MS Worries

[starfighter]

Hi guys I'm new here but reading some of the posts has helped me calm down a bit. Heres my worry and story.

I'm 36 married with 2 very young kids. I'm relativly fit and healthy. I do a manual job and also a semi pro sports person (although only coaching now) so relativly fit.

About 3 months ago now I had what I decscribe as a funny turn. every time I dropped off to sleep my left side of my body jerked and woke me up. It scared the hell out of me, and as a recent friend of a friend had just dropped dead at 39 from heart attack I was very scared.
I jumped up from bead the 3rd time it happened, (all within an hour) and felt all dizzy (probally from jumping up) I went to the loo and while sat on it went all blurry visioned like I was going to pass out, but never did.
I was so panicy I darn't go back to bed, so played on the PS3 for a few hours, during which time I felt sick but no more jerks etc.

The following day my left side was weak (in particular my arm) and mainly little and ring finger.

I googled and came up with MS. I had a week off the week after total drain of energy and sepnt it in bed, I went to the Dr and he did all sorts of blood work said it probally Anxiety.

the few days after I jerked awake, but this time it just felt like fear of sleep rather than before when I had no anxiety at all.

In the months that have now past I have gotten fit and worked to eat better. I have suffered from Pins and needles in feet and hands, which goes if if move. numb hands in night, mainly little finger on both hands.
Random muscle twitches, all over my body.
No repeat of that first night "YET".
Like someone on here said the more you read symptoms the more seem to appear. Recently I had eye floaters, and while worrying about them the pins and needles went. Then I thought I had pain in my right eye, however I now think this is related to an impact wisdom tooth on that side which hurts.

I do think this is anxiety because when I do things to take my mind of it the symptoms do go, the only thing that concerns me is the original symptoms when I wasn't worrying.

I am a bit of a worrier in general I guess so maybe subconsiously?

Any help or advice would be great guys.

Thanks Jon

[AllInMyHead]

Hi Jon, what you describe is pretty much exactly what happened to me about a year ago. I pretty much could have written your post. I was waking up in the night with my hands and legs going numb. On a couple of occasions I'd had the 'funny turn' you describe, with one particularly bad one where I was convinced I was dying and I thought my husband should call an ambulance. Thankfully he didn't, but it really shook me up.

I googled, and came up with MS also. I went to the doctors, and because of another few problems I'd had over the years, he was also concerned that it could be MS. When I heard that from the GP, my anxiety went into overdrive.

After that, the symptoms just seemed to get worse and worse. I spent lots of time in bed, I had numbness, strange feelings of heaviness, weakness and constrictions in my arms and legs, muscle jerks, feeling very cold in my muscles, complete loss of appetite, no energy and I couldn't sleep at all.

So here's the good news. After what seemed like a very long few weeks I got the results of an MRI and was given the all clear. My symptoms lifted almost instantly, and I've been fine since.

The neurologist explained the numbness. In your hands, if you get it in your little finger and ring finger it's caused by the ulnar nerve that runs down the outside of your elbow. Now when I wake up with numb hands, I adjust my position and it goes away. He also wasn't concerned by the numb feet and legs. He said it's very common for people who are in their 30s (I'm 34), particularly people who are fit and sporty, to have taken various knocks and bruises over the years that can lead to pins and needles and numbness when sleeping or keeping still for a long time. He also said that he wasn't concerned at all by numbness that goes away when you move around.

I'm sure now that the muscle jerks and the strange feelings in my arms and legs were completely brought on by anxiety. I didn't think I was anxious at all, and I wouldn't have thought I was anxious when it all came on. I have had bouts of mild (ish) HA through my life, but nothing that had really affected me greatly before, so I could believe that anxiety could have caused all these physical symptoms. But now I'm completely convinced it was because of the way they lifted so quickly when I found out I was ok.

So I hope this has reassured you, I think you are absolutely fine. Also, I wouldn't be surprised if you do have a repeat of that first night. I quite often have very vivid nightmares and only the other night I woke up in a panic because my arm wasn't working properly. I now know it's just a dream and calm down and go back to sleep straight away, and often don't even remember it in the morning. Once you accept that it's normal, and you're not going to die, it's easy to just ignore.

[butterfly00]

Me too me too.
this is exactly me.
I saw a neurologist, and he was not concerned what so ever. But i did not have an mri. Which I wish I had, cause a year and half later my concerns are returning a bit and wish I had the mri to just squash an y remaining worries.
I get this heavy numbish feeling only in my right leg and arm now, when it was both limbs before. I also get the funny turns which are NOT nice. But I"ve reached a place where I dont worry about that happening , when it does I know that I will ok afterwards so just let it happen and move on. It is very comforting ( in a wierd way ) to know that other people hae the same problems. So dont worry too much, once you find something that will give you the strength to beleive that you are fine then you will be fine.

[starfighter]

Thank you so much guys i feel loads better already. Really thanks, amazing what this forum can do.

[butterfly00]

Keep us updated on your getting on, so many times this forum is used for the extreme end of freaking out and the end of the story is not followed up, I think it wo uld help lots of people to have the stories finished up with what helped and how they are now.
And enjoy the rest of your day star fighter

[Janinel]

Oh yeah... numbness, can't sleep on my left side anymore... I worry about MS all the time. The key is the fact that your symptoms get worse when you're freaking out about them- I always notice that I never have any symptoms when I'm preoccupied with friends or having fun.

Also, have you been tested for a vitamin deficiency? My gp recently told me I'm deficient in vitamin b12 and that vitamin plays a key role in neurological functions (ie: might cause numbness or nerve pain, etc.) and it's been connected to a lot of anxiety issues. Do you take a multi vitamin? Might be worth a try!

Hope you're feeling better

[starfighter]

Thanks again guys. I will try the multi vitamins I think, but like you, when I'm with friends etc it doesn't bother me at all.

One thing I did notice was how funny this world can be, the week after I had convinced myself I had MS, every where I looked there was MS, I would drive a 3 mile drive and see 2 or 3 people walking funny on crutches with disabilties, I even turned on the radio and there was a story of how the local MS health centre was closing down, everything seemed to point to MS.
Like I said I teach sport, I train fighters, I'm always teaching to avoid negativity and stuff and handleing adreanalin, so I took some of my own advice and turned off TV's and Radios, I listened to my own CD's in the car that motivated me and helped me get out of that rut. I decided to live for my boys and made a decision not to let something like this stop me, so when I did somthing and felt weak or numb I forced myself through it, and at the end felt much better.

Allinmyhead, I too nearly got wife to call the ambulence, and I een nipped in the kids rooms and kissed them good bye :-(. I have also read about Ulna nerve entrapment and especially on my left I lean on that elbow at work, (Inow try not to) and if I flick where my funny bone is my little finger and ring finger go instantly tingley, so heres hoping its just ulna nerve trouble.

I will sort some b12 vitamins I think and let you know how stuff goes.

But one things for sure like "Allinthehead" said, when she got the all clear things lifted over night, after reading your post before bed last night, this morning I have a spring in my step, so bless you for helping me, I hope one day I can recover and help someone else on these boards as you have me. No doubt I'll slip up again at somepoint, but I'll keep strong and re read you post over and over.

Thanks again. Jon