I'm in another flare. UGH! It's been six months since my last flare that landed me in the hospital. This time, I'll be doing outpatient steriods as opposed to being admitted. They debated which way to go and decided outpatient, which I am thankful for. I start tomorrow morning. So, this afternoon and evening I will be loading up on fluids and preparing for 3 days of who knows what as I don't always react well to steroids. But, I know I have to do them as I really like to walk. It's kind of important to me.

Praying for you, Tricia. I'm sorry to hear that you're in a flare. I hope the roids treat you good this time.

Ah darn it Trish. Be well soon, please.

Sorry to hear you have another flare. No other wods come to mind except "That sucks!"

I hope the round of steroids does the trick (I like walking too) and that it is smooth sailing for you!

Tkrik....

I am so sorry for what you are going through, and pray that it is short lived, and you are back to feeling okay.

Can you explain your relaspe? I have been dx for 3 years now (RRMS); it has been a steady decline for me in most all areas. I will have a few good days, but in general things just keeping getting worse. My most recent decline is that my bladder (neurogenic) is not working correctly....and now I am cathing 3-4 times a day.

BUT, when someone asks me, or I take a survey, and the question is always....How many relaspes have you had in the last year? I never know how to answer that question. I DO NOT know!

I know the textbook answer, any new or worsening symptom lasting more than 24 hours with a month between.

Does anyone know or understand what I am saying?

Well, nuts ... another case of bad things happening to such a nice person.

Please get better -- we miss your sweet spirit around here to lighten things up.

((((Tricia))))

Thanks you guys!

Infusion one is done. I now feel crappy as the IVSM usually does to me. However, while sitting in the infusion center getting my IVSM I realized how lucky I really am. I think I was the luckiest one in there. I only have MS. The other patients have things far worse such as cancer. One guy was a recent transplant recipient and was there to receive a blood transfusion and things go messed up. Another girl, I don't know what she had, look so awful, miserable, and completely unhappy. Another man was getting his 1st round of chemo. Another man, I don't know what he was getting but he didn't look so good either. I felt fortunate that I was in there getting something that was going to help me and I will go on with a "normal" life. It was very humbling. Today, MS seems like a walk in the park to me compared to the others that were there. Today, I am glad I only have MS.

Daisy - For me, a relapse happens when the symptoms become far more intense than my normal. Most of the time, I bounce back to a new normal. Sometimes I get things back right away and other times it takes me a while to get them back and other times, I don't get them back at all. I hope that makes sense. This relapse, along with my daily hug which increased in intensity, my legs were very spastic, my gait is way off, and my left arm/hand is very weak (dropping things or can't lift things including my hairbrush). This was not normal for me and I just knew it was a relapse.

Aww Trish...

Thanks for the reminder about how to turn this around and look at it with a different perspective...some of us MSers are in a bad way, but many of us are middle of the road, and the meds help us recover...

keep us up to date on how you're doing...and remember, not more than 2000mg of sodium per day for at least a week while your body has the solumedrol coursing through it...

Day two done. I had a very eventful night last night and finally called the neuro. I had lots of PVC's with some dizziness and ended up losing control of my bladder. He sent to to the ER to get further evaluated. EKG came out fine, of course I didn't have but one while I was there. Go figure. haha My blood work was off though but typical of steroids - High WBC count, High blood sugar, etc. So, I left there at 7:00 a.m., DD21 took me home to get some breakfast, and went back to the hospital for my 8:00 appt. They double checked with the dr. to make sure it was ok to continue with the steroids and he gave them the thumbs up. It's well documented that I experience PVC's and, like I mentioned, the abnormal blood work is probably from the steroids. So, I did infusion number 2.

I am still glad that I only have MS and mentioned to the nurse that I felt like the luckiest person in there yesterday. No one was in there this morning, it was just me. The nurse and I talked about the old days when I worked there. It was fun. She kept a closer eye on me and checked my vitals more frequently.

Tomorrow is the last day and I am so looking forward to it. The neuro on call mentioned that the next time I need steroids I should probably opt for Acthar (sp??) since I react so poorly to the steroids. Hopefully, there won't be a next time. That's my goal.

hi tricia,

i'm glad your roids will be over with.
i hope it's a long time, or forever, to another relapse.
i hope each day you will get stronger.

best to you...