Mini vent......
 

I can't remember for sure when I last had full feeling in my legs. Dec. 27th was the last time I didn't have any numbness going on at all. My legs would go numb every day until around the 1st week of Feb. From than on they just stayed numb, not completely numb just to the point I can poke my legs with a needle and not feel pain.

Even if I don't have MS why would my neuro still not worry about this? I know, I know I need to find a new one. After I hear back from the eye Dr (hopefully that will be today) I getting a new neuro, if I have ON I'll see the new neuro right away, If it's not ON I'll see the new PCP 1st.

But am I right to think that a Dr would say this is not OK to be this numb this long for no reason?

Please, please don't read too much into this, that I'm worrying too much and casing too much stress on my self. I hadn't post this before now because I didn't even realize it's been this long. Trust me I haven't worried about at all. :D

come on girl....it is the anxiety that causes the legs to be numb....heheheheee

YOU know I am teasing...hehehee

HUGSSS and good luck with apt...I would think the dr should be concerned...
hoping it goes away soon..hugss,sarah

I've had numbness in my upper thighs since it appeared in April of 2006. Which was the first truly obvious symptom that I had MS (which the physician's assistant at my doctor's office said was a sprain and for me to put heat on it. That P.A. was a lazy moron who had misdiagnosed me years before as having a sinus infection instead of mononucleosis)

The numbness has moved around on my hips, down to my knees, and down to my feet and back up. I dont always have numbness in my feet or toes, but it seems like it's stayed constant in my left knee. When it's in my upper thighs, that's when it's at the most annoying...especially when it's a really deep numbness.

I'm trying to learn to ignore the numbness. I've noticed that if I think about it a lot, that that will make it worse, so I try to not think about it too much.

The leg numbness for some reason, isnt as annoying as it has been when my arms and upper body have been numb. Last year after I got diagnosed, I had L'hermitte's (electrical shock sensation going down my spine if I bent my head forward) Had that for two or three months, and while that was going on, my entire body had numbness all over. Even my scalp was numb. That was so much more annoying (and disturbing!) than the leg numbness, that I dont even complain about numbness in my legs anymore, but I will if the entire body goes numb again.

Can you describe the numbness "sensation" and how it evolves each day, MX7?

i.e.: you mention that you can't feel a pin poking you, but is that from first thing in the morning, or all day? Are there any other sensations that occur at the same time, or only the numbness. Etc. . . .

Cherie

The numbness now is 24/7, well I only have the numbness going on right now, I have had other things (slurred speech, dizziness, etc) that have come and gone over the past 8 weeks.

I really can't describe the sensation, it's just the skin doesn't have any feeling to pain, now if I hit my leg it's uncomfortable but doesn't hurt like it should. I don't have any tingling going on right now, I do still have a burning pain in my left hip and it still hurts to touch the skin (that's been going on since Dec. 27th).

:hug: Totally understand. My numbness is a decrease sensation of pain, pressure, and heat. It's there 24/7, but the intensity of it does change from time to time. Gets particularly worse if I've been stubborn and pushed too hard. :o

It causes my neuro some concern, but he has ruled out anything else that might be causing this. I'm waiting to here back on some more bloodwork I gave recently too. But I do have a leison on my spine that does explain my numbness issues, at least that is what he says.

Hope you get some answers soon. :hug:

It would be interesting to do a thread on "what does numbness feel like to you?", as I'm not sure we all have the same sensation (even those of us with a dx).

Part of the problem is probably communicating these sensations to our doctors. If it doesn't fit what "he/she" is expecting to hear (rightly or wrongly), or our bodies don't respond the way that "they" expect, they assume it's not really MS but something else.

For example, when I had my first attack, I didn't have a clue how to describe what I was feeling. I told the doctors that I was "numb", yet I had no problem feeling the pin prick test. :cool: How can a person be "numb", but still feel those sensations . . .? However, somehow they knew, from the vibration, reflex, sliding sharp object, etc. tests that I was, in fact, "MS numb". :confused:

There were also many other symptoms that I experienced WITH the numbness; banding, shocking, flushing, imaginary heat/cold sensations, etc. It was the combination of those sensations that lead them to their conclusions (even before they did the MS objective testing).

My numbness does not always feel the same, and doesn't come on the same way each time either. However, it is the precise description of the sensation that enables them to determine whether it is MS-related (and it's isn't always, even for me). That's why I asked you to describe it in detail.

Cherie

Jan. 1st I went to the ER with numbness in my legs and the numbness than was so numb that I had a hard time walking, I didn't feel anything other than hard pressure, if the Dr lightly touched me I couldn't feel it, I didn't feel the cold thing he used, the sharp object, didn't feel the thing he run across the bottom of my feet and didn't have much of a reflex at all. So this numbness What I have now isn't as bad as how it started. And when I had that 1st numbness (flare?) I had slurred speech, dizziness, shaking, both arms weakness, my left hand was numb, chest pressure/tighting (I thought it might have been MS hug), light headiness. The ER neuro even thought it was MS.

I am attempting to respond to the above question, and with regard to your numbness specifically. The other symptoms are "other symptoms", not related to the numbness per se'. :)

Have a look at the attacked link. Our numbness fits in a category of "sensory symptoms", which occur often as a result of spinal lesions. Sensory symptoms tend to cluster, so if you have numbness with MS, you will normally have at least some of the other "sensory" (see list) symptoms at the same time.

http://www.mult-sclerosis.org/mssymptoms.html

The "other" symptoms you describe fall in another category (motor, visual, cognitive), and those ones may or may not come on at the same time as the sensory symptoms.

They are looking for a well-orchestrated "package" of symptoms to appear as far as implicating MS.

Cherie

Oh I know, I was just explaining how the numbness was different be seams to have started from that 1st time.

I think I have seen that link but I'm going to go look at it now.

OK so you are saying since I didn't have other "sensory symptoms" at the same time with the numbness than it probably isn't MS numbness?

Using that link I've experienced all of this:

Optic Neuritis Blurred vision, eye pain,
Diplopia Double Vision
Nystagmus Jerky Eye Movements


Paraesthesia Partial numbness, tingling, buzzing and vibration sensations
Anaesthesia Complete numbness/loss of sensation


Vertigo Nausea/vomitting/sensitivity to travel sickness from vestibular ataxia

Frequent Micturation, Bladder Spasticity Urinary urgency and incontinence

Depression
Cognitive dysfunction Short-term and long-term memory problems, forgetfulness, slow word recall
Mood swings, emotional lability, euphoria
Anxiety

Fatigue

Sleeping Disorders

Inappropriately cold body parts



Gee, wonder why I've thought I had MS ;) LOL!!!
Sorry, didn't mean to hijack your thread :D

Well . . . no. :D

You may very well have MS, and no doubt they were suspecting that from beginning based on the bizarre set of symptoms you had . . . but:

1. Under further/more intense investigation, the combination they WANTED to see just did not present itself, AND
2. The objective testing did not indicate MS

I'm trying to think of a comparison, but it's hard because MS isn't clear-cut, like most illnesses.

My daughter's 11 yr old best friend has been sick to her stomach for about 5 yrs. She couldn't hold down food, she had anxiety attacks, she had bowel issues, etc. The doctors and specialists had done every imaginable test of her digestive system, etc., and they finally came to the conclusion it must be emotionally based.

Last summer she was dx with terminal brain cancer. She now has 3 inoperable tumors. :eek:

Obviously the way the condition presented itself was not "typical" for brain tumors. It just didn't "look" that way . . . but clearly it was.

You are presenting with a number of totally unrelated symptoms, and MS is one of few conditions that has a number of seemingly totally unrelated symptoms. That's why it makes sense that it might be MS.

On the other hand, they want to see a combination that makes sense for MS, like the numbness is combined with burning, electric shocks or flushing. Sensory symptoms are often associated to spinal lesions, and spinal lesions are often associated to bowel and bladder problems. Who'd have thunk? . . . but THEY know this.

I do get cognitive problems with spinal lesion attacks. I also get mobility problems, spasticity, etc. at the same time, usually. The combination they WANT to see though is I.E. numbness + electric shocks + certain bowel issues . . . then they KNOW it is my spinal lesions acting up. And, depending on how far up the spinal lesion is, they EXPECT to see numbness in specific parts of the body (not one hand, without the torso, or the face, without the chest).

So, between your symptoms and the testing, it's just not adding up for them right now. HOWEVER, many of us start out with adhoc symptoms . . . that we also have a very hard time describing . . . so certainly MS can not be ruled out yet.

Cherie

Thank you. I do have a lot of bowel issues (IBS symptoms, no warning when need to go, feeling like I need to go but can't when not constipated, I could go on) and I think I am unable to empty my badder all the way a lot of the time. My neuro said I needed to talk to my PCP about all this, it had nothing to do with my numbness. http://i90.photobucket.com/albums/k2...y/dontknow.gif

I'm also still wondering if the hemangioma they found on my spine could have been a lesion and not really a hemangioma because I read that sometimes a hemangioma is mistaken for a lesion.

Those particular bowel symptoms might be related to MS, because IBS can be a symptom of this disease.

However, the IBS-type symptoms that you've described are not necessarily what they are looking for when we present with numbness. Additionally, they probably would not expect to see (those telltale spinal-lesion-specific) bowel issues when a person presents with only numb legs (not torso) anyway.

There are clinical tests they can do that might help firm up what we are experiencing, but they are then looking for a combination of factors to see if symptom complaints + clinical results = probable dx.

Like I said previously, they are looking for a "set" of symptoms that make sense (at least to them). Sometimes our symptoms just don't make a whole lot of sense either though . . . and that is when they would need confirmation from our test results. In your case, the tests aren't talking yet either.

Cherie