Thursday, October 27, 2011

Some people have been wondering what my MS is like. It is a bit hard to describe because it seems like my symptoms are constantly coming or going.

I have relapsing remitting MS. I have been experiencing a flare up or a relapse since September. I have been on IV and oral steroids to try to calm the inflammation down. Hopefully soon I will be starting on Gileyna and that will lower the number of flare ups.

Since this flare up has started I have not been able to drive. My feet are numb and my legs are tingly. I have muscle weakness and spasms which make it difficult for me to stand or walk for long periods of time. The spasticity can make it difficult for me to fully extend my legs. I used to have this in my hands as well but the last course of steroids relieved that. I still have some problems with grip strength or numbness in my hands but it is no longer constant. As a result of the numbness and muscle tightness sometimes it looks like I'm drunk when I walk. I was never very coordinated before but now it looks like I belong to the ministries of silly walks when I try to walk on a line. 




I take a lot of random naps. Sadly, I don't think I have been able to stay awake for the entirety of a Packer game yet. Of course then when it is bed time I can't sleep. The steroids pretty much make it impossible to sleep without medication. Simple tasks like loading the dish washer can wipe me out.

I was mixing up my sentence order and swapping words but the last course of steroids seem to have eliminated that. My short term memory seems to have benefited as well.

It has been a long month+ since this flare up has started. It can be hard for me to remember that as bad as I feel sometimes now, that it used to me a lot worse. Things are slowly getting better. If I were to have my choice of what were to come back I would pick driving occasionally so I won't have to wait hours for a ride to the doctors. I'd also really like to be able to climb a tree stand in a month for deer hunting but that goal seems pretty far off right now.

2 comments:

  1. I love the picture of the guy running up into the air. hahaha. Sometimes these M.S. legs don't know where they're going.

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  2. Thanks for sharing the details of what the symptoms are like. This helps a lot in understanding and responding and reacting to you with more sensitivity and without feeling awkward. We're praying for you. Keep fightin'!

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