How did the people here get diagnosed? I'm sixteen, so no doctors feel like listening (as if I'd make this stuff up!) I have muscle weakness that's so bad that my legs just feel tired all the time (which is very uncomfortable, and enough to make me afraid to go to sleep at night, for fear that I won't be able to move my legs in the morning). My left shoulder is almost completely numb, I can't tell imediately whether something is hot or cold-even if it's in the extremes of the temperatures, I get muscle spasms, tightness (which mostly comes from cold weather), a pain that feels like it's coming from deep within my bones. I have joint stiffness and pain if I keep them in one position for too long, I have memory problems-I literally can't remember what I have for breakfast and I have the same thing every day. I can hardly carry a conversation some days because I forget what the person was talking about-in the half of a second before I start talking! There's more, but I can't remember it right now.

I'm scared out of my mind because no one wants to listen to me and I know that something's wrong. It's not the first time that I had something wrong with me and the doctors wouldn't listen-and I turned out to be right! I haven't been wrong since I was eight (although, that time, the doctor actually listened to me the first time around).

I know that this post was a little long, but it's probab;y because I'm scared. I'm having an EMG a week from tomorrow, and I'm getting a brain MRI soon, too. But I'm scared that the tests will show something horrible (worse than MS) or nothing, which would be typical of me. Which tests were essential in your diagnoses? Which symptoms were the ones that alarmed the doctors enough to test? (I've found that, quite often, the symptoms that bother me the most aren't the ones that lead to the diagnosis because the doctors don't consider them urgent, just annoying.)

I really appreciate any help or suggestions. I'm so scared about what could happen! I thinmk I'm more scared now than I was when my mother was diagnosed with cancer (she died last April-my symptoms didn't start until June, and I don't think this is stress-related). Can anyone help me?

In my experience the main test that led to diagnosis was the MRI of the brain. My symptoms started with very strong tingling in my legs which was so irritating that it was difficult to walk. That went away after a few weeks, and then a few months later I started feeling overly sensitive to temperature on one half of my body and not the other. The tell-tale sign was the coming and going of symptoms, common in some types of MS. My doctor sent me to neurologist who tried to do a spinal tap and failed!! (She couldn't find the right spot) but based on the MRI she was pretty sure it was MS. I went to an MS specialist who told me that because I was still in the early stages of MS, a spinal tap may come out negative - even though I do have MS. My advice is, if you do need a spinal tap, ASK about the necessity, and make sure the doctor has a lot of experience! Some doctors have some kind of x-ray screen which they use to help them insert the needle properly. All the testing is unpleasant but I think the worst part is just not knowing what to expect. I was extremely claustrophobic by my first MRI so now I take valium pills from my doctor which help me stay relaxed during the MRI. I hope everything goes well for you.