Hello everyone my name is Marc and I'm a 44-year-old male Married father of two beautiful girls. My journey to this forum has taken six months. I will try to be brief but I would like to outline my symptoms because I'm still in the process of being diagnosed.

In October of last year I was on a business trip in California when I suddenly noticed I had some hearing issues in my right ear. I noticed a year prior that I had some ringing in my ears which had gone away but this time there was more distortion and it would not stop. I went to many doctors and after month I was diagnosed at Yale University with Ménière's Disease.

I had a couple of the symptoms of Ménière's but did not have vertigo which is a key component of this ailment. Over the next few months I started to have new symptoms. I began to notice that my hands and feet would get cold and tingly, I would get muscle fasciculations constantly, I lost my sense of smell, I noticed a lack of dexterity in my hands and both my hands legs and trunk would shake when used. At this point I had the suspicion that I was dealing with something more neurological so I made an appointment with a neurologist in Connecticut where I live and he scheduled an MRI. The MRI came back negative and the neurologist chalked all my symptoms up to anxiety.

An anxiety diagnoses didn't sit well with me so I made an appointment through a friend of mine to go to a top neurologist at Columbia University in New York City. After sitting down with my new neurologist she took an hour and a half of notes and talked with me about all of my symptoms. She felt it was important to do a lumbar puncture and schedule that which I had last week. The lumbar puncture came back normal except for a high protein level of 54. I met with my neurologist again today to review the lumbar puncture results and she said that it is time for her to refer me to another doctor. The Dr. she referred me to is Louis H Weimer M.D. All his information is below

Louis H. Weimer, MD
Clinical Professor of Neurology
Director, EMG Laboratory
Director, Clinical Autonomic Laboratory
Co-director, Columbia Neuropathy Research Center
Neuromuscular Division

Hindsight being 20/20 I probably had symptoms for the last few years. My main question right now is what could this be? What is my future? How will this impact my family? Obviously like so many people on this board I'm scared and would like some help and some reassurance.

Thanks for listening!

Marc

Marc,

It is great to have you come and be with us. You will fine a great number of dear friends to listen when you are in need of ears. You will find out we are supportive and relaxing place.

Please keep us up to date on your situation. Again welcome, looking forward to seeing you around. My thoughts and prayers are with you.

Hi Mark welcome to neuro talk this is a great bunch of people you have found. I sorry I really dont know what you have nor would I ever guess after seeing the specialist I hope you will know more. Mark you will get all the support here you need.