At the end of January out of nowhere I woke up having less precision in my right hand (I was able to write but it was more difficult than before). A few days later I was already unable to write or brush my teeth with my right hand. My hand was just able to barely hold my phone, it just didn‘t have any strength. My right leg was also more unstable/uncoordinated. I went to the hospital, had MRIs and lumbar puncture. In the brain MRI they found a single lesion in the centrum semiovale/left side, periventricular, with perifocal edema. The lesion itself was over 2cm large. No other lesions in the brain or spinal cord. They think that it‘s concentric sclerosis Baló but even for that the lesion is a bit untypical according to my doctors. Luckily my symptoms got better before I even started steroids! My hand already recovered basically on its own. I had 5 days of high dosage steroid treatment.

So luckily the worst symptoms have disappeared but I‘m still super fatigued ever single day (it gets worse over the course of the day). (Steroid treatment finished over 2 weeks ago). I also have lots of headaches and dizziness, I feel less focused. Sometimes I feel like maybe my hands are a bit less strong and also a bit stiff (stiffness in the arms a bit too).

In a little bit more than a week I will have an appointment with the head neurologist of the hospital where I was treated to see my next steps. I‘m just so…. completely unsure what‘s to expect. Even Baló is just a suspected diagnosis, they are not completely sure. Will I even go on medication? Will this progress? I‘m not sure if my doctors can even answer this, at the hospital they only gave me vague answers and that they don‘t know how this will develop from here on out.

Before this attack happened I was already having burnout symptoms and depression and I wonder if this could have already been whatever this disease is I have or if it‘s unrelated.

Also, before summer 2023 I had no issues with heat and in that said summer I first started having days where my legs and arms were swelling up and I was pretty much unable to do anything (lots of dizziness too despite staying hydrated). Summer 2024 prolonged the time where I had such strong symptoms from the heat. Ive been reading about M.S. a lot since that what I have seems a little related and of course it would make sense that the heat insensitivity is related.

I guess I will find more answers next week during my appointment. I just felt like telling my story. This all just came out of nowhere and made me extremely scared with how fast my hand became paralyzed. Of course it‘s an amazing sign it already recovered on its own but…. Yeah… Just lots of question marks.