This is my first question on this forum and it's on behalf of my wife.
Over the past year or so she's been having sharp, shooting pains that last for just a second or so and really hurt. They're always in her left lower jaw/chin but also, at the same time, in her left elbow. More recently the pain has changed (at times) from being a stabbing pain to a more numbing pain and it's moving more to the right lower jaw/chin.
The first thing we thought of was trigeminal neuralgia so we've asked on forums if this is a possibilty. But the responses we've had say that the jaw pain obviously could be but simultaneous elbow pain is definately not.
So now we're thinking of other possibilities and are wondering (hoping it isn't) if it could be MS.
Is this, in anyone's experience, a symptom of MS?
Many thanks for your reply
Frank
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frankaspergilus
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Suggest you check this out with an acupuncturist. What you want to know is whether the two sites are connected via one of the meridians. If so, your wife might get some relief with acupuncture. That seems like the simplest answer and the easiest to pursue.
Thanks, that's something we would never had considered but it could make some sense to ask someone who looks at the body from that point of view. And, as you say, easy to pursue..
I sincerely hope that both you and your wife are feeling as well as you possibly can be today? My wife has Primary Progressive MS but she has never said that she has experienced this type of pain before. She gets a great deal of pain that her medications are unable to control but not this.
You do not say if she already has a diagnosis of MS? If not, it would be best to consult and discuss it with your doctor or Medical Specialist, as she would need to undergo an MRI firstly to get a diagnosis.
I want to genuinely and sincerely wish you both all the very best of luck.
Sorry to hear that your wife has a lot of pain. Chronic pain is the worst and no-one should have to live with it.
Fortunately, my wife only has the pains I mentioned and she's never been diagnosed with MS. She's 63 and, like most of us, beginning to feel the ravages of time and the colder months of winter get into your bones more than they used to. We're arranging to see a neurologist and hopefully have an MRI done. We'll keep our fingers crossed that it's nothing too serious but I can't imagine what that could be at the moment. I've done a lot of searching on the net and can't find anywhere a link between the two sites of pain she's having. It's very odd.
Actually, that sensation has a name. Lhermitte's Sign. Based on what I have read about and experience I have had. When I looked down, I would feel an electric shock sensation go through my body. I wouldn't call the feeling I had "pain," per se. This is a sign of MS, and when I read about it, I knew I could possibly explain the sensation I had had off and on for years. It was then, that along with other symptoms over the years, that I thought I might have MS rather than just suspecting it. I am not diagnosing you! This has just been my experience.
I've never heard of Lhermitte’s Sign so I've just looked it up online and, although it could be a possibility, it doesn't quite fit my wife's symptoms as they are at the moment. Lhermitte’s seems to affect the neck down but not the chin. I've looked hard but can't find any reference that it can include the chin. I know that things may change in the future (hopefully not for the worse) but the elbow and chin are the only places my wife gets the pain. It's the fact that it always, and only, affects these two places that seems odd.
One thing that may be significant is the fact that since she retired she reads an awful lot so her head is in a leaning-forward position for quite a few hours a day. And she holds her books in her left hand so her left elbow is bent for a long time too. It could be posture I suppose, trapped nerves or something to do with discs. Who knows.
Lhermitte’s Sign I see can also be caused by Vit B12 deficiency which I don't think she's particularly low in but she's started taking some of my B12 tablets as from now anyway.
I assume that you have experience with MS and have symptoms of Lhermitte’s, in which case I hope you don't suffer as little as possible and that life is as well as you wish it to be. Thanks again for your help and all the best.
Just by chance, I came across this very old post of mine and saw your post from 3 months ago. I hope you see my reply.
In the end, it all came to nothing. We went to a neurologist who couldn't come up with anything. And there's been no sign of MS or anything similar since. After 5 years anything serious would have shown up by now of course.
So, we're putting it down to something like trapped nerves possibly caused by the way she sat whilst reading. It's the only thing we can think of. She seems to have arthritis in some of her joints too so that could cause occasional nerve pain along nerve pathways.
She had some dental work done not long before the symptoms and apparently nerve pain can travel around the jaw for a while after afterwards too.
Whatever it was, it hasn't happened since.
So, I hope you get this reply and that the problem dissappears for you as it did for my wife. Keeping my fingers crossed for you. I'm sure you'll be okay.
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