What did your initial balance problems feel like?
 

I am wondering if initially it was more of a spinny feeling and coming from your brain or an "I can't feel my feet" thing. Were you actually falling initially or just felt "off"?
I am undiagnosed and just searching for answers. My balance feels just very slightly off and it's not all the time. Sometimes it feels as if the inside of my left foot has a little less feeling in it or something. Very hard to explain.
Can you explain what your initial balance issues felt like?
Thanks!

I've had balance problems related to vertigo, the "spinny feeling" you mention. it was as if the world was spinning around every time I moved my head even a little. I had to stay motionless to make it go away. When I got up to visit the bathroom I could hardly get there, and on the way back I went unconscious and fell. Knocked out several teeth.

I was only 20 then, and the MS wasn't diagnosed until I was 39. It never entered anyone's head when I had that first vertigo spell. I had another spell of it, not nearly as bad, when I was about 33, and since then I've had it off and on but meclizine often helps, or just resting can help too.

More recently there's been a different kind of balance problem. In the last couple of years my legs haven't been doing what they should be doing when I try to walk. It's more the "I can't feel my feet" thing you mention. it's as if I'm losing control of my legs.

My idea of an answer to this is to try to walk more. I'm averaging only about 1,000 steps a day. The average person (healthy person) takes about 5,000 and ideally should take 10,000, or at least that's what I keep reading on fitness websites.

I excuse myself on the grounds that I'm doing well for somebody who's had MS for decades but my legs are telling me I can't get away with walking as little as I do.

Balance issues are hard to understand and explain. I hope you can find some answers for yours.

My balance problems go back to childhood, but I have had symptoms of MS since childhood.

I have never been able to walk a straight line and would walk into friends. I have always had a problem with tripping on things as I couldn't lift my feet properly. I was never good at gymnastics due to my poor balance.

I didn't "feel" a certain way I simply had really bad balance. And it hasn't improved over the years.

initially i felt whooshy flashes down my left leg. like electricity. then i started to have a gait problem and it was my left leg.

13 yrs later my left leg is my weak leg and i walk with a cane. interesting enuf when i shave my legs and run over a certain area of my left leg i still feel an electric like feeling.

i also can't walk looking up at the night sky or turning my head to look for traffic. i have to stop first or i get dizzy. things i've learned to work around. just the way it is.

My balance is non-existent. It slowly got worse and worse to the point it is (or isn't) at now.

My left leg is my weakest one although they're both pretty weak at this point. I cannot lift my left foot when walking.....I sort of just slide it along.

I use a rollator/walker now at all times.

Canes don't work for me anymore. I need something to physically hold onto with both hands at all times.

I have the vertigo/unbalanced feeling all the time now. Especially if I go from an inside environment to the outside. Takes me a few minutes to get my bearings. It makes me extremely dizzy.

My legs have an odd sensation after I stand up after sitting for a while. They feel like I need to stretch but once I do they feel very wobbly.

MS just sucks!

I remember how odd it was doing my preliminary evaluation at Mayo and the neuro having me stand with eyes closed or balancing on one foot.

I had equal numbness and weirdness in my legs and hands. But no problem standing and/or losing balance. I was playing tennis and running not losing balance.

Like everything in my disease, it has never been overnight, just gradual.

In conversations with doctors, I take in what is said. Five years after my initial diagnosis, I recall my neuro saying he was surprised that I was not in a wheelchair yet. Just as always, I thought it was an odd remark.

Based on subsequent consultations, I now understand why.

My balance issues are physical in nature. My right leg has atrophied, my toes are curled. My right leg is shorter than the left. My right leg is weaker than the left but both are weak. My left leg is more numb than the right but both are numb.

Using a walker has become so exhausting that I save my energy by using a wheelchair. I used to be able to hug the wall when walking, now legs are not moving well so although my brain says "walk(!)," my legs say " huh?"

It must be frustrating to be trying to find similarities in order to solve your issues.

Like snoopy, I've had balance problems since childhood.
Was Dx at 34, but have had MS symptoms since early 20s....I'm 76 and don!t walk.
Can pivot to wheelchair with difficulty n that.'s about it now! :confused:

Good luck and wishes to you!:)