new here Extreme fatigue

I am new to this area and this week saw a neuro that reviewed my MRI and my MRI from 3 years ago. 3 years ago I was told that white matter disease was nothing to worry about.The reason I went to this new one was because over the past 3 years I have been having over whelming fatigue to the point that my arms and legs feel heavy and it is hard to do anything. Sometimes taking a shower and cleaning up is all I can do. It is life changing. When I wake up I can't wait to take a nap. OKAY so you get I am exhausted LOL. I am a stay at home MOM so going to work wasn't an issue. On my MRI it shows scattered sub-centimeter, mostly peripheral deep white matter FLAIR bright,T2 bright foci are concentrated in the frontal lobes and seen to a lesser extent in the right parietal lobe and left temporal lobe.From the MRI of 3 years ago this has progressed. At this point the Neurologist suspects MS based mostly on the MRI. I do have some blurred vision and I know my vision has gotten worse I wear contacts for years. I was wondering if anyone has heard of this. When I look at the other symtoms for MS I have some urinary urgency and frequency and shortness of breath. However again the fatigue is my biggest problem and it is debilitating in itself. The other unrelated symptoms I have are cardio symptoms related to irregular pulse, high B/P.  I am following up with more tests seeing the eye doctor next week. I need some help here this is really confusing.  I really need some help trying to figure this all out. Is it normal for overwhelming fatigue to be a first symptom? Also what can be done about this fatigue?

Hi Casinokid80 Thank you for responding My left eye is blurry once in a while. I noticed it recently but I thought it had to do with my contacts or medication side efffect. I was having trouble seeing the computer. I will look for a Neurooptomologist. I was given a presciption to have a BAER test for evoked potential and told to see an eye doc. I am also wondering about Lymes here because I was on Fire Island about 3 years ago and after that is when the symptoms of fatigue started. Anyone who can help here please jump in. I need some input.

Hi Gretchen:
This is now a new neuro I am going to since the first one was useless 3 years ago. He is sending me for the BAER and an eye exam and bloodwork. I know that you are not a doc but what did you think of the MRI info I posted there. The doctor seemed like he could go either way about looking into in more or not. He believes in treating the patients symptoms and not the MRI. He read off a list of symptoms to me and I said no to all of them. After the list was read I said like a stroke and he said no. He actually told me just answer yes or know to his questions like as if I were in court. Then I told him about the fatigue and he said we may as well look into it in that case. His attitude seemed strange to me. He really didn't want me to tell him my symptoms. he didn't seem to listen at all and I am really scared and confused.

Gretchen,

I am looking at finding a new neuro. I was really turned off when he told me to act like I was in a court room when answering him. Anywayy He did do an exam and tested reflexes but He really didn't listen and blew off other stuff on my MRI about my pituatary gland which I didn't go into here. He thinks there is a cyst there but he said everyone has them or alot of people. Meanwhile it is no longer where it belongs and I was trying to point out the related symptoms I may be experiencing. Back to MS I just don't want to blow this off if it is something to be concerned about.

Thursday p.m.

 

Hello Sand...

 

May I suggest you contact your state MS Society for a refferal to a neuro?

 

Fatigue is 1 through 10 on my list of worst MS symtoms.

 

It is with us ALL  the time.

 

And no one can understand the depth of our fatigue unless you are another MS patient.

 

Right, everyone?

 

John

Hey Sanddune,

I was just reading about your situation and I just wanted to send you a little note to let you know the best thing for you to do is not stress out about your situation. I myself presented with ON and subsequently was sent for an MRI. They found 9 legions and I still have not been diagnosed with MS. The most important thing to know is whether your legions are active or inactive. They can be cause by other things such as head injuries, or even a high fever. I think you should definately get a second opinion but don't panick and try your hardest not to stress out about this. If all you are experiencing is fatigue, you could just have mono!

It's good that your doctor is running blood work and eye tests on you before sending you for MRI's or more invasive tests. Why not try and rule out the easy stuff first? If you have any questions feel free to ask, I haven't been doing this long but I am familiar with how scary the beginning can be.

I'm sorry honey, I don't know what all that MRI lingo means!!! But I do know that a neurologist should be able to tell you if the are still active or not. Apparently they do appear brighter on the MRI when they are active, or so I have been told.

It sounds like you still have a lot more tests to go through before you truly know what's going on, keep your head up, and ask them to repeat that mono test. Remember, legions can be caused by something as simple as a fever, your MRI results are not necessarily indicative of an MS diagnoses, and fatigue can be a symptom of so many other things.