Originally Posted by tholden85 (Post 1162447)

Thanks Glenn,

My neuro originally thought it was a spinal cord issue as my symptoms were very symmetrical and seemed to have a definite level (ie below my waist) where they started. However nothing showed up on the several MRI's and since then my arms, hands and face have become involved.

It is certainly true that I originally had some loss of strength and movement indicating motor involvement. On both of my emg's my neuro said that there was a slight abnormality however was only very minor and it could be inflammation and that it did not really give him any clue as to what it might be.

Would MS cause these body wide sensory changes in the presence of two normal MRI's? Does it often take time for these peripheral neuropathies such as CIDP to show up in nerve studies?

Originally Posted by glenntaj (Post 1162514)

--were your MRI's done?

Given that your symptoms were originally lower body, did they just image the lumbar spine, or did they go up the ladder as well, with imaging of the thoracic and cervical spine and even the brain?

The problem, when looking for symptoms caused by damage to the central as opposed to the peripheral nervous system, is that while damage to nerve ROOTS--the first peripheral nerves that exit the spinal cord--tend to have effects in fairly specific anatomical regions (known as dermatomes), damage to the spinal cord itself can cause symptoms anywhere from the level of the damage on down, given that the cord contains vertical nerve tracts. And upper cervical/thalamic/brain inflammation may cause symptoms almost anywhere.