Very First MS symptom?
 

What were you very first MS symptom(s)?


Then how long after that did you get the dx for ms?


Thanks!

Facial numbness, 50 years ago. DXed 13 years later.

When u say facial numbness, was it the whole face? One side? Or just a line down the face?


Sometimes I get the sensation that a spider web is on my face from my eye to cheek. Does not happen often though

Hi Midori, that's actually not a simple question in my case.

Probably my first symptom was an area of numbness, maybe 1.5" in diameter, around my upper lip/cheek/nose on the right side. It was diagnosed as a mild neuritis, it went away after a week or two, and it never occurred to me that it was a symptom of something else.

A few months later I had what was diagnosed as mild trigeminal neuralgia. Again, it only lasted several days, and neither I nor my doctor connected the two, though he said he'd refer me to a neurologist if I wanted, or if it persisted.

When I went back to the doctor two or three years later, my concerning symptoms were extreme fatigue and "slow-motion brain". The earlier neuritis and TN never crossed my mind as being related.

In retrospect, I had balance issues, fatigue, muscle spasms years earlier. Were they symptoms of MS? Or just stuff that's common to most people? I'll never know.

I was diagnosed maybe four years after the neuritis, give or take.

Gosh, I had symptoms back when I was in my 20's (I'm 52 now). Had no idea what it was but they went away so I ignored them.

Dizziness and balance issues were first. Tripping over nothing. Then twenty years (or more) later both my legs went numb. I could still walk just felt like my legs were asleep.

The final straw was a severe case of double vision. That's what got me to the Neuro and ultimately got me the MS diagnosis.

It cleared up after several months and I haven't had it again but I have had ON and my balance/walking issues have gotten much worse.

A really bizarre type of dizziness, off balance feeling in 1989.
Diagnosis in 2002

Symptoms since childhood, was not seen by a Doctor and thought what I experienced was normal.

That was until I had my first exacerbation at the age of 24...Diagnosed at that time with MS. Numerous symptoms.

My legs constantly felt heavy and dropping stuff.

I remember clearly having Trigeminal Neuralgia (Facial Nerve Pain) on my 14th birthday. Over the years I had many exacerbations of all sorts, but I just gave up on complaining to doctor after doctor, only to be told to go on a diet and get some exercise. Finally, at age 59, after yet another bout with Optic Neuritis, I was diagnosed with Secondary Progressive MS.

Extreme Fatigue growing up - Everyone told me I was lazy etc...Tense all the time as well. But the major thing that started me going to the doctor was double vision while driving back in Feb. Then I was diagnosed in april