My symptoms started with my left leg. I was overdoing it, by cutting the grass when it was heat of the day, and my leg stopped cooperating.

Most important thing I would say is not overdoing, not overtaxing, staying out of the heat of the sun, and eating a healthy diet. I've switched up my eating habits a great deal since most of what is wrong with us has to do with what we eat. Or, at least, it doesn't help us defend ourselves.

I had also developed a bladder frequency and some pretty severe fatigue. Initial symptoms can sometimes just go away and remain dormant too. Every case is so different.

Hope you don't have MS but something that is more readily remedied. :) Stress is a huge issue with MS as well as with any other thing going on with our bodies. Try to keep your stress to a minimum if possible.

Best of luck to you.

My life has STRESS written all over it!! But I agree, stress is a huge issue that contributes to more than we give it credit for. Thanks for your reply! I'm looking for all the information I can get.

When I had my MRI I had it both with and without contrast.I think it is a good idea to have it that way.Ask your doctor about it.Are u seeinfg a neurologist or a GP.My GP missed alot of stuff.GP basically ignored ALL my symptoms for years.Cold numb feet,toes,severe headaches, weight loss, butterfly feeling under my skin, which even eventually spead to my cheek,bottom lip and chin numb.I beggged for a neurologist and 1st appt took a friend and 3 pgs of synptoms.Oh and my legs then got numb could hardly walk and left work in bk of ambulance.Let me know how your MRI goes!

I went to several doctors for different symptoms. I was so exhausted I couldn't get through the day without 5 hour energy drinks so I went to my endocrinologist b/c I don't have a thyroid. Then I use a CPAP machine so I had a sleep study to make sure my pressures were good. Then I started have the worst neck pain I could barely keep my head straight it ached constantly so I thought from all the neck surgeries I had something wrong with a nerve so I went to a spine surgeon. I saw my GP several times, I had shakes in my hands so bad I was unable to hold things and started to drop a lot of stuff. Then it happened I started to slowly lose vision in my left eye until I was blind in that eye.

I was seeing a doctor for each one of my symptoms I thought I was taking care of things never did I think I would have MS. Honestly I didn't even know anybody that had MS.

Even when I was losing my vision I went to my eye doctor and she said that because I get severe migraines that this was probably just an ocular migraine and things would return to normal in a few days. Then when my vision was completely gone a few days later I saw the macular specialist and he was the one to first mention MS actually there was 3 choices I had thyroid cancer so that could have spread to my brain, I have an existing benign tumor in my brain and that could have gotten bigger or I have MS. So I guess I got the best option out of the 3. I have to say I was relieved that I did not have cancer again.

I guess that's a weird way of looking at it but that is my story.

Good Luck it is a scary time but we are all here to listen, offer advice and we can each relate to you in our own way.

Ellen2110: I've only been seen by a GP so far. He was very attentive & detailed. I thought that my problems were related to an iron deficiency, but he called today to let me know that my iron levels are actually a bit too high so I'll have to have that rechecked in 6 weeks. So all of these symptoms that I thought could be minor problems are now actually scarier than I thought at first. :/

Keepntogether: I'm so glad you didn't have cancer! I suppose MS is the lesser of 3 evils, and while not at all a good thing, better than cancer, like you said. I'm just wondering if my symptoms are too minor for it to be MS. Is that a silly question? It doesn't seem silly when it takes me 3 hours to go to sleep because my legs WON'T stop moving. Or when my hand is tingling for the 5th hour straight and I can't shake it off. I don't know...answers would be nice.

My symptoms started with a tingling and numbness on my left side. I was tested for heart related causes first - nope - heart and circulatory system all good. Then I got clutzier and clutzier losing control over my limbs on my left side. Then the pain that wouldn't go away in my left leg and arm. 2 years several doctors, 3 MRI's and 2 neuro's later I finally had some answers and much needed relief with Gabapentin. I wish you well and hope you find answers. Breathe deep, enjoy what you can about life and try not to stress (easier said than done I know). Best wishes to you!

I started with what was first dxd as restless legs, and then double vision. Every spring I had a new symptom: dropped foot, urinary incontinence, small motor control difficulty. One neurologist actually ruled out MS because I didn't have eye pain. What a jerk.

Up to this point, no one put all my symptoms together to come up with a diagnosis. Each symptom was treated separately. And I had no idea they were related. I was 57 when I was finally dxd, but symptoms had begun six years prior.

Saw a new neurologist, he saw spinal lesions that the original radiologist and neurologist missed, and this was without contrast. Three months after I saw the new neuro, I was on Betaseron.

My first noticeable symptom was my left arm going numb and my left shoulder was in pain. I was tested for carpal tunnel first. That came back fine. I had a MRI done. After several months I was getting my feeling back in my left arm. I took a shot in my shoulder and it help. I was not going back to the doctor because I thought everything was fine. After a month or two I decided to go back. (Husband and friends would not back off) He told me that something showed up and he was going to refer me to a neuro. The one he was going to refer me to never would return a phone call. So one of my dear friend call the doctor and demanded another referral to a neuro. This neuro called me back within a day. I went and had to fill out paper work. It was asking about fatigue, bowel trouble, eye sight, headaches, numbness, joint pain, you name it. I thought this is stupid. Why am I here? I had a little numbness. I did not realize that me being tired all the time was fatigue. That me crying because I did not have the energy would be a symptom. A few more MRI's, blood work, and a spinal. I was told that I had MS.

About a year and a half ago (Jan 2011) I had mono, about a month later I started having twitching. Not just little tics where you can see the muscle move. Big ones that would make my leg jump, or if in the right place in my hand, arm ,or leg would cause it to move (ie. if my leg was bent, It would cause my leg to straighten out). It went from really just bothering me at night to doing it ALL day everyday within months. After a few months of this they started to tic so much that it was becoming painful, and the muscles were going into spasms. I went in to see my GP about it and to mention that I was still feeling really tired and off from the Mono. I showed him my right palm, as it had been twitching so much it caused a spasm and I had started visably loosing muscle in my thumb/palm. Since then it has only progressed in to a period of tingling and sometimes numbness in my hands and feet. Tremors in my hands and legs, along with extreme muscle fatigue. I am still in the process of getting a dx, as it took a while to find a neuro that took my insurance (husband is military). I have finally found one and I'm in the "lab rat" stage, where I'm giving vial after vial of blood, mri's, eeg's, emg's, ole!

I really think my first symptoms around the same time my brother and sister had mono (Epstein Barr) when I got minor hand tremors at around age 13. I thought it was weird and was self conscious about it. That is when I also started having a hard time voiding urine. That only got worse until in my late 40s, I had to cath. So I really think that I got MS at age 13. I had no stress in my life at that time so do not think that stress has anything to do with actually acquiring the disease. That is what the MS Society just came out with but they say stress can aggravate the disease.

My first real MS identifiable symptom was optic neuritis when I was 29. It went away and I had no symptoms for 16 years.

Thanks for all your replies! I do appreciate it. I go for my MRI next Monday, so maybe I'll have some answers soon!

My very first symptoms were similar to yours.......tingling and numbness in my arm/hand, twitching, weakness that caused me to drop things, and a burning sensation along the back of my arm.

I am interested to hear if your restless symptoms do yield a DX.
My daughter has the same thing and there are some schools of thought that believe that MS is genetically linked.

in 2001 before I knew what was wrong I was working as a nurse/paramedic on a local rig and we had a very sick patient. I went out to the rig to get extra supplies. I knew I needed the O2 tank, but for the life of my couldnt remember where it was, or what it was called. now I have worked on rigs for 20+ years, and 99% of all rigs are the same. the O2 is kept in the same place, but I stood there dumbfounded. I looked at my partner who saw I was struggling, and said "take that, I will get the rest" by the time I got back to the patient I remembered and felt better, but WOW! I was really scared. I called my MD and made an appointment for the next day. That night I woke with a foot drop, buzzy left foot and was off balance. I was terrified it was a brain tumor.

Long story short, it took 5 years to get a correct diagnosis and be told it was MS. From odd blood work, to red faced, to stumbly and bumbly. it came and it went and that made it look like I was making it happen or pushing it when it did happen.

Finally an MS center said You have MS no wonder all this stuff happens.