Multiple Sclerosis

[misskristi]

I'm 37, female, and have cronic pain due to back surgery and paim from further damage, I guess. I had a bout with optic neuritis in Feb 07lost vision totally for 2 months then it came back now it just stays blurry,can;t wear contacts anymore and my vision just plain sucks. Now most recent MRI says I have 2 bulging discs-lumbar, 2 bulging discs cervical, and in my left leg I have numbness in my lrft leg at the knee dowwn to my ankle and into my foot pain shoots everywhere in my leg. My back is constantly in pain, spasms,half the time I can't get out of bed!! I take pain medications and mucle relaxers, anxiety meds and Oh yeah, I'm bipolar!!I can go to stand up and fall right down, leg goes out, is this remotely sounding like MS? Should I mention testing to my neoro or what? Please help me

[TerryQ]

Sounds more like back problems then MS to me. I have been disabled due to MS and have lived with it for years with major disabilities in the last couple. I also have a friend who has similar back problems to yours, pretty much everything you listed is caused by the pressures on the spinal cord (falling/pain) and for her the more operations the more problems she later encountered. Its hard to explain since so many things occur in MS and differs from person to person, but the Neurologist probably already considered that long ago (same MRI for back/brain). You have similar systems because the CNS involvement, but there are a lot more things that go along with it.

On a personal note: My falling occurs because it hit my left side and caused severe weakness, nerve damage and fatiguing of the muscles. The leg can give out because it is over fatigued in as little as 3 or 4 steps to being able to walk a block, once it gives out it doesnt work again until I rest. This doesnt only effect my leg though it is the entire left side (arm, leg, eye, etc). As I said it varies so much person to person it is hard for anyone to say as the systems are kinda mix and match...brain lesions are a common sign of the problem and would show up in the MRI.

The nationalMSsociety.org site is a great reference tool and would help you talk to your neurologist more informed.

I hope this helps a little.

Sorry and Good Luck with everything.