtions. The other thing is that many of them are subjective, there is no hard and fast way to test for them or to quatify them, Dr's are often loathe to amke a dx based soley on such subjective kind of complaints, thats why they are looking for the more objective signs such as LP, evidence of ON etc. Also if you do have MS, remeber that over 85% of us have RRMS, so symptoms/signs can be harf to find unless you are in an active relapse- its a bit like having an intermittent fault in an appliance ( sorry for the analogy) but the appliance acts faulty until the repair turns up then its fine- it can be very frustrating - but eventually the problem will declair itself. When i first started having symtoms they were thinking of an autoimmune problem. possibly lupus but could not give me a dx so i too was in limbo- i was told that very same line- Whatever it is, it will eventually become more evident- its toughm but you need to be patient. The dr's will not be helping you one bit if they rush in giving you a dx that is not correct. as the other have also said, any chronic disease tends to have an emotional content such as anxiety depression, so it would pay to address that rather than try to shrug it off - you would not be human if this was not having some effects on your anxiety levles

I am sorry for what you are going through. I do agree that having a neuropsych evaluation would be helpful. That testing will show if any of your sx are related to an underlying psychological disorder. Also, it can show if you do have true cog problems that are similar to those found in MS.

You sound a lot like I did four years ago. I know it is scary to feel horrible, and to not know why. I went to doctor after doctor looking for answers. For me, it took more than a half dozen doctors before I found one who would help me.

You may have heard my story before, but I'll share it again just in case. I have four lesions in my brain, abnormal neuropsych eval (profound losses in short term memory, information processing, etc), abnormal urodynamics testing showing neurogenic bladder, ENG showing Central Nervous system dysfunction, a history of several attacks, and an abnormal neuro exam.

I have all of this and still don't have a dx. Three years ago, I would have been(was) a basket case. But, now I'm not. What has made the difference, and this is what I think all limboers need, is having a doctor who cares. My current neuro is willing to treat my sx, runs tests when appropriate, and sees me every 3 to 6 months.

For me, once I knew I had a doctor who believed in me, and wasn't put off by the hard to dx sx I could let some of that "gotta know now" go. I realized that I could not make them dx me. I could only try and get the best medical care possible. You have to advocate for yourself.

My current neuro says I either have MS (in fact if my last MRI would have shown one more lesion she would have made the dx), a post viral illness(encephalomyelitis), or problems stemming from my copper deficiency (she's the first doctor to check for that).

Hang in there. Don't give up advocating for yourself. Sometimes it takes a team of doctors to get to the bottom of things too (I have a urologist, Rheumatologist, Neurologist, and an ENT).

Oh, also, it might not be a bad idea to have a Physical and occupational therapy evaluation. Sometimes they pick up on things that the neuros don't in their (sometimes quick) office exams.

Good luck!