Hi,

I was diagnosed with CP at around 2 and half years of age. I had a left Achilles lengthening around 7 and many serial casts to improve right angles in both Achilles but most often on the left. I often had one really bad flare up a year which was put down whilst under paediatric care as caused by growth spurts. The issue I am having now at 24 is that there is such a drastic difference between my good days/weeks/months and my bad days/weeks/months and flair ups vary drastically in length, severity and presentation with causes often unknown. About 3 years ago I had really bad back pain which left me pretty immobile and of work for about 2/3 months. Since having a morse supportive chair at work, recommended after an ergonomic assessment. I have not had any long periods of debilitating back pain since then. I have had on 3/4 different occasions in the last 2 years had very sudden onset of severe spasms in my legs, once in both and just in right there after. All varying in the time they've lasted, the longest being about 2 weeks, and severity. The worst was not very responsive to diazepam and although on frequent doses would ease when rested would start spasming rigidly again on movement. The only link I seem to have found with these random flair ups is that usually before they really kick in my legs just feel really heavy and hard to move. At my best most people wouldn't notice there was anything wrong really, they could pick up on a slight gait issue if they were looking for it and I can't stand/walk for too long/far and struggle with steep inclines but generally most people wouldn't notice and I live independently holding down a full time job. At my worst I have to go back and stay with my Mum because I am not able to care for myself and am of work at times for lengthy periods with mobility greatly restricted along with much greater pain levels. I have found that the flair ups just seem to be getting worse and a lot more frequent. I don't bounce back as quickly from them either, I had a random flair on 13/02/15 and although now (14/07/15) improved am still not physically back to where I was on 12/02/15. My also every day pains/sensations are worse and quite often I feel like my legs are alive with really odd sensations like every single muscle is on the go. I wake up sometimes mentally refreshed but physically exhausted. There are also many other issues, symptoms I've had etc over the years and I couldn't possibly note down everything. I've recently had a brain/spine MRI.. The brain scan showed a slight smaller posterior fossa with no crowding, subtle changes with white brain matter and something about a change of shape in the 'horns' (box shaped) not really sure what all this means and am still waiting on results of the spine MRI and am waiting to go back to the neurologists. I know those of us without the medical degrees etc should stay off google but from everything I know of CP it should be more consistent, yes a steeper decline with age but generally consistent. With my symptoms and flair ups being so variable something just doesn't seem to fit.. I've spoken with people at scope and also with people who have CP or experience of it and they seem to agree.

From doing the thing I know I shouldn't and googling I am wondering if I could perhaps have MS and would be interested in any thoughts you may have on this. I do apologise if this is not the right forum for this but am just trying to find some answers and thought it would be worth a try; with everything being so variable and flair ups out of the blue it is proving very difficult to manage and leaves me very uncertain about things like job security etc.

Thank you for your time :-)