Can clear neuro exam rule out MS?
 

My sx are gradually flaring up the past 2-3 days.
My left arm and leg feels 'asleep' - not numb, but heavy, tingly and 'asleep' - so having trouble walking. Worse than it has been before.
I also have intermittent stabbing pain on my left side of my face.

I see another neuro next Feb, for a 3rd opinion!:eek:

I saw my GP and she tested my reflexes, pin-prick, eyes, strength, etc and it's all completely fine.
She gave me a letter stating I'd seen her today to take to A&E if it gets worse.

So I'm guessing, if my neuro exam was fine, then does that mean it wouldn't be very likely to be MS?

I'm feeling like a basket case as every test I've ever had has been clear.
I know I'm not a basket case!

Well, You must have something neurological going on, with all your symptoms. It could be something other than MS, but don't give up on that DX, since many start out with clear tests and yet end up with a MS DX.

Have they ruled out all the usual suspects? Brain tumour, Lupus, Lyme disease, Peripheral neuropothy(PN)...etc.

Have your Doc treat your symptoms to give you some relief...the DX will come. :hug::hug:

When I was first diagnosed,after my flare subsided, my neuro exam was normal for several years. Now its not so normal, sigh, but not terrible. In any event a MRI with contrast is a far better diagnostic tool, imo.

I am classic PP, MRI show the kind of lesions, my Evoked Potentials showed MS reactions, my history confirmed it. Seven years following DX (although I suspect beginnings in early 80's) I was in a chair, useless left hand but no numbness or pins and needles, no visual stuff, can feel every pinprick everywhere (had a neuro offer to let me kick him following uncomfortable exam). Used to sail through neuorolgical exams, following doctor's finger or light, squeezing hard, even jumped. Now good hand can squeeze, no longer can jump, but can touch nose with "good hand" and follow fingers and lights. MS is so strange and individualized!! I can feel even a strand of hair falling on left side, but arm and leg useless. MRI not good I think for me. As PP, I never enhance. No facial numbness. MS sucks!!! I get so dizzy when out shopping in manual chair.

Sally - yes all other stuff has been ruled out, although I was never told exactly what ( i know for sure tumour and lupus) but i would assume my 1st neuro ruled out such things. She said there were only really rare things left to test for (she didn't).

One minute I'm fine, mowing lawns, shopping for ages, vacumming all on the same day, and feeling 'normal'.
The next week I'm limping, twitching and tingling and my arm is slow. Something is not right!!

Docs have never offered any relief from the sx. Just tell me to relax and get some light exercise.

Thank you for the info and support ladies.
I am getting a little better at living with it though. With or without a name for it.

my first huge flair in 2002, I was told that I had "anxiety" and "migraines" My vision was wonky, and my leg was dragging. I so so exhausted, I couldnt let the dog out in her own yard! I reached the point, where i opened the door, and let her go. She was so great! she did her business and came right home. Anyway, after several episodes of trouble swallowing, I was told to "get over myself" by the ER. I really started to think it was all in my head. Optic neuritis set in, and an MRI was done. No one told me results, other than to say my optic nerve was "mildly inflammed" No one said anything about my lesions, or my glioma! Since MS is diagnosed over time AND space, meaning you have to have several clear cut MS episodes, and this was my first recordable (or at least the first I whined about) they all patted me on the head and sent me home.

Fast forward to 2005 when I had a huge blow up of ON, and dropped foot, with an MRI chucked full of lesions, and MS sx. Since they were able to trace sx back into history, and I had a record of lesions in the past MRI, I was thrown into the "probable" catagory. The local MD was a cold man. Told me I was "too old" to have MS. :eek: I said "well, what if I have had it for years and years?!" He responds with "nah, youre too old to have it show now." I was sent to the big city hospital MS center.

The big MS center said "there are more than 100 diseases that can mimic MS" and we started on the "rule out" run. I had blood tests to disprove B12/VitD/Lyme/lupus/infections/cancer/tumors/ and the list goes on and on and on. Once a whole boat load of the big boys were ruled out, the MS center told me about how it takes at least 2 recordable MS flares to have a dx.

I highly reccomend that you seek out an MS center. They can help you separate the facts from the fiction. A "clear neuro exam" simply means you are not in a current flair or having active sx of this disease. Odds are against you having MS, but that doesnt mean you should be dismissed, or treated like you are just whining. Dont ever allow an MD to be dismissive or talk down to you when you dont feel good. I am sure you too would like to feel better, and go home and live your life. Chasing a dx is exhausting, humiliating, and stressful. Hang in there! :hug:

A neuro exam is only as good as the neuro. My first exam, I had NO reflex at all in my ankles. None. The neuro's NP and a doc in training both tried several times and could not find it, the neuro herself could not find it, and she just said "Oh well, let's move on."

She never remarked on it in her file.

:confused:

My current neuro called that ridiculous - why bother doing reflexes if you're going to ignore the results?

He asked me how long I was hypo-reflexive on the left, hyper-reflexive on the right?

HUH? I never heard I was, lol.

Next visit, he checked my file and said how odd, it was opposite now....

There was no way I could have been *normal* for 3 other neuros for years and suddenly having all this crop up when he started checking.

Even this sort of thing comes and goes, early on. You can have a good day and they may not see much even if they ARE looking and know what to look for.

IMHO, a neuro exam cannot dx ms or rule it out.

I hate to say this (again) but I started being tested for ms in Jan '03 - they still don't know. That's 7 yrs in limbo for me. I can't say when the sx started for sure. I can say I have been dx with a couple other things meanwhile, but they don't account for all the things that are wrong with me. And I may never know if I have ms or what. And that is going to have to be okay.