Hi,
Congratulations on the half marathon. That's great!
It's never fun knowing that you might be sick. MS is a very individual disease-it rarely looks the same in any individual, different symptoms, different treatments work-unfortunately we are not build like cars (on an assembly line)--then it would be easy to diagnose and treat people-one size fits all. Some people have just a mild case, then it goes away-for good...others die quickly from a very rare MS-like disease...most have good days and bad and in old age stages hobble around a bit more than non-MSers. Women seem to do better than men and have less of the progressive disability showing up.
Women are at risk for anemia, and runners doubly so (all the pounding on pavement can destroy some blood cells). Any back problems might also cause nerves to be pinched.
I wrote this for someone else:
People who suspect ms should get blood tests done. Check iron, specifically b12. Many things can mimic ms. Special diets and drugs should be looked at too. Family history of illness? Thyroid problems?? Migraine headaches?? (ms is more likely in nor. Swed or danish people, particularly scottish; if you lived with a sibling most of your life, since age 1 or 2-it dramatically decreases risk of ms-almost 90% less likely; also if you spent time outdoors or in the sun before age 20, less risk also). (both sibling and uv light give your immune system a workout, so it won't attack you)
newest mri test (highly detailed) can definitively tell if you have ms-no more guessing, so i'm told.
