Wednesday, April 6, 2011

So, it never ends.....

Ok, so lately I have been having alot of weird symptoms, that at the time I think "hmmm...thats weird..." but not significant enough to think much more than that, because so vague and brief...but now after last thursday, I"m begining to wonder whats up??? I have been telling my PCP that I've been having some numbness/tingling in my feet, and hands at times, we think its possible that it could be my diabetes and peripheral neuropathy, then I tell him that I feel like I"m flaring my ulcerative colitis without my typical bowel symptoms, and he wants me to discuss this with my new GI doctor (Dr. Hoda). So, I did, she wants to run a bunch more tests first (which I have done) and then discuss everything in follow up appt which is this next week. They think I may need to go back on an immunosupressant again. Then I really had a scare on Thursday!!! I was at work, rooming patients, and was having unilateral (one sided) numbness/tingling and pain in my right arm and leg....next thing I knew, I was on my way to ER in a flipping ambulance!! The ER doc consulted with a neurologist on the phone, and recommended an MRI of my head and neck. The neck MRI showed a bulging disc, but not pressing on spinal cord. Then he said the head MRI didn't show a stroke or mass, BUT (oh yes the dreaded BUT...) it was not normal. I guess I have several white matter lesions on my brain...YIKES!! To quote my MRI report....."There are scattered white matter lesions. On the right, there appear to be at least 8 and on the left there appear to be at least 13. There are really not three periventricular lesions, but there are numberous juxtacortical lesions." They recommended that I see a neurologist.....he said it could just be from my diabetes and worse case scenario could be MS (multiple sclerosis). I"m a bit concerned now....

So, I have now been trying to pinpoint some of my symptoms so I can share them with a neurologist....

*Severe fatigue ( somedays i literally come home from work and go straight to bed)

*intermittent numbness/tingling and pain in my upper and lower extremities.

*occasional feeling like I'm about to have a dizzy spell while sitting, the world will just begin to spin, but then stop after just a second or 2.

*my presbyopia has gotten significantly worse just in the last few weeks or so...along with a frequent twitching of my right upper eyelid (driving me crazy!).

*the other night I was lying watching tv on my left side, and had a sudden feeling like I could pass out, my head felt like it was tunneling in, then it stopped, then a second later, happened again...then again stopped and I felt normal again.

*my lower lip had a brief feeling like I had dental local anesthesia in it, just like I had been numbed up for a cavity.

* alot of muscle/joint aches and pains all over.

Not sure what all these symptoms mean, or even if they are significant at all, but won't hurt mentioning it. In the process of my referrals to neurologist and rheumatologist....To be continued....