Would anyone with MS be kind enough to answer a few questions?

[NCtotalkaboutsex]

Firstly hope you don't mind me posting here but I'm just after a little advice.

It looks likely that my dp may well have MS, we are seeing neurologist Thursday but doctors we have seen seem pretty certain this will be the outcome.

11 days ago dp lost vision in his left eye, only way he can describe it was like a punch in the face followed immediately like a computer screen shutting down in front of him, he was just sat at his desk chatting to a few of his employees when this happened and it lasted for a hour and a half and after his sight returned the headache started and hasn't gone since. He is stuffing from dizziness and since the weekend has also had pains/some kind of strange feeling in his neck and down left arm into hand.

Last week he had MRI that showed a small focus of high signal in left centrum semi ovale.

Clearly I have been reading up on MS since then and have discovered that there are different types and not just MS as I first thought but I'm trying not to worry to much about that at the moment.

My questions are:

For a first attack is it usual for it to go on this long ?

Will the nurologist be able to actually diagonise MS (if it is this) on Thursday just by the MRI and bloods he has had taken so far, or will they need to wait and see if he has any more attacks before they can do this?

If they are able to diagonise immediately can they say what type of MS it is?

In the mean time is there anything he can do to try and speed up the recovery as he is feeling pretty awful now?

He is 39 years old if this makes any difference to anything

Thank you

[Lara2]

Hi, hopefully I can help a bit. DH was dx 2 years ago with Primary Progressive MS - he was 53. The onset of his symptoms were virtually identical to your DP. He also had almost constant fatigue that didn't go away with rest.
He had an MRI which showed the legions on his brain. Together with his symptoms this was enough to give the diagnosis. He'd been having the pain in his neck and arm for about 2-3 years, the fatigue probably about 6 months and the loss of vision was just before dx.
His dx of PPMS was partly his age, but also because he was having no remissions.
He (as his dx suggests) has deteriorated steadily over the last 2 years - unfortunately he had an unrelated major health problem which needed a 4 hour operation and he has never really recovered to his pre-op levels.

Good luck tomorrow.

[NCtotalkaboutsex]

Thank you for your reply.

Dp has been complaining of tiredness, aches/pains, colds and just general under the weather like symtoms for at least the last 2 years! I just put it done to him liking a drink a bit to much and regularly told him to man up

Dp seems to think that he will just go sling tomorrow be told what it is and that will be it, where as it looks likely if it is MS we may not even get a diagnose yet

[Lara2]

NC - how did it go today?

[NCtotalkaboutsex]

Not great really, turns out it wasn't a neurologist we were seeing today it was a consultant at the eye clinic.

He couldn't really tell us anything except that it wasn't a problem with the eyes and that he would refer us over to the neurologist next. Dp did ask him about MS and the doctor told us that none of dp symtoms related to MS which is strange because do far everything is pointing that way! But then again the doctor didn't even really bother reading any of the notes because he wasn't even aware that the MRI results showed anything.

DP isn't doing great he was hoping for answers today! It's really taken it's toll on him and he is still in constant pain and has terrible fatigue and the pains in his neck, arm and hand seems to be getting worse now to.

[SideOfFoot]

I have ms, and symptoms vary but what you describe doesn't sound particularly like ms to me. His age fits an ms diagnosis though.

If it is ms, I'd expect initial symptoms to last longer than they already have so I wouldn't look for any instant improvement.

If this is the only symptom he has ever had, I don't think they'll diagnose ms at all and will wait for another attack.

A blood test won't diagnose ms, it'll be to rule other things out. I'm surprised a lumbar puncture hasn't been suggested (although it's not always needed).

Was he offered steroids, they are sometimes used to speed up recovery.

Tbh, by what you are saying I think you are a long way away from a diagnosis of ms, if it is ms.

[NCtotalkaboutsex]

He has been generally under the weather for at last 6 months prior but this just came on suddenly and so far has been no improvement at all.

It was the GP who mentioned possible ms

But thank you you have been very reassuring

[Lara2]

Just checked back in OP - sorry you didn't get the answers you were looking for last week. DH had the eye test stuff first, it was actually the eye department who referred him to the neurology department. He was probably diagnosed in 5 months from first loosing the sight in his eye.
I'd say, hope it's not MS, but be prepared for the fact that it might be.

[TooBusyByHalf]

If it's just been one attack then it could be CIS - clinically isolated syndrome. It's basically when you have 1 demyelinating lesion causing one attack (which can last weeks or months) but it doesn't recur - hence not multiple.
I had that. In my case there's only a 1 in 5 chance of ever getting another attack - in which case it would be MS.
But if there are several lesions on the MRI then the odds of it becoming MS later go up to about 90%

[Rosesarelovely]

It could also be Parkinsons, I am due an mri at the weekend. I also lost eyesight (for a few weeks) have serious migraines and go through bouts of not feeling or smelling, vertigo and being unable to pee. You need to keep on at the neurology department. Keep a list of symptoms for your dh, just in case he forgets any of them. I waited a few months to see a neuro, With my second attack I had lots of symptoms. My Gp did not refer me when all of these were present, I had to change doctors to get a referral. I hope you find out what is wrong soon, not knowing what your dealing with is very difficult.