I'm only 31 and I'm afraid I might lose my toes, feet and fingers. My feet look like something you would see in a movie with all the purple veins in them, they look worse everyday I wake up. I'm not in bad shape at all, I ride my bicycle to the store, I walk a lot at work and carry ladders and I'm always fixing something. I'm thinking it is Multiple Sclerosis with secondary Raynaud's disease. I'm not 100% sure that is what I have but the symptoms match up very good and my sister has a form of MS called Myotonic dystrophy. She is 41 and has been in a nursing home for about 5 years. I'm going to the neurologist on April 6th to see what more testing I need. If that is what it is then eventually I won't be able to do my job, ride my motorcycle or work on my Firebird, I will finish it even if I have to pay someone to do it! Less than 12 months until the house is paid off and I will get started on it.

http://www.webmd.com/multiple-sclerosis/guide/recognizing-multiple-sclerosis
http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/raynauds-disease/DS00433

The most common early symptoms of MS include:

* Tingling GOT IT
* Numbness GOT IT
* Loss of balance GOT IT
* Weakness in one or more limbs GOT IT
* Blurred or double vision DON'T HAVE IT

Less common symptoms of MS may include:

* Slurred speech GOT IT
* Sudden onset of paralysis DON'T HAVE IT
* Lack of coordination GOT IT
* Cognitive difficulties GOT IT


Raynaud's disease symptoms:

* Turn pale or white and then blue GOT IT
* Feel numb, cold, or painful GOT IT
* Turn red, throb, tingle, burn, or feel numb as blood flow returns to the affected areas GOT IT

Raynaud's attacks usually affect the fingers and toes. Rarely, the attacks affect the nose, ears, nipples, or lips.
Severe cases of secondary Raynaud's can cause skin sores or gangrene. "Gangrene" refers to the death or decay of body tissues. Fortunately, severe Raynaud's is rare. If you have primary or secondary Raynaud's, cold temperatures or stressful emotions can trigger “Raynaud's attacks.” During an attack, little or no blood flows to affected body parts.

Sounds like fun combined with the way my job has been going. There are a few other things going on but I'm not sure if they are even related or if I'm reading into them too much.

Sorry to hear about your situation.
I will keep you in my prayers.

As will I....sorry to hear about it...get that bird done and enjoy it!

Let us know the diagnosis, Jeremy. Take care.

Sorry, thoughts and prayers sent out.

Hang in there brother. You are way too young to have this happen. My prayers are with you.

Sorry to hear about your issues Jeremy, I can understand your concern. However, don't jump to conclusions just yet; self-diagnosis is a hazardess thing. There may be many factors that your doctor will consider in making a diagnosis. For one thing, MS is not truely a heridetary disease. I´m sorry to hear about your sister, MS is truely a terrible disease, a close friend of my wife has it as well. Thet fact that your sister has it doesn´t give a substantial bigger chance for having it though.

Do you smoke? If so, your finger & toe issues could also be caused by a condition called Buerger's disease. There are also several auto-immune disorders that could cause similar problems, or certain types of vasculitis, or diabetes, etc etc etc.

In other words; there are numerous possibilities, try not to jump to conclusions and worry a lot by making your own diagnosis. It may be all not as bad as you think. I hope it is not!

Stay well!

think positive.it is probably something that is not serious.see your doctor asap

do you smoke? my brother smoked alot and one day his toes turned black looked to me like he was going to lose them but they caught it and fixed them he quit smoking but i guess it was from the poison with smoking.
I am sorry to hear you are not feeling well and wish you good health.

I know it could be 100 different things and I'm not sure it is MS or Raynaud's, just an educated guess by process of elimination form what tests have been done. I have a few other issues that don't fall under the symptoms for either one of those diseases but I'm not sure if I'm reading into them more than I should. I have never smoked and I pretty much stopped drinking at age 26, I may have about 6 beers total a year if that. I'm physically active at work and home. I got a phone call from the neurologist office today and I'm able to move up my doctors appointment to Monday a 2pm. Hopefully this will speed up the diagnosis, as it seems that every doctors appointment is a step to another waiting period to another doctors appointment.

That's good, the sooner the better. Did you visit your GP, or is that not standard in the States?

Hope all goes well!

Have you had a MRI done? My wife had symptoms just like yours,They told her she had MS. Six months later they finely did a MRI high enough on her back and found a tumor growing in her spinal column pressing on the nerves.
She also has hardening of the arteries' witch causes lack of blood flow to the toes and fingers.

By the time they got it and did the operation she had perment nerve damage.

No MRI yet but that is what I want them to do next. And the GP was at the beginning of this process and had run all tests for what he thought it could be. I have been working with another person from this forum via PM trying to help me figure out what it is and any kind of remedy I could try. I just started taking Niacin (vitamin B3) which helps with circulation and seems to be helping some. This has been a slow progression that started back in August and got it's worst during December and January. At it's worst it would wake me up 3 to 4 times a night with my hands and arms blue and purple. I cut out all caffeine and sugar at that time which seemed to help a little but it happened. It makes it hard for me to work with my hands above my heart and depending on how high I'm using them depends on how fast they start to tingle and turn red. I lowered my handle bars a couple inches on my motorcycle which allows me to ride about 30 - 45 minutes before they start to tingle. It does it to my legs less and kind of depends on how I'm sitting, but for some reason my veins appear to be collapsing in my feet. Hopefully I can an MRI on Monday.

Best wishes to you! I know it can be scary when things like this happen to you. When I first found out about my vision loss etc. I really started to freak out, however, that only made things worse.

To tell you the truth aside from my wife and kids, having the Firebird to work on, car friends and this website have actually helped me out a lot with the physcological part of my ordeal.

Hopefully you find this site as calming as I do as I trully appreciate all the good people on here and the encouragement I get from everyone etc...

That is pretty much the only reason I brought it up. A lot of people seem to not believe what is going on because I look more physically fit than 90% of the US. I really appreciate all the support. I'm just scared of what my future may be. I know my work stress doesn't help, much like yours did when you started having problems with your vision.

Good luck Jeremy. We'll pray for you too.

So I'm guessing when they do an MRI they focus on an area or could they do a full body scan? Another way to find MS is with a spinal tap, I don't care if it hurts as long as it answer my problem.
Thought I could lighten it up a bit.

My S-I-L has MS (10 years now.) It came on after her first child in 1998, she takes her Inerferion (sp?) shots. She hasn't had any aserbations in a long time, has not slowed her down. I know it is compairing apples to oranges, but CHIN-UP and get in with a good Dr. ASAP. May be diabeaties (sp?) with other complications ...LIKE STRESS, got any of that, that can trigger alot of symptoms? GET IN WITH YOUR DOC FAST.

A full body MRI scan is possible. I don't know if the neurologist will do a full body MRI scan or not. He might. I'm glad you can get in to see the neurologist sooner. I'm hoping for the best for you.

I'm nervous about tomorrow, job interview at 10 am and doctors appointment at 2 pm. The only real physical evidence that something is wrong with me is the veins in my feet. Hopefully they will run some kind of tests tomorrow.

Yeah, talk about a double whammy of a day. Take one at a time. Just focus on the interview part for now. Then when that's done you can think about your doctor's appointment. No matter what happens with your career or health, you will find a way to deal with it. Let us know how things go tomorrow.

And I can't sleep either!

All the best today, and let us know what the doc said... Don't expect immediate answers though, they will probably need some to time to run some tests..

Yes. Keep us informed.

The doctor rushed me, talked fast, cut me off when I was talking, didn't want to see my feet and basically cared less about them. He wants me to stop taking the niacin and has a nerve test set up for me on May 14th.

I can save you the six weeks and tell you right now your nerves are a wreck... hell.. I need a valium myself just from worrying about you..

but maybe his 'lack of concern' is a good thing..

If he rushed to another MRI/CAT/PET with contrast that would be urgent. Not saying you don't need urgent information, but he's not in a mad-hair-scamble to get something! That is the hardest thing (I think) is waiting. My prayers are with you my brother!

What I'm concerned about....







It looks worse in person, I guess the camera picks up the shine on my feet and masks the veins a little. I can deal with the tingling, I can't deal with loosing toes or my feet. It continues to get worse. I took some pictures a couple weeks ago and they weren't as bad as they are now. The only thing that helps, at least with the tingling is the niacin that the neurologist wants me to stop taking to prepare for the nerve test, which is 6 weeks away! I think I will continue to take it until maybe a week or two before the test, I don't want to risk more damage.

get a second opinion... question his advice to stop taking what you felt was giving you relief.. but don't play doctor on yourself

I'm not playing doctor, just trying to save whatever I can while I play the waiting game.

Dosn't look a lot different from my feet. If your a leaner person (not fat) you will have skin closer to the veins. If you work out a lot it will push them even further out.

If you ask me, pics resemble some harmless superficial venous insufficiency, no signs of necrosis or diminished vascularisation.

But that´s just pics. Obviously you are concerned, and you are the one feeling the complaints. If you don´t feel at ease woth your present doctor, get another one, get a second opinion, that never hurts. Question is if you need a neurologist. I would try a good GP, who can help you differentiate whoch direction you need to look for a trustworthy medical specialist, and in whoch field.

Good luck. And keep the faith!

I am thin and have always been able to see my veins in my feet which all used to be a normal blue/green color, some of them have started turning purple within the last couple months, not normal especially for an active 31 year old. I'll circle the purple veins to help you see them. The camera kind of washes them out, that's the biggest problem.

I was given a job that involved using a 30' boom lift today. I tried to use it but since my balance is off I just didn't feel safe. I had to break the news to my branch manager, the terminator and basically my boss because the last one quit, that I don't feel safe on a lift anymore and had to tell him about my health problems. He acted like he cared but probably bumped me up on the layoff list.

the pictures look like simple varicose veins. They are more or less a non-issue. I have similar symptoms diagnosed at the Mayo Clinic as idiopathic peripheral neuropathy. My symptoms started 4 months after a neck injury and Drs. say it's related.

I feel for you. There are many non-narcotic meds out there to help the pain, but finding a 'CURE" may be illusive. Good luck, and God Bless.

I was going to say the same thing they look like varicose veins common for someone on their feet all of the time. Do you have allergies or a sinus infection that could be plugging your ear drums up? that will throw your balance off. How much water do you drink a day? Have you tested your house for any gas leaks?

Now I feel like I have something..... my hands ad feet are much worse. Didnt know those are conditions to be worried about!

If your hands and feet turn blue/purple and tingle waking you up several times in the middle of the night, you sway around like your on a boat when your standing, words occasionally come out of your mouth slurred and your not drunk, can't hold up something heavy like you used too without shaking from being weak, etc.... you need to go the doctor too.

Any updates? How are you doing?

Pretty much the same, except for some varicose veins that are growing in my legs which I guess are common for an active 31 year old male that is 5' 10" and weighs about 150 lbs.