Hello everybody, and welcome to NT. This is a great place to be. There are nice, caring people here with lots of knowledge, who can also be quite funny at times.

A warm to all the new members. Looking forward to hearing more from you on the forum.

Cherie

Hi, My name is Amy. I have suffered for the last year with extreme muscle fatigue, whole body aches and pains, dizziness, weird facial numbing, my legs and arms feel shaky and uncoordinated, and stiff fingers. My neuroogist says that i do not have MS. Instead he thinks that i have three diffrent diseases to explain all of my symptoms. I am so frustraited. I am taking a ton of various medicines for all my "diseases" and i am still in pain and only able to work a couple of short days a week. I have talked to some other MS patients and their families and they say that the went through the same thing for years before their leasions showed up and they were finally classified as having MS. Do you have any advice for me?

Welcome, Amy..I'm glad you found us..

Also, welcome to the, Maybe MS,
Maybe not MS, Club.. Most of us have gone and are still going through what your are.

It's a lot harder to get a DX, these days of all this technology. Certain criteria must be met..and it can be a long process..

In the meantime a 2nd, even a third opinion may speed it up a little....and come here to complain because we understand...where the rest of your Friends and Family may think you're nuts or faking it.

Good luck on your journey to Diagnosis..

Hi Amy, welcome to NT. There are a lot of very nice and helpful people on these boards. I'm looking forward to seeing you around.

At first most of my family and friends thought it was because of the heat, stress, depression, vitamin defficencies, or mabey i was being dramatic. Even my family doctor eventually sent me to a shrink. The shrink sent me back to the family doctor... I researched on my own and found that every single one of my symptoms match MS perfectly. I printed it out and showed it to the doctor. It was almost humorous watching his lightbulb turn on. He appologized and agreed that he should have come to that conclusion himself. He sent me to a nuerologist. Might I say that the nerve test involving shocks then needles in your muscles really sucked. So far that is the only test result that shows my muscles are damaged. MRI and spinal tap both showed normal... The neuro then decidied that I have several diseases causing my problems. So he is treating me for those problem but I dont have any results from taking the loads of medicicines. I still hurt and I have no strength or stamina. Again, sorry for whining on your shoulder!

Hi there. My name is Danielle. I am a newbie here trying to figure some things out. I am not yet convinced I have MS, but I sure do have a lot of symptoms. I do not have very good medical insurance and we do not have a lot of money so it is tough to go to the doctor I need to to get help.

I had weight loss surgery about a year and 3/4 ago. (April 2007) I was ding well, lost 130 lbs. I got pregnant 6 months after my surgery. My pregnancy went well, except for debilitating morning sickness and additional weight loss. I had my daughter and went completely off dairy because of allergies in my family. Three months after her arrival I got my first twinge of pain in my right hand side of my sclap. I went to the doc who told me it was dandruff and sent me home. Over the past month my pain has spread (worse on my Right side, possibly because of old neck injury) to my hands and feet. If I get anxious or stressed it travels to my lower legs and into my wrists nd arms as well.

I have never had an eye issue, no spots, no blindness or blurry vision. I have had 2 MRI's, both showed no lesions. I had bloodwork, everything came back as normal except for a pretty good vitamin D and B and iron deficiency which was chalked up to my weight loss surgery. The only thing that makes me worry the most is my ANA blood count it was 1:80. I was told that it was positive.

I have lots of other symptoms I have posted in the main forum asking help with, so I will not go into them here. If anyone knows of a good Rhumatologist in the South Seattle Washington area, I would sure appreciate it.

I mentioned I have 3 small children. THis is my biggest worry. Do most of you that have small children lose the ability to parent the way you used to? I have been overcome with this quest on the internet, I am here night and day convincing myself I have this or that(always autoimmune diseases) I am a wreck, physically and mentaly. My family is suffering quite a bit. Everyone is sick of me and I think they dread seeing me coming towards them.
I am in the depth of despair...any encouragement appreciated.
Lovingly, Danielle

WELCOME, DANIELLE..

Hi Danielle, and welcome to NT. I am sure you will find that there are a lot of nice, caring people here.

I'm sorry you are going through so much. I hope that you will be able to find some answers.

Hi, I'm not going to make this long as I posted a thread and later found that I had to sign in and had to rewrite my post.

Anyway, I'm 39 and have rheumatic heart disease. I've been on numerous pills since I was diagnosed in 1984. I was anemic and my doctor prescribed me with iron pills. Last July I found I was losing circulation in my hands and my doctor assumed it was carpel syndrome. Because I lived in a small town doctors came and went and when I went to see another doctor and told him about my problems he sent me to get blood work. when I went back to see him again which was 2 weeks later he informed me that I was very low in B12! It was a wapping 200. I'm not sure about B12 and he didn't really say it was a bad thing but reading the stories on here sure explains A LOT of which is happening to me. Just wanted to thank people who have told their stories at least I know which path to follow.

Joy