Hi all,
I haven't posted in some time. I've been so busy between school, medical issues and life. I was also waiting for appointments, follow ups, MRI's and more. My neurosurgeon feels that my CFS flow is ok and said that some of my symptoms can be Chiari, but he does not want to do surgery at this point. He sent me back to my primary physician (PCP) with a letter for a full neuro workup. His words - checking for everything from ALS to peripheral neuropathy.
My PCP finally referred me to a different neurologist and I saw him last week. He was very thorough and did many functioning tests in the office. They took 9 vials of blood (didn't have that much removed for cancer) and he's started the process of ruling out things. I continue to have off and on the following symptoms:
tingling, numbness in face, neck, shoulders, head, back, leggs, feet, hands
Hot sensations througout body
Feeling like someone is crushing my hands, fingers, feet and/or toes with vice grips
Burning tongue or feeling like a razor was used multiple times
loosing words
problems with balance big time
can't pass a heel-toe test that they give for drinking
clonus (hyperflexibility) in legs
reduced muscle strength (not too bad)
migraines off and on
tripping (fell twice at work in the last couple of months) many times I use walls to catch my falls
fatique
problems remembering or finding words
dry fingers (mechanic's hand) even though I use a lot of lotion
there are probably more, but i can't remember them all. The problem is that these symptoms can be caused by so many things. He said it's not ALS and ruled out B12 deficiency. We are looking at pre-diabetes, peripheral neuropathy, lupus, sjrogens, and MS.
I also go in for Evoked potential study, nerve conduction study on 7-27 and I'm waiting on paperwork for another set of MRI's. He wants contrast brain, and entire spine.
It's frustrating trying to figure out what is and isn't Chiari, but I'm not giving up. Everything I read points mostly to MS, but time will tell once the tests are done. How many others have multiple diagnoses for neurology problems?
Maria