HI Jenn,

The thing about MS is the symptoms are very individual. There is no set "This is MS" rules because what you feel is dependent on where the lesions are in your central nervous system. And the lesions aren't always "active" so one day you might get numb feet or pain that can't be explained and then the next day you have spasms or memory loss, speech problems, gait issues......it depends on what lesions are active and where they are.

There are a lot of other diseases out there that could be MS - but turn out to be something else. I have a friend with Lupus who seems to mimic MS a lot - but her disease is totally different and the treatments are totally different. It's possible your Doctors are keeping quiet about what they think because they really don't know yet. The MRIs will rule out some things. You should get some answers soon. The one thing my neuro told me before the "official" dx came down was to limit the types of sites I went looking at. She sent me to the mssociety.ca (Canadian) or mssociety.com (American) sites. The information you get there is monitored by medical staff and should be accurate. A lot of other sites are not. There is a lot of disinformation being put into the internet and it sounds real - but there is no basis in medical fact.

So, after the lecture above - my symptom that lead to the dx was a sudden loss of vision (optic neuritis), double vision and vertigo. In turns out that my first actual symptoms were some 10-15 years earlier but were never linked to MS. They were loss of strength in my arms, hands and legs and back numbness. The trick is to find a doctor who will look at everything you are experiencing and look at the whole picture instead of just the symptom you go to them for. It sounds like you might have found that type of doctor so you're on the right track to figuring things out.

Just don't give up - if it isn't MS then it is something else. You are your best advocate - keep pushing for answers. Stay strong.

Bea

I know when I was in the process of getting diagnosed I was driving myself crazy of thinking that everything I was feeling was a symptom. It is best not to try and do this. I was really lucky and diagnosed very early in the progression of the disease with only 4 lesions on my brain. Diagnosed after an MRI because of migraines. I have only had one episode with MS symptoms and that was in 2009 where my skin was numb on my left side for 3 weeks, I thought it was a pinched nerve in my back. I have things here and there that sometimes I think are the disease... numb hand or foot, fatigue, etc. But I try to just keep plugging along. I find that if I focus on the symptom it tends to aggravate it and make it worse or make it last longer. So it make a note of it so I can let my neurologist know, but I don't focus on it.

I wish you the best of luck working with your neurologist. Keep your head up!

-Tera