I've been referred to a neurologist

[Iris]

Just when you thought it couldn't get any worse...!

Recently I've been having weird problems. Mainly with my co-ordination. For the past few months I've been having difficulty with fine movements, like turning pages and picking things up. A few days ago I had to make 5 attempts to pick up a pencil 0_0 I also keep dropping things. This is beyond normal clumsiness. It is as if my hands do not want to do what I tell them. I am over- or under-estimating how much I have to move, and missing when I try to pick stuff up! It has gotten frequent enough to be annoying.

Also, I'm having other problems, like speaking. I forget words a lot, or I say the wrong word. I do this when I type, too...I will type a word that is similar in structure to the word I meant, but not the right one. Also, I feel like my thinking is 'muddy'. I have to get people to repeat the things they say a lot. I don't seem to take things in as quickly as I used to. I have to make people repeat their instructions before I am sure I fully understand.

I wouldn't mind if I was in my 60s. I'm 24!

As anyone who has read my other threads will know, my dad has multiple sclerosis. So when I started experiencing this stuff, this was of course my primary concern.

I have seen a doctor today, who has referred me for a neurologist appointment. The neuro is going to do an MRI scan, a barrage of co-ordination tests, and (gulp) a possible lumbar puncture. The doctor told me I was "right to be worried" and that what I was describing "certainly sounded like a nerve problem." Which is of course what MS is.

It is going to take up to two weeks for the hospital to contact me, and then we have to schedule the appointment.

Everyone around me says I'm just getting "worried about nothing". But I know my body, and this is getting seriously weird.

Please spare a thought, or a :hugz: for me. I am genuinely frightened.

[Cloaked Raven]

Iris, I always have a :hugz: for you when you need it and I will definitely keep you in my thoughts and prayers.

I do hope the doctors find out exactly what's going on and can at least treat it.

Update when you can and feel like doing so. Hang in there.

:hugz:

[Falling Star]

Hi Iris, Sending you loads of love and light!
may i light a candle, and send reiki to you?

[Fading Star Spirit]

I am thinking of you and I hope that everything is not as serious as it may sound. Positive thinking might be hard, but it's important.:)
*hug*

All the best of luck and please keep us updated.

[Childof_theMorrigan]

:hugz:

[Catiana]

:hugz:

[Lunacie]

Hi Iris, Sending you loads of love and light!
may i light a candle, and send reiki to you?

I would do so as well if you like.

My first thought was it seemed rather like what I went through during menopause, but then I saw your age. Is MS hereditary the way so many other neurological conditions are? Bright wishes for the best outcome.

[mephistopheles]

:hugz:

I mess up words all the time. Mother says I'm just an idiot :lol:.

[Against The Tide]

Hun! Sending energy asap. I hope that this isn't anything serious, as far as I know MS isn't yet established as hereditary, though some studies have shown the prevalence for the disease could be hereditary.

Because there are alot of doom and gloom stories about brain and nerve disorders can I reccomend a book? The brain that changes itself by Norman Doidge. It is a collection of true stories about people who've overcame their disorders, about the brain not being hardwired/fixed state as we previously thought, about advances in brain science. A little hope is always a nice thing *hugs*

[evergreen]

Lots of hugs! :hugz:

I know how frightening doctors and hospitals can be. I went in to see a doctor for stomach cramps and she told me it was appendicitis and I needed to go to the ER right away! After a ton of inconclusive tests, they sent me home, believing it was just a strange stomach bug. Another time, I told a doctor my heart was racing, and I ended up hooked up to a monitor for three weeks, then at the hospital for another monitor and in the end they told me it had nothing to do with my heart. Its really easy to jump to conclusions, especially when they're prodding you and hooking you up to all sorts of machines.

I wish you the best of luck and another :hugz:!

[Iris]

To answer the hereditary question - it isn't confirmed that MS is hereditary, but having a family member with MS is considered an 'increased risk factor', ie you are more likely to have MS than the 'general population', ie people not related to someone who has it. It is also more common in women than men. And incidences decrease the closer to the equator you get :wtf: it's a pretty weird illness.

It's my hands that worry me the most. When I told my boyfriend about dropping things and stuff, he just said "Oh, you're just clumsy". But they are not doing what I'm telling them to do! It's very unsettling! I know my BF is just trying to help but I wish he'd validate my concerns more instead of taking the "It's probably nothing; you're being paranoid" approach.

Anyone who feels they have positive/healing energy to spare, I would welcome that and be very grateful. I'll take any help I can get, lol! :)

Thanks to everyone for the replies. The people in my non-internet life are all just telling me I'm worried over nothing, so I needed a place to be heard, ya know?

[Incendia]

I wouldn't think MS just yet...it could be Lyme dz, which is common, and easily treated with antibiotics. It could also be something as simple as vitamin D deficiency...or maybe even a thyroid disorder. This is coming from someone who has a background in neurology. :) I know it's easier said than done, but try not to imagine the worst. :hugz:

[Morred]

:hugz:

[Cat]

Of course. Hugs and healing energies.

[TygerTyger]

The people in my non-internet life are all just telling me I'm worried over nothing, so I needed a place to be heard, ya know?

Oh I know how that feels alright so you go ahead and let it all out!

This is going to be on your mind until they've completed the tests and there's no getting away from it, however, try to think about it this way, as you can't do anythign about it put it to the back of your mind until the moment comes when you, such as when you get the diagnosis. Concentrate instead on the things in your life that can do something about instead.

I won't pretend that this is an easy thing to accomplish but I've had some pretty big black clouds to live under in past thanks to my own condition so I do know how you feel. This technique has worked for me on several occasions. If you find yourself coming back to this worry try to find something else to think about or do; it doesn't matter what.

I wish you all the best and hope that the diagnosis is a lot less bothersome than you fear!

Good luck!

:thumbsup:

[Lunacie]

To answer the hereditary question - it isn't confirmed that MS is hereditary, but having a family member with MS is considered an 'increased risk factor', ie you are more likely to have MS than the 'general population', ie people not related to someone who has it. It is also more common in women than men. And incidences decrease the closer to the equator you get :wtf: it's a pretty weird illness.

It's my hands that worry me the most. When I told my boyfriend about dropping things and stuff, he just said "Oh, you're just clumsy". But they are not doing what I'm telling them to do! It's very unsettling! I know my BF is just trying to help but I wish he'd validate my concerns more instead of taking the "It's probably nothing; you're being paranoid" approach.

Anyone who feels they have positive/healing energy to spare, I would welcome that and be very grateful. I'll take any help I can get, lol! :)

Thanks to everyone for the replies. The people in my non-internet life are all just telling me I'm worried over nothing, so I needed a place to be heard, ya know?

I was assuming (tho I shouldn't do that) that Anemia has been ruled out?

The "butterfingers" was possibly the worst part of my having Anemia in my 30's, but it seems that some of your other symptoms also are similar.

[brigidrose]

Sending healing energy and peace...

[SphinYote]

Just to give another possibility....sometimes when I have migraines, my hands don't want to work right either....it is possible to get migraines without the headaches. "Migraine" in the medical sense can refer specifically to the change of circulation that happens in the brain, which can cause a wide array of symptoms....headache is the primary symptom, but it's not always present.

Also, a lot of types of chemical exposure...I never noticed it when I used to react so badly to perfume, but during those episodes I was probably in too much pain to notice peripheral symptoms. Lawn chemicals....not great. Can cause clumsiness along with the moodswings, though that tended more toward dizziness and stumbling around like a drunk on the few occasions it had an extreme effect for me, like last Spring.

Also...there is a lot of research linking pesticide and insecticide use (or simple exposure) to Parkinsons, but some linking it to MS, as well, I believe. I can try to look that up if you think there might be a factor.

Whatever's going on, :hugz:.

May they figure it out quickly and may it be easily remedied!

Yote

[Lunacie]

Good point, Yote. I'm not sure we react to the same things, but I'm sure we'd make an odd looking pair if we were both exposed and were stumbling around, weak as newborns, alternating between hopeless tears and inchoate rage. I've only 'talked' with one other person who has the same extreme reactions to certain exposures (well two of her daughters do as well), and it's been such a relief to know that I'm not the only weirdo in the world who has these reactions.

[Willow Rosette]

Ohhh Iris honey Im sorry Im just now seeing this. Im sorry Im not much help but you will be in my prayers!!!

[Celebornsbabysitter]

hugs

[SilverClaw]

Sorry Iris I have been away so I am just now reading this,
:hugz: to you and I know how frustrating it is to have a loved one dismiss your feelings or take your concerns seriously.

Hope you find out what is wrong soon :hugz:

[Crysiira]

:hugz: Keeping you in my thoughts.

[Lunacie]

Nearly a month and no updates. I hope things are going well for Iris. :hugz:

[WynterWynd]

Iris, I hope you are doing well :hugz: