Erin,

Gait (walking) problems are pretty normal with MS. The drunk walk is usually an issue with balance.

I hope you get some help from the steroids but, for me, balance has always been a problem and steroids never changed that. PT can sometimes, for some people, help with balance.

Information about gait problems:
http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo...ems/index.aspx

I hope the steroids help. I have been having a lot of balance issues and doing some falling. But it has come on over time. The last time I went to my neuro he described my ms as deteriorated and I am now doing some P.T. I just started it, so I hope it helps.

I hope you feel better soon.

I'm willing to do some PT. Did some earlier this summer for a few balance issues and to deal with my left shoulder getting really stiff after the flare I had in april and may. (everything was numb on the left side, and the shoulder was really painful. Might have been spasticity or the fact that I didnt move it much because I was so numb and sick feeling)

This is really bugging me because it feels like my body is stiff from my ribcage down to my legs and when I'm walking I'm listing to one side (doesnt matter which, I list in both directions. Just depends on what direction things want to go when I get up)

Trying to put on pants last night after I took a shower was a bit distressing. Left leg felt like I couldnt direct it towards where I wanted it to go. Ended up putting the pants on the floor, putting my foot on top of where the leg goes and then pulling everything up.

Everyone in my family seems to be having health problems right now. My sister has some sort of infection in her leg from falling off a hayrack wagon. My dad has a heart problem. My cousin just had her lower leg cut in half (just the bone) and had a bunch of ligaments and tendons repaired and then they pinned the bones back together.

and my aunt's pug, Stella, was poisoned last week. Which now confirms to me that I was right about my suspicion that TinyMonsters was murdered by the neighbor. I live across the street from my aunt. (the same people tried to kill her last dog too, and probably succeeded because her first pug, Pudge, had the exact same symptoms that Stella has had for two weeks.) My aunt saw Stella eat a hot dog that had been put on the end of her patio. She couldnt get to Stel to stop her before she ate it. When they tried to do the same thing to Pudge, she found the some of the hot dogs/other food items before she could get to them (at least the ones that were placed on her patio) I am SO angry about this right now. If I was capable of storming over to that neighbor's house (aunt's next door neighbor.) and yelling at them, I would. I hope they move away.

I saw Tiny eat something as we passed their yard the last time I took him on a walk in 2006. I couldnt stop him either. Finding this out now while I'm on steroids kind of sucks. Because it's making me really miss my stinky furball, and it's depressing me AND making me really really mad.

Right now I'm wishing that we'd never moved to this neighborhood because we have three insane neighbors and they're on either side of my aunt. They murdered TinyMonsters, and they're harassing my aunt and one of them is trying to kill Stella. Stel is such a good dog, and knowing that someone is trying to hurt her is causing me and my aunt a lot of stress. Me, because my dog has already been a victim of the serial dog killer, and my aunt because she probably lost one dog to them, and now they're trying to get her new babydog. If I was capable of taking care of Stella, I'd bring her over here and keep a good eye on her. I might still try to do that. I want my aunt to get video cameras in her yard to see if we can find out for sure who'd doing it and get proof.

I cant sleep, so I think I'll go research security cameras and see if I can find one that I can monitor over the internet from my computer. Get some for my yard too.

edit: and the day gets crummier. I had two bottles of Ativan. I had one in my room that had about 12 pills in it, and my dad had the other one that had about 7 in it. They're totally missing. We had construction workers and carpeting people in our house the last couple of months. I would not be surprised that my Ativan became a street drug during that time. And now I need it. Good thing my doctor Rx-ed something for me today. I dont know what it is, but my dad just went to pick it up. I hope it's Ativan.

If I could I would come over and do a little more than yelling at your lousy neighbors. Hurting those poor dogs. Good luck with the camera. I hope your bottom feeder neighbors move and leave you and your aunt in peace.

missing pills?! I would be ticked off! I keep my high level meds hidden and locked when I am gone, or if workers are in the house. the stuff is just way too tempting. When my son was a teenager I caught his friend stealing out of my medicine cabinet. I rigged it with marbles so when he opened the door the marbles all fell out and made a large racket. I popped the door and caught him. After that I took my meds out of public spaces and put them in private areas that can easily be locked or barricaded. Will your MD replace them?

I caught a home health aide stealing my meds once, and she tried to pin it on my house guest that I had known for 15 years! The girl had dragged me thru massive chemo treatments and was a very trusted friend. I had the home health aide arrested and removed from my property. They found my missing engagement ring in her travel bag and tons of pills from other houses.

I taught my doggie to never take any food unless it was given to her from me or the DH. We worked in the prison for many years and we were afraid that if we were out shopping or strolling someone would slip her a doggie treat. We also worried about pills since we visited many nursing homes, and rehab centers with her. it was easier to do from a puppy, but I guess you could train an adult to "leave it!" Even when we went to the bank or a toll bridge the operator would give her the treat, and she would take it and lay it down. She would wait for me to give instructions. I hope your aunt calls the cops.

You have been thru your fair share of grief lately. I hope you feel better quick.

I had taught Tiny to "wait", and to "leave it", but he was so food oriented, that if there was something so tempting to him he would go after it. If I saw something before he did and got a command out to him before he could pounce, a lot of times I could stop him. That last walk with him, he must have smelled it from far off, because he and his 90 pounds that he weighed at that time dragged me over cement and grass to get to it. I never knew what it was that he ate that day.

He went really fast whatever it was. That last walk was on a saturday night. He was sick by morning. (coughing and acting weird) I didnt realize he was sick at the time. I went out that sunday with my boyfriend. I was on the way home when my dad called and told me that Tiny was really sick. He'd laid down on the grass in the front yard and wouldnt move.

My dad called my aunt because he thought the dog had just died. My aunt came out and used her "nurse voice" (annoying loud voice she'd use to talk to patients to wake them up if they started crashing or something) She told Tiny she had a treat for him. He was so food oriented that she apparently woke him up from death's door and he dragged my dad to her house to get the treat.

I got home and spent the night sitting on the floor with him, telling him not to die. I got him to the vet that morning (a monday). Vet told me he was in critical condition and that they'd try to save him. His kidneys had shut down and he was in congestive heart failure. I still thought he would live. I didnt understand what congestive heart failure and non-functioning kidneys meant.

Tiny died about 3 or 4am the next morning. Vet said he had been in the room with him for a few minutes. Tiny looked up at him and wagged his tail for a minute. Vet left the room and came back about 10 minutes later and Tiny was gone. The vet lost 3 dogs that night. Large dogs like Tiny. He and the techs said that Tiny's death was the hardest one for them but they loved the other two dogs to death too. They'd known all three since puppyhood.

I had my first MS exacerbation about two weeks later. (right leg and thigh went numb on a warm day at the zoo) I think the stress of Tiny dying so suddenly is what made the MS go whacko. I really loved that dog. So much that the two times I've tried to get another dog the pain of missing Tiny gets really bad and I start hating the other dogs to the point that I just cant keep them. (probably a good thing that I dont have those dogs. They'd just get murdered by the wonko neighbors)

Only dog that I havent gotten that way with is my aunt's dog Stella. Probably because I dont have to take care of her, and she's cute. Stella is such a good dog, and my aunt really missed her first pug, Pudge so much. When she got Stel, it was like they were made for each other. Aunt went to pick her up, and Stel looked at her like she was saying "where have you been, I've been waiting months for you!". She got in the car with my aunt and went to sleep on the floor. Never looked back at the breeder.

Stella loves to come over and sit with us outside. She cant do that now because it's cold, but the night that she started to get sick a few weeks ago, she dragged my aunt over here at 9 at night, and was scratching at our door. So we sat and talked to my aunt while Stella walked around to each of us and calmed down. I noticed that she seemed to be in pain, my aunt took her home that night and poor Stella was so sick, for two weeks. Same symptoms Pudge had off and on for like the last year or more of her life.

I want to figure out what made Pudge so sick that my aunt had her put to sleep and what made Stella sick. (Pudge died two years to the day that Tiny did) Hopefully find out what got Tiny. If it was a heavy metal or something that had cumulative effects, I have Tiny's brush. He'd been sick off and on with stomach problems for about 6 months before he died. I brushed him out about a week before he died. I have the hair from that brush. (still in the brush) I'm tempted to take it to someone who can test it.

Stella is a pug, and with that short hair, I dont know if it stays on her long enough for a cumulative poison to accumulate. Maybe they could test her toenails if I can find someone who would do the test.

I'm so mad about what happened to these dogs that it's at least giving me something else to think about other than the stupid MS picking on me.

sorry this post ended up so long.

The steroids really felt like they were helping yesterday. Today, not as much. All tingly right now and it's irritating. Yesterday my hands were not numb for the first time in over a year. Legs were still drunk tho. Today I'm tingly and still stumbling. I'm at least sleeping some. (yay!) Dont sleep till after 6am, but at least I'm sleeping.

Think I'll go sleep some more. I wish I could figure out what the neighbors are poisoning Stella with. (the guy is a paramedic. Probably has access to lots of drugs) I want to know if I'm right about who is doing it.