I think I have MS

So where do I start? For years I have been going to doc with bowel issues, severe stomach pains and heavy periods. All treated with Laxido and put on iron tablets. Nothing untoward was found after an endoscopy. 18 months on iron and still feel fatigued.

The past few years I have had terrible shoulder and lower back pain. Now in the past 6 months, I have woken up many times with no feeling in my right arm and hand. Occasional numbness of the vagina. Shooting pain in my right arm and a stabbing pain inbetween my shoulder blades. Over the past couple of weeks I have a tight feeling around my lower chest and yesterday I had the worst pain in my stomach. I was in such pain I physically could not stand myself up. I do get pains in my feet and none of the pain I can explain its occurrence.

The past 6 months or so has seen me struggle to string a sentence together at times and I have been getting clumsy lately. I used to have such a great memory but that has seriously diminished and I find very embarrassed by it. I did mention this to the doctor before but was dismissed as probably heading to menopause. I am 42.

I finally went to the physio last week in relation to the shooting pain in my thumb and arm. She asked me lots of questions which after much thought do relate to MS, so now I am concerned that this is the answer I have been looking for so long.

Hi BMGRAHAM

Do you mean that the physio suggested MS?

Only a neurologist could diagnose MS, & that’s only after many tests to rule out other things.

Maybe you could ask your gp to refer you to a neuro…the symptoms you’ve described don’t necessarily point to MS, it mimics many illnesses, but it’s always best to get checked out.

Rosina

Hi

Rosina is exactly right. Only a neurologist can diagnose MS. And there are many other disorders and diseases that share symptoms with MS. So don’t prejudge your diagnosis.

If you were to write some notes of what has happened to you and when, a sort of time line, you could take that with you to the GPs and ask for their opinion as to whether a referral to neurology might be appropriate. I wouldn’t suggest to either the GP or a neurologist that you’ve been looking at/thinking it might be MS. Doctors like to look at symptoms, hear your history and do an examination. A neurologist might then order some tests to rule different diagnoses in an/or out. Only once they’ve done this would they consider a diagnosis.

Best of luck.

Sue

Thankyou to you both. I agree my symptoms could be something else and I will take your advice and keep a diary. Obviously I don’t want it to be ms or anything serious for that matter. I feel somewhat overwhelmed by all these different things happening to my body of late and l don’t have a particularly great doc so have been reluctant to go along and list everything that has been happening. If