What Causes Tingling Feeling In Fingers And Memory Loss When Treating MS?

Posted on Fri, 6 Mar 2015

Question: What do you recommend for a 39 yr old female with a family history (mother) of MS that is experiencing a tingling in fingers for several months and becoming forgetful.

Answered by Dr. Dr. Rovena (1 hour later)

Brief Answer:
Neurologist.

Detailed Answer:
Hello!

Welcome to Healthcare Magic.

I read carefully your query and understand your concern.

The early symptoms of MS can be really confusing.Usually they are symptoms that can be caused from other conditions or triggered by anxiety and stress.
Your symptoms of tingling in fingers and becoming forgetful might be objective and may need evaluation ,but also can be perceptions triggered by stress and by thinking of MS.
Other possible causes include Vitamin deficiency,Diabetes,Electrolyte imbalances,Carpal Tunnel Syndrome etc.
A Specialist would be the most appropriate person to evaluate your symptoms.
Since these symptoms have been there for several months ,probably your should get them checked just to be on the safe side.

I would recommend to consult a Neurologist because as I said early symptoms might be confusing and not specific.
Since there are no specific tests for MS, the diagnosis relies on ruling out other conditions that might cause similar symptoms.
The doctor will perform a physical examination and a detailed neurological examination.A detailed medical history ,detailed information about the onset of symptoms ,their characteristics.
-The specialist will decide if you need to run some investigations including:
-Blood tests,lumbar puncture to evaluate the cerebrospinal fluid.
-Imaging studies like MRI
-Evoked potential
All these test can help in diagnosis but there is no specific test for MS.
But once again ,your doctor will decide if these tests are necessary after examining you.

Hope it helps.
Let me know if you need further help.

Kind regards,
Dr.Rovena Murati

Above answer was peer-reviewed by : Dr. Chakravarthy Mazumdar