oooh I almost did not see this. If I do ever miss a post, please feel free to find me over on MS.
My presenting symptom was vertigo. That is it. I didn't have anything else. I was just spinning. I thought it was an ear infection. I had never really experienced anything like that. I went to the PCP and he gave me a course of antibiotics. Of course they did not help. I went downhill quickly. about three weeks after the vertigo started I could not walk except if I was holding to a wall or my husband and someone else. That is when we went to the ER. They admitted me. I was there for about four days. After lots of blood work and medical history, a cat scan and an MRI and lots and lots of neuro exams.....reflexes and junk. They decided that I had had a small stroke since I had a "spot" on my brain MRI.
A few weeks later, I had another MRI and they found another "spot". That is when I was referred to UCLA MS clinic. I had a lumbar puncture, evoked potentials (vision, hearing and lower extremeties), I also had a thorasic and cervical MRI. I also had lots more blood work.
There was no evidence of anything other than MS so that is what they went with. It was about 6 months after that that I asked to be tested by igenex. My PCP complied and that all came back neg.
I had at this point, three lesions (two brain and one spinal). I had failed the evoked potentials for vision and lower extremeties. I had MS oligoclonal bands in my spinal fluid but not in my blood. I had nothing in my blood that could indicate a reason for this.
I was started on copaxone. about 7 months after my diagnosis, I woke up to a horrible flare. I woke up numb from the knees down. This was sensory and not paralytic. I was immediately place on the IV solumedrol 1,200 mgs per day for five days. The numbness continued to climb in a diagonal pattern until it was above my waste on the left side and mid thigh on my right side. I could walk but it was very difficult. I had no skin sensation from those indicated places down. The numbness did not stop climbing until about five days after I stopped with the solumedrol IVs. It took about about three weeks from when I woke numb for me to start feeling better.
I added a lot of symptoms after that flare. I still have the chronic vertigo except that it has cooled and gotten much better. I have a very bad left leg. I have near total numbness through that left knee and a lot of spasticity. I have near total skin numbness from my mid shins down. I have some vision problems. I have nystagmus which makes reading small print hard. I have some numbness in my left thumb.
Wow, I am sorry this is so long. I hope this helps.