Should I panic yet?
 

or should I be calm, go take a nap, and call my neuro during business hours?

My arm has been numb for over a week. Went to the neuro yesterday, and he told me it was bad tennis elbow and not the MS (this was not my regular neuro btw...)

Tonight, I've had a LOT of numbness, and havent slept. I was talking to my dad and I noticed my shoulder feels weird...same side as the numb arm. My shoulder blade feels kind of numb.

Is this a normal way for MS numbness to show up in an arm? Starting at the fingers and making it's way up to the shoulder? My dad (a nurse) and I were thinking if it was coming from a spinal lesion, it would go from the spine to the fingers. (it could still be tendinitis, I know)

I just dont know if I should panic yet. I'm a little scared to go to sleep because I'm afraid something wont be working when I wake up. (anyone else ever feel that way?)

I guess I'll go lay down for a bit and see if I can sleep till my neuro's office opens.

Hey Erin...

If the sensations have changed since you saw your neuro I would put a call in and see what he thinks...

As far as the "I don't want to go to sleep cuz something might not be working when I wake up feeling". I am pretty sure that thought runs through my head every night... It is very scary and you just don't know.

When I was first having symptoms I had the numb arm and shoulder blade that started in my fingers and moved up. So yes it is possible. :) Hope you feel better soon.

Take care!

I'm so sorry you are going through this. It is funny my doc asked me why I wasn't sleeping and I told her a part of me was afraid to go to sleep because I didn't know what new thing my body would invent while I was sleeping. I would definately call the neuro though, even if it is just for them to make a note that there are new things, they should be made aware.

Erin! :hug:

its so hard to separate out the MS from the other bumps and bruises of life. Just because we have MS, doesnt mean we are not prone to get other things to go wrong. It is none the less panic provoking esp when we have little sleep to rely on.

Sometimes my fingers go numb because one of the vertebrae of my back gets out of alignment. I go see the chiropractor, and ta da! all better. I can make it happen from sleeping in strange positions, or sitting too long in a stressful stance. Because of my muscular issues in my back, I am prone to causing my back to go out of alignment. Many will say Chiropractors are all hooey and nut jobs, but hooey or not, I feel better after seeing mine. I will take that kind of hooey anyday.

This could be anything from a muscle strain, to MS. I would call your regular PCP and get a check up. If he feels that other causes can be ruled out, then seek your MS MD. You know if your MS MD labels this MS that its gonna be more steroids for you missy. I hope you are able to rule other things out first.

:hug: feel better.

There seems to be definite numbness in my shoulder blade, and in my arm pit. (theres also a little numbness on my...ummm...chest area...on that side)

My arm really hurts from the elbow up to my ring finger now.

My dad (a nurse anesthetist) talked to one of his anesthesiologist friends at work and called me back this morning. Told me that the numbness in my shoulder is probably from the cervical area. (crap!)

I'm just waiting for the neuro I saw yesterday to call me back. I'm only slightly panicked right now. I'm sure that if I need to panic, that neuro will tell me.

Edited To Add

Ok, no panicking yet. Talked to the neuro, updated him on the new numbness in the armpit and shoulder. He said that he wants me to wait over the weekend and just make note of anything new, if I have anything worse than numbness start, or if I have new numbness in other areas start, to call them over the weekend.

He said that yesterday, when he looked at me, that his physical findings were that I have tendinitis and that's probably where a lot of the numbness in my hand is coming from. He did say that I could be freaking out a bit, and that's what's causing the other numbness, but that it could be possible that some of it is actual numbness from the MS and it's coincidental that I've got a bunch of MS numbness going on while I have numbness from the tendinitis in my elbow. He said that just because I have MS that I can still have other problems that have nothing to do with the MS...that the tendinitis is a separate thing from the MS.

He told me to relax, and not let my dad freak me out. My dad was freaking because one of his doctor friends was telling me that the numbness was from my neck...I told the neuro about that, and he got upset because he said that the doctor my dad was talking to hadnt seen me or examined me and that he didnt need to be diagnosing me by proxy thru my dad. (struck a nerve there I guess?)

I told the neuro that I didnt sleep well because my arm was uncomfortable, and he said that my being tired could cause some of my MS symptoms to appear. He told me to try to rest and not freak out about stuff. I think once the appointment we have with a worker coming to our house in a little bit is over, I'm going to see if I can get a few more hours of sleep. (only slept about 3hrs this morning)

I think I'm going to go eat some toast, take a couple of advils, wait for that worker to get here, deal with that and then go watch Warehouse 13 on Hulu.com and see if I can take a nap while watching W13. I'm tired.