Starting to really worry that I have MS...after doc's look and my symptoms
 

Here is a list of the things that have happened to me in the past couple years that have me worried.

- One morning maybe 2 years ago or so I woke up and the vision out of my left eye was just gone. I only saw grey. It came back a few minutes later. Saw the eye doc and he said to see my doc, but I didn't. I've worn glasses for years, my close up vision is getting worse when it was totally fine until recently (I'm nearsighted).
- at least a year ago I started stuttering. This had never happened to me as a kid. I thought it was stress. Rarely happens now, but I'm also on a ton of meds.
- Small fiber neuropathy started summer 2012 after going through two huge crises.
- I've had a little balance issues, I thought from the PN, always tilting to the front left. I drag my feet.
- Hyperreflexia as indicated by my doc last week. I know I've always been a little like that, but not as bad as recently.

I've also gotten migraines since I was 16. My dad is adopted and I know he said his brain MRI indicated lesions but they don't know why. I'm at higher risk as I"m white, a woman, and spent the first 13 years of my life in WA, mostly near Seattle.

I'm getting more and more worried, thinking about the look on the doc's face when she asked if I had an MRI of my head done. Yes, it would be really, really good to get an answer for all that is going on, but this would be a pretty bad reason.

Need to talk to somebody who has been here. My husband will just stress out about it, he always imagine the worst possible solution to everything. I need to call a friend, but nobody really knows what will happen except a group like you guys.

hi chaos,
i'd gently encourage you to take a deep breath. let's take one thing and one day at a time. i'm not clear on a few things.

have you recently seen an opthamologist? a neurologist? had a brain/c-spine mri with & without contrast? what other tests have you had to rule out other illnesses. what did the neuro say about her exam? any mention of a lumbar puncture? to dx (diagnose) MS it's a process of elimination of other illnesses.
there's something called the McDonald Criteria that drs use to dx MS. you might look into that.

something that helped me control my fear was to imagine a scary what if. like what if i fall down? i'd get a medic alert button so if it happened again i could call for help. what if my walking was unsteady? i'd get a cane or some sort of assistive device. if you & your dh tried that strategy it might help. and, try to talk to one another. maybe he can come to your dr appt with you.
if not try to bring a friend or family member as another set of ears.

let us know how you are and what is happening.

Sometimes when you first wake up, your eyes can be "dry" and tears not covering the eyeball well. The result is a very cloudy poor visual field. A few blinkings or closing the eyes and rolling them under the lids can fix this in a minute or two.

Another visual problem with your visual field, is a patch of nothing surrounded by peripheral stuff being okay. This can be a temporary blood flow problem to the retina. I had a stroke in my retina in my left eye from a blood clot in a vein ... it made things purple in the light, and a patch of black nothingness in low light/dark situations.
That is very different from "gray".

If your homocysteine levels are elevated you can get vascular problems in the retina first before it is discovered in the other parts of the body, because these vessels are small.

Uncontrolled high blood pressure will show up in the retina early, and so will elevated c-reactive protein elevations.

Another culprit is uveitis, which comes from autoimmune disease attacking the tissues inside the eye. You can look up uveitis, and learn more. Uveitis is also connected to rheumatoid arthritis and vasculitis etc.

Not everything in the eyes is MS.

MRI is scheduled for Tuesday. I've been seeing a neurologist since last year. Saw a pain doc last week who ordered the MRI. Neurologist is always kind of like "here is more meds" and not really into figuring out why. Ruled out diabetes and a bunch of other obvious reasons for the SFN.

My blood pressure is perfect (usually 70/110). What happened to me with the gray vision was very different than waking up with a cloudy field. They gray vision thing was *definitely* a blindness. Not a patch of blindness at all, but the entire eye. I didn't freak out at the time because it only lasted a couple minutes. Since then I noticed my left eye sees things just a tinge more red, sometimes. I've also had a few times that things looked dimmer, like if I had sunglasses on. I just ignored it because I'm already nearsighted and have too much to deal with, it never lasted long enough. I see poorly at night, like a bad resolution photo, but I attribute that to my astigmatism.

MrsD I'll look up that info, you're always so helpful.

Let us know what's discovered...also keep a journal of symptoms & questions to ask the docs...I know I always forget what was on my mind when he walks in:rolleyes:

Every one here remembers what it was like when were having odd symptoms and the doctors couldn't find anything. It was incredibly frustrating and we continued to worry and symptoms marched on.

I will give you some advice: Don't panic. Read the bottom of my post. It is so true!
Your doc may have shot you a look because he realized that your symptoms are interesting.....doctors like interesting.....and that also means they DO NOT know what's wrong with you. Just because he thinks a MRI is warranted, does not mean he thinks you have MS....it is another tool to ruling out all kinds of things. Its like another piece in the puzzle.

Hang in there....breathe.....and most of all don't panic! I was diagnosed in 2002 and the doc thought I had exhibited signs of MS since 1989, but the tests I'd had done could not prove it. In 02 I started a drug for MS and have remained fairly stable. When I knew it was MS (just before the confirmation) I locked myself in the bathroom, took a jetted bubble bath and cried my soul out for about 3 hrs. When I got the confirmation a couple days later I was able to say.."okay, what do we do now"......and I moved forward.

Anything new in life is frightening :eek: and the possibility of a chronic illness is definitely not one of those things we planned on.

Super big hug to you because I could read your fear between the lines :hug:

Having had vision troubles, due to MS, I can only say that the flare ups, lasted a couple months at a time, not a few minutes.

Glad that you will finally have an MRI, done. Someone mentioned, an ophthalmologist, have you had a recent check up or considered a neuro-ophthalmologist? Have you had any VER's done?


Edit: Oops, I mean VEP...it's been 6 years since I've had that done, so if I've made an error on the acronym, please forgive.

No VEP done. Last time I went to get my eyes checked it was after this happened, 1.5-2 years ago.

What about hearing issues? I've had this for a couple years, not at all when I was younger. Went to the hearing doc and he said it was an auditory processing problem. I hear perfectly fine, but often I get the words all mixed up and have to have people repeat things. Having them look at me so I can read their lips helps. This has actually gotten better. It was bad over a couple months and then just started to get better.

There is an audio evoked potential that can also be done through your neurologists office. How did your visual evoked potentials go, when you had your sight tested?