Hi All - I am new here and wanted to see if I may be in the right place.
I have been having issues for about 18 years now. It all started when I was about 30, I think. Beginning with pain that started in my legs and now is body wide, I continued to experience bouts of extreme fatigue, confusion, and limping that lasted 2 days to 2 weeks or so. In 2000, I had a very weird loss of vision in one eye that doctors could not diagnose. I was also found to have memory loss and language difficulties - I cannot process language in my left ear. I've also been left with a small spot in my vision since. The pain, fatigue, confusion and limping continued until my Dr diagnosed me with Fibromyalgia in 2008 - I also developed a very weird, gasping breathing pattern during this time.
Long story short - in April of 2012, I had a complete shutdown - mental function practically absent, only able to speak in short bursts of subject words, incredible pain, bad limp in right leg, weakness, dizziness - my Dr sent me to the ER. Within two weeks, I was diagnosed with MS. The only problem with this is that I have NEVER had a lesion in my brain or spine - how can this be MS? I've asked 5 Neurologists how this can be MS - they all insisted it was, until my last appt. Finally, it's not MS - so what is it? Conversion Disorder - seriously? I've lost my job, my drivers license, income, car, friends, body, independence - and suffered untold pain and mobility difficulty - and I've made it all up in my head?
The day before this 'attack' - I knew account credentials for over 30 accounts at work, procedures and algorithms for account information for over 5,000 employees at our institution, as well as network access for them all and security protocols. In addition, knowledge of hundreds of herbs, their properties and medicinal uses, learned throughout my life, recipes for my own products, running an herb business and consulting with Drs. I also made money on the side crocheting items. The day of the attack, I lost all of that, along with ability to count correctly, or calculate or relay numbers. A large volume of information is missing - no longer available to me. My family doctor sees this profound change - my husband says my entire personality changed.
Symptoms: Pain - numbness, tingles, stings, aches, sharp, buzzing, deep/cold - all in different areas, all over my body. Headaches - weird knife like on either side at the top of my head, usually one side at a time. Pain in neck and across shoulders. Ringing and noise in ears. Strange panting breathing pattern. Difficulty swallowing, especially liquids. Urinary hesitance and incontinence. Memory problems. Calculation problems. Balance problems/falling. Weakness in legs - started in right leg, then left, now left arm. Gait issue - wide based,slow, unsteady need cane/walker/wheelchair. Muscle spasms, clonus. Trouble speaking - cannot speak when very tired - just strings of non words. Fatigue - extreme.
I had a lumbar puncture in 2012 - O-bands and high IgG. Every MRI since the first in 2000, the Radiologist notes Chiari Malformation I - but no Dr has every told me I have this.
Could this be what is really going on? My current Neuro is considering another lumbar puncture.