Worried Guy

Hi everyone, Im so happy to have found this forum. I have been struggling for 3 months - I was sitting on the couch one night and my left side started to tingle -face - arms - and legs. I was very scared but just tried to ignore it the starge sensation stayed with me - it felt like i was numb so I pinched my self - *OUCH* all the feeling was still there just felt word.

Three weeks went by and I was feeling alot of anxiety so went to a medical clinic - he did some strengths tests and eye tests ect and told me to go home and stop worrying. So I tried but I couldnt - i kept getting dizzy and tightning up and felt like i was panicking (I think they were panic attacks) so I ended up in emergency room because I feared something majo was wrong right there. The doctor examined me he checked my eyes, reflexes, balance, strength, and sensation in my body. He told me stength and eyes were normal and reflexes were a bit jumpy but ok - and he odered a cat scan to rule out anythng major like stroke or tumor and the cat scan came back ok.

Well under the emergency room doctors advice he told me to see a general doctor if i was too worried - he said he seen these syptoms ofeten and are usually nothing. So I decided to go get checked out by my GP and an eye doctor. I noticed the vision in my left eye is not quite as sharp as my right - but the eye doctor my vision is great even though my left eye may not be as sharp it can still see 20-20 and its halth looked god.

Then I went to my GP - he didnt seem too sympathetic with my tingling and numbness - he felt my neck which was a little stiff on the left side and proclaimed ' ohhhh yea its the nerves in your neck - I see this all the time' to whicj i replied - 'it can make my whole left side tingle and feel like its asleep' he replied ' Ohhhh yea happens all the time'. So after I insisted he sent is going to have some bloodwork done - and recomended a physiotheorapist to work with my neck.

Personally I think it is something nerological - I just find it hard to say to my doctor 'Man I think I have MS or something'. It is also hard because my syptoms are not debilitating - the tingling and numbness feeling cause me more anxiety then anythng. The only other sympton i can think of is sometimes in my legs i get little twitches (non painfull) and sometimes i get a shooting pain on and off behind my knee. Should I be really concerned about MS? These sound like MS symptoms to be and have myself convinced I have it cause I can imagine anything else causing symptoms like these.

As a percaution I have started a low saturated fat diet just incase. Is the low saturated fat diet helpful? I have ready it has had some great results - and I figure it is healthy even for people who dont have MS

I would so appreciate any of your thoughts - if you think this could be MS and if it is - what are your thoughts on trying to fight the diease with a low saturated fat diet?

Thanks so much!

Sorry about the length

Grasshopper  :)     

Hi Carolyn thanks for the reply. The advice you have given me is good and infact generally what I have done. Wehn I used to get an episode of feeling tingly in my cheek of my leg felt like it was falling asleep id get dizzy and tighten up. At first I thought maybe it was a syptom of the tingling - but started to realize that that I was just panicing. After a while I just took the attitude that tingling may be scarry but it is not somethng that is going to kill me on he stop - after that it has been 3 weeks without a dizzy panicky spell *knock on wood*.

Still I feel anxiety not knowing what the syptoms are. It is hard when they are so vague - they dont effect my pahysical day to day activity so people I find seem to dicount them. Personally if someone would tell me this is why you are having the tingling sensation and you going to have to live with it the rest of my life I'd have no problem at all with it - cause the anxiety would be gone.

In any case im ryig to relax and take it a day at a time - symptoms havent really got any worse over the last 3 months, no loss of strength, no fatigue, no loss of balance or anything like that. Still the tingling feeling is a cause for great concern to me. I'll just have to keep hounding my doctor til he finds out what it is I supose.

So what do you guys thnk about the low aturated fat diet? From what I have read it has produced very positive results for people with MS. The one i read wanted to limit satuated fats to 15g and under.

Thanks Again

Grasshopper

Hi there,

Not sure about the low saturated fat diet but at the very least you will be nice and healthy and a lean mean fighting machine :)
Don't feel that going to the doc about the panic attacks is a big deal...if they get any worse go ahead and go and see if they can give you something to help you out for a while.

Hang in there :)