Awww Erin

I'm sorry you are still struggling with the numbness. It is good to hear it's not a real relapse, but it sucks that you can get no relief.

I'm numb from head to toe and it waxes and wanes for me constantly. I try not to acknowledge it to myself (denial), in hopes it will disappear back to a minimum level.

Good luck with the dentist. I hope you are feeling like yourself again soon.

Just got back from the dentist. She said the antibiotics must be working, because she didnt see any infection, but she believes me that there was something going on in there. She could see swelling and redness, but nothing that screamed "infected!!!" in there.

She thought she figured out the source of some of my jaw/tooth pain. Two of the three teeth she fixed last week had somehow gotten stuck to each other with the composite material that she filled my teeth with.

She got them unstuck, and after that happened, some of the jaw pain went away. So, I guess those two teeth were pulling on each other, and causing some of the irritation. I can bite down normally now too. That must have been what was screwing up my bite a little bit.

I dont feel feverish today, and feel a lot better than I did the past few days. I guess it was a combination of a little fever, plus two stuck together teeth, plus the infection that was making me feel all nasty and MS-ish.

I think I'm going to have to get used to the numb foot. It's probably just another one of the weird, wacky things that MS does to a person. It's probably just gotten magnified by the low grade fever that I had all weekend from the infection.

So the numbness in your mouth (and other mouth issues) were likely due to the tooth/teeth situation?

If so, your doc is probably right because I think I recall you have had the numbness in your feet before. Numbness anywhere in the lower 40 would be "old" damage, if you have had it anywhere down yander before.

Having said that, I really don't know how they can say that it isn't an attack (only psuedo) when a person has previously been paralyzed for most of their entire body (like me). Does that mean that any new (healed and newly active) paralysis is only a pseudo exacerbation?

I think they are wrong sometimes.

Cherie

I think they're wrong sometimes too. I'm guessing the facial numbness was just from the infection in my mouth, which seems to be better now, I still have numbness there, but the area that's numb isnt as large as it was. (it had gone from the ear to my nose, and I could feel numbness on the inside of my cheek too. Now I just feel some numbness on the lower part of my jaw, and on the side of my nose.

The foot numbness is still there, but not as bad. It kind of seems that it was getting worse until sunday night, was still pretty bad on monday morning when I was at the neuro, but has been getting better since yesterday. Last night after I took the Elavil that my regular doctor gave me for insomnia, my feet started to tingle and burn. (doctor told me Elavil can also help nerve pain...not sure what to make of the tingly burning feet tho)

I do feel a lot better today than I have the entire last 5 or 6 days. I felt run down and just basically yucky since having the dental work done. My jaw still hurts some, but it doesnt have that sensation of being infected anymore.

The dentist said some of the jaw pain is from having to keep my mouth open for such a long time last week. She could tell that I had spasticity in my jaw, and said that I might have really pulled a muscle. I didnt know I had spasticity in my jaw. I guess I learned something new.

At least I feel better than I did. I guess this was a new experience for me. I've had fevers and colds since getting diagnosed with MS, but nothing had ever set off any MS symptoms like this has.

I'm just happy that I'm feeling a little better than I was. Still numb and tingly in places, but a little bit better.

I am kind of glad in a way that the neuro didnt give me any steroids. I really do not like the side effects of steroids, and I still think it's a good idea to hold off on any steroids until I have a really nasty exacerbation. I'm still not sure that this wasnt an actual exacerbation. It was/is annoying, but I can see how it's a basically harmless exacerbation...just sensory symptoms, except for the pain from the infection and jaw spasticity.

Oh, and the fever from the infection was bad, it triggered some fatigue over the weekend. I slept a lot.