AAargh!

I hate it, beautiful. What you're experiencing sounds like my my 1st full blown attack/ exacerbation. Yes, it even got into my mouth as well and made me sound as if I had been drinking/ slurred speech.

Has what you're dealing with now happened before? Anything different in your routine? ***diet, meds, sleep patterns, etc.?

Other than that, quiz your doc and I hope this passes quickly.

called, no one has called back, and it's past the time the neuro usually would call back. ~sigh~

I havent been hungry. But, if I eat something I have no problem eating it...kind of like my stomach doesnt realize that it's hungry until food hits it.

The not being hungry part is a bit disturbing, but if I dont eat, I dont think I'll start starving for at least 50 or 60 pounds. (I'm in the 250, 260 range for weight, so I'm really not bothered about not being hungry if it means that some weight will get lost, hopefully the flare will go away and I'll be able to go back to normal tho and actually work out some to keep the weight down)

I havent been sleeping well lately. I'm uncomfortable with the numbness and the spasticity is just annoying enough to keep me from sleeping. I didnt sleep till about 6am this morning, and got up around 130pm. The spasticity isnt painful (yet) but it's uncomfortable enough to keep me from being able to relax to sleep. I havent found the magic combination of baclofen and valium to calm the spasticity down yet. (I never did find the magic combination back in May either...I just threw baclofen at it until I could sleep)

I dont like the stoned feeling I get from the baclofen and valium. I dont know why people take valium for the fun of it. Makes me feel icky.

It's 70 degrees in my room. I'm cold but still feel hot (no fever tho, thermometer claims I'm "normal")

I noticed eating earlier that some of the numbness in my face feels like it's going over to the other side where it wasnt before.

It's just really disturbing to feel like crap, have funky sensations and weird stuff going on. I just want to feel normal again for awhile. (by "awhile", I mean for 3 or 4 decades)

I feel kind of weak, but that might be from not feeling hungry. The weakness is bugging me because when I go to take a shower I feel shaky. My bathroom is supposed to get remodeled soon, but they're not moving as quickly as I want them to. (taking out the fiberglass insert, putting in tiles and a ton of grab bars...at least 3 in the shower and two just outside of the shower...I want something to hold onto that wont snap off the wall or the shower door if gravity suddenly sucks me to the floor) I'm kind of scared to take a shower because it's a cramped shower space with that stupid fiberglass seat taking up all the space in the corner. Not having a grab bar or three to hold onto while I'm washing my hair makes me a little nervous to take a shower. I went about 5 days this week without taking a shower because of that.

I dont want to use my parents shower because it wasnt built to code (getting irritated at people/contractors who seem to like to screw my dad out of money) His shower is getting redone at the same time mine is done and I'm the one who found the contractors this time. (I got references and a decorator and I'm asking to see the permits and I'll be watching them build it so I know what's being put in. I have a basic working knowledge of how things are supposed to be done now)

I'm just really tired, frustrated and really uncomfortable from all the MS crap that's going on. At least, so far, it's not as painful as it was in May when this flare started and I had the giant, invisible python around my waist. (knock on wood that the giant, invisible python doesnt come back for a visit)

I just want this stupid flare to quit and go away so that I can hopefully go back to what passed for normal before. Plus I want to be able to watch the contractors do our remodels. (taking in-progress pictures if I'm able to so that I can how things are done, and if in the future we have to fix anything I can look at the pictures and see what was used in the remodel)

hopefully the neuro will call me back in the morning and either reassure me that the MS isnt about to beat me up or he'll offer me a $5 bottle of oral steroids to throw at the flare. (probably wont. I had IVSM last summer, oral 'roids last october, and IVSM AND oral 'roids in May of this year...think that's the limit of what he'll give me in a years time)

The MS is just really peeving me off.

1st off please be careful in bathroom. Playground type rubber mats would be a good thing and wish my friend would've thought of it last year. rip.

I went to the hospital last year because my neuro wouldnt work with me. They gave me shot of medrol in my arm and sent me on my way after 4 hrs so I wont suggest that. I did learn however if I ever need to go there again im calling ambulance to avoid the waiting room and get promt attention.

Not eating may not be a good thing. Eat something small at least, healthy.
Please get this taken care of tomorrow the latest.

As an ex paramedic I can tell you that arriving in an ambulance does NOT garuntee you a spot in the back right away. i have seen many evaluated, and then plopped in a wheel chair, and wheeled to the waiting area. Most screaming "but I came by amubulance!" while the nurse cried "that doesnt mean you are going first." I thought the triage nurse was a nasty peice of work at that ER, but she got the job done. then you are stuck with no ride home. PLEASE call an ambulance if you need one, but dont be surprised if nurse nasty pulls you off the stretcher and sends you to the waiting area with the unwashed masses. A couple of simple words will get you to the head of the line. "Chest pain" or if you are vomiting all over the waiting area, making the rest of the crowd uncomfortable. They will beg her to take you next.

I hope you feel better Erin. This stinks!

Boy i'm batting 1000 lately. You're right Dej. Good luck today Erin.

Hope you feel better, Erin. I understand what you're going through. I've had a really rough summer too. I hope you heard from your neuro today.
I know the stress of the shower remodeling isn't helping you any. I really wish for you it was completed properly already. I went through all that when I had my addition put on 2 years ago and the contractors said they were up on installing ADA compatiable bathrooms and had done it before yet wanted to put my showerhead on the side wall instead of the normal place you install them. I guess they wanted to do it that way because it would be easier to connect to the plumbing. It was such a long, stressful time. Five months of it.

My parents "handicap" shower is anything but a handicap shower.

It has a step-up to get in and out of the shower! about 3 inches high!

Handicap showers arent supposed to have a step-up.

The drain is in the wrong spot. (there used to be a bathtub there, they didnt move the drain to the center like they were supposed to...so it's not to code)

The walls of their shower are made of marlite. (supposed to look like marble, but is like plastic walls or something) When they put the marlite up, they were supposed to have durock (concrete board) behind the marlite. Concrete board isnt supposed to grow mold or mildew. They didnt put any durock behind the marlite. It's open to the studs behind the marlite.

Oh, and the marlite isnt even attached to the walls with any adhesive. The contractors who built that shower 5yrs ago just attached the marlite to the studs using the grab bars they put in my mom's shower. I dont think they used any water proofing underneath the tiled floor since the dark moldy stuff seems to be coming thru the floor. So far it's just under the tile and not on top of the tile. It's discoloring the floor of the shower.

Our new contractors are much better. I got references and I've seen some of their previous work in other houses. The designer/decorator I hired is the same woman who decorated our house when it was built. (we bought the house as a spec home...it was already built and decorated when we first saw it, just needs some serious updating now after 8yrs and 5 of those years we had a rather large black dog that did a number on the paint job and the carpeting in the house.

Neuro still hasnt called me (calling back in a few minutes) but I feel a teeny bit better than I did when I started the thread. I've still got all the problems I was having, and now I feel like I'm limping on the right side. (hip is really numb, and standing is painful now) but I dont feel quite as physically sick as I felt a couple of days ago.

Still have a ton of fatigue tho. Had to move stuff around in the family room last night (putting stuff away in the storeroom that needs to be off the floor for all the remodeling) and it took me forever to do that because I had to push or drag it along, and had to keep sitting down to rest. I need to go grocery shopping, but I think I'm just giving my dad a list and sending him to do it for me because I dont think I could make it thru the store.

I froze my gym membership for 6 months today. Havent used it since March or April. Need to save the money since I'm not using it right now.

I just want this flare to end so that I can go back to what was normal. Starting to think I'll be stuck with these crappy symptoms and with the walking funny stuff.