← Return to Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - please introduce yourself

Discussion
Comment receiving replies
@nightops

So on 12/5/22 I was diagnosed with MS - seems fairly mild at this point. A few years ago a firearm went off next to my head and I've had tinnitus in my left ear ever since. I saw an ENT and they said it doesn't appear to be any physical cause at this point. Back in November after initial MS was suspected I went on a 3-day SoluMedrol infusion run (1000mg daily), and now I'm on 40mg Copaxone 3x weekly. Recently I've started having minor head pressure in my temples - much like mild sinus pressure - somewhat regularly... it typically resolves within minutes without any medicine/etc. The more concerning issue is I'm now periodically getting what I believe to be ice pick headaches. It's just a brief flash of pain, roughly 2 inches above my left ear - maybe slightly forward of my ear. It happens so fast I barely feel it coming on, and it goes away within seconds. I haven't been getting the best sleep lately, and the job has been bit stressful, but I went ahead and shared with my neuro to be safe. They feel it's nothing MS-related. Just wanted to throw it out there and see if anyone else has had similar experiences, and what their response has been. I've seen a number of articles saying that MS tends to cause things like ice pick headaches (assuming that's what it is) - that sometimes it's a sign of relapse, other times it's just a combination of sleep/stress/caffeine/etc. Still very new to all this, just trying to figure out what "normal" looks like.

Jump to this post


Replies to "So on 12/5/22 I was diagnosed with MS - seems fairly mild at this point. A..."

Hello @nightops. I wanted to more quickly connect you with other members who have experience with MS, so you will notice that I have moved your post into our MS welcome discussion, which you can find here:
- Multiple Sclerosis (MS) - please introduce yourself: https://connect.mayoclinic.org/discussion/multiple-sclerosis-ms-please-introduce-yourself/

Would you say that you are taking care of yourself in terms of adequate sleep, reduced stress and caffeine levels? Stress seems to be one of the main reasons some of the members on Connect report for having ice pick headaches so thinking if there is a way for you to dramatically reduce that through self-care and good sleep, it may be worth trying for a week to see if you can gain improvements. Maybe even journal your sleep hours and stress level each day and then your pain scale to see if/how it improves?