[Kitty]

Can you remember the last time you were sx free?

I'm not talking about exacerbations......but just the sx that seem to be a constant reminder that MS is always there.

I always have the off-balance feeling. My right hand/arm is always numb. I cannot run anymore. These things are constant.

I've had a bout of optic neuritis but it cleared up by itself in about 4 weeks. I didn't do IVSM. Once my left eye cleared up my right eye had to get in on the action. It's been a couple of weeks and it's slowly getting better. I'm just thankful they both didn't decide to pull this stunt together! That would be awful! I also have drop foot in my right foot but not all the time.....just occasionally.

I'm just wondering what sx you have all the time. and what sx come and go.

[AfterMyNap]

Oh, let's see.

Last feeling of being symptom free would have been some time in the mid '80s.

Constant, unrelenting symptoms would be
total loss of balance & coordination
chronic, severe fatigue
left leg/foot is numb and basically dead weight (profound foot drop)
left hand is numb and uncontrollable
over all weakness
confusion with, and difficulty pronouncing, ordinary words
incontinence in both leagues
wicked, painful spasticity that courses through the whole body
burning, twisting spinal pain
random visual weirdness
sporadic memory
medicated now, but radical unwarranted mood swings
the occasional prickle pain
extreme sensitivity to outlying temperatures at both ends
very discomforting sense of cold in ankles/feet
memory loss
phantom itching

I can't think of any more right now.

[Kitty]

Cindy, I forgot the phantom itching. I get that, too, sometimes. It can be maddening.

I wasn't sure what to attribute the overall weakness to. Lack of exercise, muscle atrophy? Laziness? I do have weakness, though. It slaps me in the face whenever I try to push beyond my usual activity level.

[karousel]

I was sx free when I was pregnant and it was wonderful. As my pregnant progressed my sx's started to disappear. After having my little bundle of joy my sx's slowly came back.

[Catch]

I had sx-free days last year. A couple of months, actually, after I finished a 6 month course of steroids. The sx came back though, and some never really subsided during the steroids, like the pain in my palms.

Let's see, constant sx? That's changed. Last year I'd say it was weakness in my legs nearly daily. This year though, it's all about pain.

Nerve pain in my hands, wrists, fingers
TN-type pain on the right side of my head
Muscle spasms starting with my neck and throat muscles, and stopping at my knees. Though the spasms have not affected my arms - yet.
The hug
Memory issues
Tremors

When my H asks how I feel in the morning, I tell him I'll let him know just as soon as I am awake enough for my body to start rejecting me.

MS - Everyday is a new adventure!

[barb02]

NO! I had my first recognizable flare late in March 2007, and have had continuous symptoms. A few come and go (vertigo, itching,) but the majority have not really improved. I sometimes wonder if I am not in RR stage, but it doesn't really make much of a difference since I cannot tolerate any of the CRAB's or tysabri.

[SallyC]

I was pretty much sx free in the 80s, but since 1992, I have constant sx. Some days worse than others, depending on the weather or my state of general health, at the time.

I have a general numbness, tingly feeling all the time, now, but LDN has greatly minimized that.

When I have a cold or am stressed or the weather is humid and/or rainy, it's almost like having a flare, but it goes away when the situation changes for the better.

Inflamation/infection of any kind is our enemy. Sometimes, if I take a couple of Asprin, I improve....get it - anti inflamitory?

[PolarExpress]

Well, since one of my big sx's is loss of memory, guess I'd have to say "no"..Though that's just a guess . Tysabri helped so much with pain issues and the numbness in my right hand and foot disappeared, but since I lost my insurance & still have a month or so to go before I qualify for anything else, it's slowly creeping back...

[SallyC]

I'm sorry Po, that stinks!!!

Call the Prez..

[SandyC]

There's a symptom free period? No seriously, Jim's never been symptom free unless you count the year or so before dx when he blamed the symptoms on something else like a hangover, working out too much, etc.. He was in the Army so it was easy to pass it off as something else. His first real symptom was drop foot and blurred vision that blinded him for half a day but thank God it came back. Every since then it's been a constant run of symptoms. He was dx'd in 1988.