I am hoping that I may get any kind of idea of possibile condtions that could cause the symptoms I am experiencing. My pcp has ordered brain MRI with and w/o contrast which I will have in few days, however I am not scheduled for f/u for 5 wks. which is a long time to wait and wonder. My whole left side of body has become numb. It feels as if anesthesia from dentist when it is just about to wear off. It has happened in past 6 months but would go away within 1-2 days. However this time I am at 6 days and counting. It usually begins in my left side of head (temple area and slightly above) and then moves down over entire left side, most noticably in head, arm, hand, and foot. It now seems that my head is becoming more numb with a feeling of slight pressure in temple area. In past week I had continuous facial twitching on left side for about 3 days which started below eye, then moved to upper eyelid, and then to eyebrow area. Twitching has lessened but still happens frequently throughout each day. Other symptoms are extreme fatigue, weakness, tire easily, and sometimes it is hard to say what I am thinking, or hard to think of word I want to say. I sometimes pause in middle of a sentence, as if my mind goes blank for few seconds (I am aware that I do this). I have had memory problems also. I often do not remember things people tell me or where I placed something. Often I start to do something and just stop because I forgot what I was about to do. (For instance -today I went to my purse to get my cell phone and as I approached table to get my purse, I had to stop and try to remember what I was coming to get in that room. It took me about 30 seconds to recollect my thoughts of what I was looking for). And then there are times when I completely forget where I put something and never remember. In addition to all this I occasionally have very painful electrical shock like feelings as if I were being electrocuted, mostly in my legs. I have been told by pcp that it could possibly be M.S. I have had all normal bloodwork along with EKG and other tests on heart and arteries in neck. I have never had high blood pressure and am healthy otherwise. I have read that these could also be symptoms of a brain tumor. Do you agree and are there other conditions that may have these symptoms? I know the MRI results will tell alot. But curiousity has gotten the best of me and I would just like to know what the POSSIBILITIES may be. Thanks so much.

Doctor Joshua’s Answer:

Hi, thank you for your question. To be honest, the worst thing that I could do now would be to start speculating on what this could possibly be. I’m happy to know that you’re getting the MRI done, which will settle this thing as far as whether there is a brain lesion that’s causing this or whether it must be something else. You should not have to wait 5 weeks to hear the results, though. Talk to your doctor about this.

To try to answer your question- without knowing your age, sex, medical history, or other such important information, and without examining you physically, and based on your description alone, I can only say that your symptoms do not immediately tell me what is causing this - certainly brain lesions such as tumor, stroke and MS are a possibility, and the MRI seems definitely warranted - but there are also any number of other things that might be causing this, and sometimes such symptoms may even exist without any underlying physical disease that could be diagnosed.

Once you get the MRI report, please write back and let us know. We will be able to help you understand it.