Numbness symptoms. Waiting for neurologist apt

New diagnosis and before diagnosis
1

Hi everyone, I hope this is ok to post. I am 39, mum to 7 year old twin girls.

Generally I have quite good health aside from a sub-total thyroidectomy op in 2006. I do however suffer with terrible health anxiety whenever things aren’t quite right. For example in 2009 I banged my head on a kitchen cupboard door after which weeks of dizziness and headaches followed, I was sent for a head MRI (normal) but tension style headaches persisted for years, until I had my children in 2013 in fact.

Mid-November this year I started with a niggle in the right side of my groin. After a week or so it spread to the other side too and made finding a comfortable sleeping position very difficult. When sitting in a chair, or driving, I found I had a burning type pain across my lap as if my underwear or seatbelt was too tight. This burning pain then became numbness in the area below my belly button. I had a C-section so am used to a little loss of sensation but not this large an area. I was referred by GP for a pelvic ultrasound but this is not until 29 December.

By early December the numbness spread above my belly button as far as my chest. I have not lost control of my bladder or bowel but I do not ‘feel’ them in the same way. I also began to experience odd pins and needles sensations in my left leg and foot and also my left arm. I have had full bloods done and they are fine. My GP has referred me to a private neurologist and I have an appointment 15th January. I don’t know how I’m going to get through Christmas! I have lost a stone in weight since this all started, I am quite a foodie but have completely lost my appetite. My latest symptom, which worries me a lot, is a feeling of tightness around my throat and neck, but I don’t know if this is anxiety. I am sleeping terribly.

I have obviously googled symptoms and MS has come up. I can’t think of any past episodes in my medical history. I have no pain, fatigue, weakness, clumsiness etc just these altered sensations. My GP said sometimes our bodies just do these odd things and then it goes back to normal but my anxious mind doesn’t allow me to think like that.

Has anyone just had numbness and gone on to be diagnosed? Does the feeling ever come back?

Thank you for reading

2

I am glad that you have a specialist appointment in the diary and am sorry that you are having such a worrying time, There isn’t anything more you can do for now except concentrate on your family Christmas and hope that some of the general good spirits rub off on you! There isn’t any way round worry, but keeping busy is at least something to do, and I’m sure that your busy life will provide plenty of that. Which doesn’t help with sleep, of course. I can only hope that your body finds a way of getting what it needs in terms of rest. Insomnia is the pits, I know. Please tempt your palate where you can. Some people overeat when they’re worried; others go the other way and it sounds as though you are one of those, as am I. Sometimes all we can do is regard food as medicine and swallow the prescribed dose, whether we feel like it or not. Not much fun, but then none of this is, is it?

GOod luck with it all.

Alison

3

Well Christmas has been and gone and my neurologist appointment is now this coming Friday. I’m terrified. There has been no improvement in my numbness over 7 weeks which pretty much stretches from my bra line to the tops of my thighs. I still get pins and needles in arms and legs. My throat/neck tightness has become difficulty with swallowing, as if I didn’t have enough of an appetite I’m now frightened to eat. I feel like I chew the food around in my mouth for ages before the swallowing reflex kicks in. Maybe I’m just overthinking things, I haven’t actually choked. Is it normal to have dysphagia symptoms prior to any diagnosis? I’m tearful all of the time, worrying.

4

Pretty sure I read that the number of people suffering from MS in the U.K. is between 100,000 -150,000 out of a population approaching 70 million. People experiencing these type of symptoms should take some confront from these numbers. It is extremely rare.

It is worth noting that anxiety/stress is thought to effect 1 in 6 adults in the U.K. Anxiety can cause physical symptoms consistent with MS. The odds are overwhelmingly in your favour that it is not something progressive This thought process has helped me. Good luck with the appointment