It's not just sensory. It feels like my legs dont want to move very well. When this flare started (this is probably the same flare, same crap different day) I could tell that there was something not right in the way my right leg was moving. The lady at the PT place (I was taking my mom there for PT for a broken shoulder) watched me walk and said that it looked like I wasnt moving my right side very well.

I've been tripping a lot again this week. On the left foot and the right foot. Now both my legs feel weak if I try lifting my legs up.

I dont like the whole tripping problem. I havent fallen yet, but I came close to doing that yesterday, just as I was about to go down the stairs.

This morning, my left hand and arm also feels weird. Sausage fingers, and I keep hitting the wrong keys when I type. Taking forever to type this because I have to keep hitting the backspace and fix the errors. Hope the left arm problem is from sleeping on it....feels like I might have a problem if I want to do any knitting or crocheting later today.

update
 

Went to see the neuro today. He didnt even do a neuro exam. Just talked to me for maybe 8 minutes. Said it's still the same flare, no I cant have more steroids, good for you that you're doing PT...take more baclofen, try to sleep more. He did ask me if I wanted to try another stabby interferon drug. I'm considering it now.

I dont really feel like he did much...and now I have to pay for that visit.

I felt kind of rushed...and now I think there's a few things I didnt mention that were probably important. I guess that's what I get for going to an appointment in late afternoon on a friday.

Erin,
I was kind of thinking it was the same relapse. I find that steroids need time to work. They have a big job to do in the body. No instant fix, sorry to say my dear. I wish it were true.

I have been doing steroids, it seems, since I was first Dx'd. Oral and then in 2005 when I couldn't walk I got 10 days of 1000 mg in the hospital. That got me walking again, our of the w/c, but in baby steps. I was so proud when I could walk two steps to the kitchen chair without holding on or falling. Then in time 4 steps without smashing a wall.

I only get steroids when my mobility is affected, not for sensory or spasticity. Those can be handled by symptomatic drugs like Baclofen, Neurontin, Lyrica, etc.

As Snoopy said, some of us have that numbness, tingling, toes curling, burning, cold leg, wet clothes feelings, itching and crawling bug thingies, etc., going on all the time, or most the time. Things don't always remit either.

Give the steroids time to work, don't overdo anything, rest, do PT and make your energy last over the day, not with wasting it all in four hours. That will do you in and make the symptoms regress a day or two. You want to heal, so please take it easy.

I wish they could help you get some quality sleep. That would be restorative to your body and brain. Do you take more Baclofen at night and less in the day? It might help you sleep better. If you nap take it early in the day and not too long of a nap or your night sleep will be affected.

Be kind to yourself and rest instead of pushing yourself. The laundry can be folded later, cleaning done in increments.

I truly hope you take it easy or your symptoms could become permanent and you won't be a happy camper at all. Don't fight the steroid-effect, give them time, and work with them, to make you feel better. Okay sweetie? :hug:

My mobility was becoming affected. I didnt have the reaction time in my feet for driving, (couldnt feel the pedals AND didnt have the strength in my right foot to effectively use the brakes. Plus, I drive a stick) and I was using my mom's stair chair thingie to go up and down the stairs because I felt weak and my legs didnt seem to want to help me walk up or down the stairs.

Used the stair chair thingie to go up and down the stairs a couple of times today. Lazy. Lazy me... (my sister looks at me like she disapproves of me using the stair chair when I use it)

The neuro told me that I cant have steroids again for awhile. I had IVSM last summer in late june or early july. I had oral steroids last fall, and then I had IVSM with a prednisone taper last month. So, I've pretty much used up my allowance for steroids for the year now.

I was pretty sure this is the same flare going on. I'm just really impatient and hope that things go back to normal soon.

I'm hoping everything goes back to normal for you too Erin. Too tired to climb stairs is a sign of mobility issues and weakness.

Most times my relapses last 6 to 8 weeks. Two weeks coming on, four weeks with those nasty symptoms, and two weeks while leaving. Praying all the time for no more residual damage.

The reason it takes so long to come on, is because I am not sure how bad it is going to be, or if any new symptoms will appear. Last time was Vertigo, new for me. I had it eons ago, but a little different, this one was worse because it made me really dizzy.

So I used to try the oral steroids first, years ago. If they didn't stop it in it's tracks in about 3 to 4 weeks, it went on to become an acute relapse and IVSM was needed to kick it in the buttski.

If you have a stair lift in the house why not use it? Some people put in elevators. They are just another aid for us when we just can't make it up otherwise.

My neuro only gives me steroids with a 6 month rest in between. I am lucky, since I started on the LDN I went 18 months without steroids, or a relapse, or any MRI progression.

Here's hoping you do well once this relapse is over. :hug:

I begged my neuro today for some LDN...he called it Voodoo...I said I'd happily become a Voodoo priestess if I could at least try LDN. No go.

Tried to ask my regular doctor for LDN a couple of weeks ago. Again, bupkiss...nada...nope...aint happening. (that doctor's dad has MS, you'd think he'd read about this stuff and let me try it)

I've been trying to get back to normal as soon as some of the symptoms started to back off. I get the feeling that I need to back off a bit on going back to normal for awhile. I'm just tired of feeling sick most of the time.

I think I wont be doing huge laundry marathons again. (did pretty much all of it in one day) Then went to PT that afternoon to be tortured for an hour. Think I did too much that day.


I might ask my physical therapist if we can back off a bit on the heavy stuff they had me do the other day. I've felt wiped out ever since the laundry marathon and the PT on wednesday. (woke up yesterday feeling sick and wanting to do nothing more than go back to sleep)

I need to do that PT tho...I felt myself getting weaker during the worst part of the flare, and I think that's because of all the sitting around on my butt that I did.

Before this flare, the worst flares I've had have all been vision related. Those usually take a couple of weeks to get to their worst, they'll be pretty bad for a month or two, and then it takes at least 3 or 4 months (sometimes less) for things to get better. My optic neuritis flares always seem to recover fully...or at least near normal. I just wish the flares that make me numb would recover just as well.