| Larry I was watching TV and sort of getting nervous about the time it was taking to go away. By 7:00 AM my girlfriend was up for work. I told her I've got a problem, My entire right side from the back of my head all the way to my toes was almost totally numb and it had been for 4 hours now. She looked in her "home medical book" at possible causes. She told me the book says you could be having a stroke or it could be a sign of MS. I was thinking yea that book don't know squat. Or I was hoping it didn't. I promised her if it didn't go away in a couple hours I would go to the ER and get it checked. Well I was just so tired I fell back to sleep till 10:00 AM I woke up and it was still there. So I drove myself to the hospital and ended up getting admitted. The neurologist wanted an MRI done, but as you will read I have very very bad luck in general. The hospital had no one to do an MRI till first thing Monday He told me this could mean nothing and he had seen it in people with no problems, but with the numbness he would like me to come see him Thursday at his office and with that I was discharged. Thursday I drove to see him, he checked my reflex's the push pull test with the hands and feet. He told me because I still had the numbness he wanted me to get a spinal tap to test cerebral fluid to be able to rule out some things. I told him I didn't like the idea & that I never heard good things about spinal taps. He told me it is a simple procedure that he cold do in his office. I opted to get it done in the hospital with the X ray tech's. I should never have agreed to it. I was told it would feel like a bee sting and take 15 minutes and be done. Well the x ray tech missed 2 times and had to stick the needle in 3 times total , and they hit the nerves on my right side the first time, hit the nerves on the left side the second time and the nerve up my spine to my brain the third time. Now when a needle hits the nerve in your spine it is like being electrocuted internally. By 48 hours later I could not move, could not lift my head of the pillow, I felt the worst I have ever felt in my life, I started shaking uncontrollable, I'm told I was a bad pasty gray color. When my girlfriend came to force my stubborn self to go to the ER, she had to fiscally dress me. I was crying in pain and uncontrollably shaking. I 100% thought I was dying. Come to find out when you get a spinal tap the fluid in your head is low so you're brain slides back in you're skull and sits on the brain stem "where all the nerves are" and you get what is called a spinal headache. Like a migraine x 10. Keep in mind I had 3 holes in my spine leaking not just 1. So I am re admitted and get a procedure called a "blood patch" where 20cc of your own blood is drown from your arm and shot back into you're spine to replace the missing fluid and it clots being blood. This procedure was done by an anesthesiologist that normally does epidurals during woman giving birth. And the man was a pro, I felt just a pinch from the needle that's it. In minutes the headache was almost totally gone. I was eating in hours and re discharged hours after that. Feeling better but still numb and now my eyes were crossing bad. I could have had a warning about that, I was sort of mad no one gave me any warning that spinal taps cause your eyes to go crossed. My eyes were crossed for 3 weeks! Days after this horrible experience my neurologist called me in to talk, that's never a good signal. And it was not the test came back positive for MS. So he tells me its so mild a case he would not dispute me if I were not to treat it yet. WHAT!!!!!!?? I asked "well what drug would you recommend"? His response made my jaw drop. Oh my god I'm on my own with this horrifying disease! That's how it felt. I was always sort of a "tuff guy" 6 foot tall long haired mechanic that loves racing cars motto cross bikes, play heavy metal on guitar, black leather jacket jeans and work boots = rugged guy right, I just wanted to go home and cry like I found my end. With the help of my girlfriend I chose Avonex. It took over a week to get it, and in that time my symptoms got worse, my hearing got a loud ringing swooshing sound & I could not take loud sounds. My speech got sleard and the numb got more like parilised. I had to go for a week of high dose steroids. The steroids did not do much for me, but bloat me.
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