I'm apparently Flare City this year.

Ever since last April, I've been getting a new flare or an encore presentation of previous symptoms that have come and gone and come back again about every 5 to 8 weeks. Sometimes sooner, sometimes a little longer.

It's getting really really really old. I'm tired of it.

I havent been that hungry since this little flare started last week. The numbness is right above my stomach. Little worried that the numbness is going into my internal organs and that's why I'm not hungry. When I do eat, I dont feel good eating. Food just isnt any fun for me right now. The lack of hunger and the wobbly drunk walking are really worrying me now.

I've been really worried about my dad (heart condition, has a baaad cough right now but no cold. He's had the cough since early november) He's not looking all that great and I cant talk him into going to the doctor. (gets really mad at me and stomps off if I suggest it) I wonder if the stress of worrying about him is what's causing this latest flare up of the MSishness for me.

I just wish I could talk him into going to the doctor. It's driving me nuts that he wont go.

Edited to add:

My neuro just called me back. Wants to see me next week. Told him all that was going on, and he got that worried sound in his voice. So, I have an appointment. Sounds like he'll actually do a neuro check on me. (havent had a actual neuro check since january of 2010.) I hope his cold is gone by then, he sounded bad when I talked to him. I dont want his cold.

Just watch, everything that's screwing with me right now will have resolved itself by the time I see him next week.

Feel better soon, Erin..

I was hungry tonight. Parents went and got me a cheeseburger from Applebees. It helped a little bit to eat something while I was actually hungry. (they were starving and no one wanted to cook)

They also got my refills of baclofen and valium. (YAY!!!)

Tomorrow I have an eye appointment to see if I have optic neuritis going on in my right eye. I need to ask if the gigantic floater in my right eye is a cataract or something from all the 'roids I did this year. I may draw a picture of it for him. (yes, it's big enough for me to draw a picture of it...bunch of little tiny dots, like I'm looking thru a microscope in my eyeball.)

I think I just want to be able to sleep again and not be uncomfortable while doing that.

Erin, what did the Neuro and eye doctor say at your appointments? How are you feeling? Are you in a flare?

How is you Dad feeling? Is his cold gone now?

Eye doctor said that I *might* have ON, but that he didnt see anything weird in my optic nerve. (similar thing happened the first time I had ON. Changes in the optic nerve didnt show up for awhile) I had pain for a couple of weeks when I moved my eye, and a weird shimmer at the top of my vision. Now I kind of have a little bit of glittery "snow" in my vision sometimes, and some blurries, but it doesnt hurt anymore.

Went to the neuro, he didnt even do a neuro check on me. Just talked to me. Told me to go to my regular doctor and get checked out because I had a cold and The Hug + a cold was making me miserable. My back is really really stiff at about where the waistband of my jeans goes across my back, and my stomach down to a...personal area...has been numb. Neuro did say that I was in a flare, probably the same one that started in December, but said he didnt want to throw any more steroids at me. Asked me to deal with it. (oh...okay...dangit!) He told me that steroids dont always make the flare go away totally. Just lessens the symptoms some and that they can come back once the steroids wear off.

I read somewhere on the internet that being dehydrated can make some MS symptoms worse. I had a cold at the beginning of the week and was taking antihistamines (Mucinex) and was popping Baclofen and Valium like they were M&M's. I was constantly thirsty all week and was drinking pop instead of water. Couldnt seem to drink enough.

So, last night after I read that being dehydrated could make some symptoms of MS worse, I went out to the garage and dragged the case of bottled water into the house. Drank nearly 3 bottles last night before I went to bed. (surprisingly, I didnt have to go potty as much as I thought I would)

I must have been pretty dry. But, after the 2nd bottle (drank everything slowly over several hours) I actually started to feel a little better. My hands had been really numb and had this annoying tingle going on. I woke up this morning, and the tingle was gone and the numbness was better. My back still hurts and is still kind of numb, but a lot of the stiffness is MUCH better. I havent had any baclofen since about 4am. Not walking as funky as I was either.

I havent had any pop since last night. Today I only drank water, and I actually had a small amount of hot tea with dinner (went out for Chinese food) I hate tea, but I was so cold from having to put gas in my dad's car for him that I wanted the warmth.

I realized that I had a lot of edema again, kind of like I had last summer when I was taking Lyrica. I think all the sodium that's in pop and all the junky food I'd been eating recently must have got to me. I can tell that I'm still in a flare, but switching over to plain water and eating some asparagus (a very tasty natural diuretic) seems to have helped. I guess I didnt realize that you pretty much need to be hydrated enough for your nerves to work their best, and if you have nerves that arent working normally, if you're dehydrated that might make already misfiring nerves screw up more.

My cold let up, so now that I'm not taking all the cold medicine, and the spasticity seems to have calmed down I'm feeling a little better. Wish the ball of spasticity in my back would hurry up and go away, but at least that feels better now too. I was able to stand up and un-decorate my Xmas tree today. I even went to WalMart today with my parents. (had to keep sitting down. Yay for Walmart putting benches in Action Alley, that area where they put the dump tables for stuff that's on special)

My dad and I are going to go to the gym tomorrow and try to do a little recumbent bike exercising. My dad doesnt have a cold. His cough is probably from either his heart condition (I hope not!) or his asthma. My mom had a cold earlier this week for about a day. (that's just not fair. She never gets sick and when she does, she's better in about a day or two) My dad is living in fear that he's going to get the cold that my mom and I had. Hopefully he wont.

My sister was going to come over this week with my nieces. We told them that we had colds, and that my dad had a staph infection in his index finger. (that's been healed for about a week) and that was enough to keep my sister away. Good thing she didnt come over. My niece was in the ER last night getting diagnosed with walking pneumonia! (the contagious kind!) She had a 105 degree temp! My dad basically quarantined us. Told her NOT to come over till the kid is better and they're sure that no one else in their house is going to come down with it. Hopefully the rugrat wont be sick too long. I remember my sister had walking pneumonia when she was about the same age (9 or 10yrs old) and was down about two weeks.

Now I'm just hoping to get thru winter without slipping on the ice (again) I slipped a few weeks ago while putting salt on the driveway. Which may actually explain some of the back problem. Neuro told me that I could have strained/sprained something and that could exacerbate whatever is in my back that was causing me to drunk walk around Xmas. (pretty sure it was one of my spinal lesions that was mad at me)

I get to go see the regular doctor next week to get the stuff that the neuro wanted me to get checked out, and I'm planning on asking for physical therapy for the stuff from the flare I had around Xmas (drunk walking, balance issues) and for the back problem. I want them to show me the correct stretching exercises to see if I can get my back to loosen up some more. I'm going to get kvetched at by the regular doctor because the 'roids I took in December made me gain weight. My neuro already kvetched at me for that too. I figure the physical therapy might help with that along with going to the gym with my dad.

I just cant wait for winter to end and for the snow to melt. Trying to walk on ice and snow when you can barely walk normally across flat, dry carpeting really sucks. Plus it feels like MS symptoms are more annoying in the winter.

My feet have been burning for a few hours, I feel really sick, and my back at the spot where it's been numb and kind of hurting is really burning, like someone is poking me with a branding iron. Owwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!

I dont know if I'm feeling sick because I backed off on the valium and I kind of hadnt any baclofen since about this time saturday morning. Now I cant sleep.

I took half a valium just in case that was my problem. (was only taking one pill a day, for maybe a week...it was pretty much the baclofen I was popping like TicTacs)

Now I cant sleep because of the back pain. I'm tired and I've been watching the news about Egypt and I'm worried sick that the rioters are going to try to get into the museums in Cairo and start vandalizing and looting Egypt's history. (one of my favorite things to read about is Ancient Egyptian history) Looters already got into one of the museums once today, destroyed a couple of mummies and looted a small amount of items. (idiots. They should be protecting their history...which some people did. They formed a human shield around the museum and kicked the looters out)

I just had to look up to see where the Tutankhamun exhibition is. (apparently it's in New York! Maybe? Looked up the exhibit and it doesnt specifically say that Tut is there, but that there are artifacts from his tomb) I dont want to see that looted or destroyed. I want to see it some day!

I'm going to go lay down (ok, sleep sitting up) and see if my baclofen kicks in. Maybe I did too much today? (went to walmart) I hate feeling sick and watching what's going on in Egypt is freaking me out and making me feel a different kind of sick. I dont want to see things there go insane and watch them destroy all that work to preserve and learn about their history.

http://www.kingtut.org/about_the_exhibition

Erin, I hope you feel better and get some good sleep. You sure are a great typist. Wow I'm impressed.