veebee
20-08-08, 13:05
Hello everyone
I haven't posted here for quite some time now - previously I had a very anxious few months were I was very scared about having MS. My symptoms were mainly sensory - stuff like random tingling, pins and needles, numbness in both my hands, aches and pains etc. I saw various GPs and a neurologist and had an MRI in June which came back as clear - no evidence of dmyelineation (sorry about the dodgy spelling).
Anyway, that, I thought, was the end of that. I felt relieved that MRI gave no indication of MS and we booked a holiday during which I didn't have any symptoms. Then I came back home and over the past two months or so I've been having a sore right leg. It happens every couple of days and starts just above my knee and goes into my thigh. Mainly it happens in the evenings or just before I go to bed. It's a dull, nagging ache - sometimes my lower back (right side) feels twingey and sometimes I get a pain doing down the back of my thigh. I don't have any problem walking (in fact it seems to relieve the ache if I move about) and I don't think I have any weakness.
I thought it was maybe related to me going to the gym (have been going around 3 times a week and I do an hour and half each time, on bike, treadmill, rowing machine, weights etc). I think the ache has been getting worse - its actually waking me up sometimes during the night. I've also had stiff feeling fingers (on both hands - thumb and next finger along, intermittently) that feel a bit densensitised around the fingertips, and sometimes my vision gets a bit blurry (this is only very occasionally).
My boyfriend has suggested that its all in my head and that its to do with the fact that I'm still anxious about MS but the pain is real. I should also mention that I've had an achey right leg in the past (again it usually happened when I went to bed) but I thought it was just restless legs. I had mentioned it to the neurologist at my initial consultation but he didn't make any comment about it.
I decided to go to the doctor's about it - had arranged to see the GP I trust but when I got there on Friday night somehow got stuck with a doctor I most definitely do not trust. I saw her when I was going through my initial MS scare and she terrified me with some of her comments.
I told her about my leg, she said no point in doing a physical exam and that it was probably a trapped nerve (she didn't think it was sciatica or related to going to the gym). She said I should see a physiotherapist. Then I told her about my stiff fingers…again she said trapped nerve! I ask about my eye - she just says 'go and see an optician' (which I'm doing at the weekend).
Then I ask about whether she had received a letter from my neurologist with the results of my scan, and if so could I see it…she says 'ok, but I can't go through everything because we close at 6pm' I had wanted to ask about CBT and anti-depressants but didn't get a chance as she rushed me out the door. I had a sore left arm back in Nov and it was attributed to a trapped nerve too…how common is it to get 2 trapped nerves in different places over that timespan?
I just feel that she didn't care. I'm really worried about my leg and my fingers - what if I've had an MRI too early to detect anything, and it's only now that more serious things are happening? As far as I know (from reading online) MS can be difficult to diagnose. Maybe I do have something wrong and it's just not been picked up? I think one of the things that's gnawing away at me is that no-one has actually said definitively what caused my symptoms in the first place - GP said it was anxiety initially (and told me to look at an anxiety website) but since my MRI result there's been no further discussion as to the actual definitive cause of everything.
I don't know where to turn or what to do next. My family and friends have been though enough over the past few months with me and I don't want to start this all up again - but I'm getting really scared. I'm annoyed at myself for thinking like this again and having to post about this subject again but just don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going mad over this.
I haven't posted here for quite some time now - previously I had a very anxious few months were I was very scared about having MS. My symptoms were mainly sensory - stuff like random tingling, pins and needles, numbness in both my hands, aches and pains etc. I saw various GPs and a neurologist and had an MRI in June which came back as clear - no evidence of dmyelineation (sorry about the dodgy spelling).
Anyway, that, I thought, was the end of that. I felt relieved that MRI gave no indication of MS and we booked a holiday during which I didn't have any symptoms. Then I came back home and over the past two months or so I've been having a sore right leg. It happens every couple of days and starts just above my knee and goes into my thigh. Mainly it happens in the evenings or just before I go to bed. It's a dull, nagging ache - sometimes my lower back (right side) feels twingey and sometimes I get a pain doing down the back of my thigh. I don't have any problem walking (in fact it seems to relieve the ache if I move about) and I don't think I have any weakness.
I thought it was maybe related to me going to the gym (have been going around 3 times a week and I do an hour and half each time, on bike, treadmill, rowing machine, weights etc). I think the ache has been getting worse - its actually waking me up sometimes during the night. I've also had stiff feeling fingers (on both hands - thumb and next finger along, intermittently) that feel a bit densensitised around the fingertips, and sometimes my vision gets a bit blurry (this is only very occasionally).
My boyfriend has suggested that its all in my head and that its to do with the fact that I'm still anxious about MS but the pain is real. I should also mention that I've had an achey right leg in the past (again it usually happened when I went to bed) but I thought it was just restless legs. I had mentioned it to the neurologist at my initial consultation but he didn't make any comment about it.
I decided to go to the doctor's about it - had arranged to see the GP I trust but when I got there on Friday night somehow got stuck with a doctor I most definitely do not trust. I saw her when I was going through my initial MS scare and she terrified me with some of her comments.
I told her about my leg, she said no point in doing a physical exam and that it was probably a trapped nerve (she didn't think it was sciatica or related to going to the gym). She said I should see a physiotherapist. Then I told her about my stiff fingers…again she said trapped nerve! I ask about my eye - she just says 'go and see an optician' (which I'm doing at the weekend).
Then I ask about whether she had received a letter from my neurologist with the results of my scan, and if so could I see it…she says 'ok, but I can't go through everything because we close at 6pm' I had wanted to ask about CBT and anti-depressants but didn't get a chance as she rushed me out the door. I had a sore left arm back in Nov and it was attributed to a trapped nerve too…how common is it to get 2 trapped nerves in different places over that timespan?
I just feel that she didn't care. I'm really worried about my leg and my fingers - what if I've had an MRI too early to detect anything, and it's only now that more serious things are happening? As far as I know (from reading online) MS can be difficult to diagnose. Maybe I do have something wrong and it's just not been picked up? I think one of the things that's gnawing away at me is that no-one has actually said definitively what caused my symptoms in the first place - GP said it was anxiety initially (and told me to look at an anxiety website) but since my MRI result there's been no further discussion as to the actual definitive cause of everything.
I don't know where to turn or what to do next. My family and friends have been though enough over the past few months with me and I don't want to start this all up again - but I'm getting really scared. I'm annoyed at myself for thinking like this again and having to post about this subject again but just don't know what to do. I feel like I'm going mad over this.