Recovering from Nerve Damage - Experiences
 

Hi All,

New to the forum :) If this is in the wrong place mods please shift it.

A bit of background first. About 6 weeks ago I woke up with tingling in the lower legs that moved that day up to my waist. I had been training HARD in the gym for beach volleyball nationals (Australian) and doing expolsiveness exercises for upper body and legs along with abdominal twisting movements. I didn't notice any immediate damage but can't rule this out.

I lost most touch sensation but kept full motor control and pain/ temp feeling. I went to a neuro and ended up having MRI of brain & spine plus lumbar puncture and blood done. All this of course was looking for MS, which was the likely DX if this is not a trauma.

Brain was completely clear :) Spine showed 2 lesions (T2 & T8) that were perfectly central, posterior and symmetrical. Really quite "pretty" according to the neuro ;) My numbness has been perfectly symmetrical the whole time too. CSF showed some mixed results and nothing conclusive. Blood was all ok. My eyes appear fine too.

Neuro has asked me to redo tests in January as results so far inconclusive :( He is moving away from MS and feeling more like a trauma has occured but I'm far from out of the woods. That result is causing me a lot of angst as you can imagine!!!

My question though is about recovering from nerve damage. After 6 weeks I have heaps of feeling back. My hamstrings are 99% now, quads are 75%. My waist and pelvis are 100% again except if I roll on my tailbone (or pass gas :o) I get a "buzz" in that region. Knees are only about 50%, shins are similar though calfs are better. Feet are nearly fine with a light tingle in toes.

When I tap my feet I get a "buzz" along the nerve up to mid quad area. Same in each leg. I also have a "hollow" feeling "buzz" in the lower chest if I tap my chest hard or walk fast. They're not there unless I deliberately invoke them.... no ongoing symptoms at all. Are these signs of repair? Or change for the worse? They've only come on in the last week or two. No other bad changes or symptoms of MS at all.

How long does repair take? Does my "buzz" sound like repair? Is a change like that normal? I sort of started to get feeling back and these "buzz" feelings are there when I tap certain spots etc.

I ended up playing nationals (badly, no court time for a month leading up) and am still going to the gym and playing indoor volleyball. Maybe I should stop for a month?

Sorry for the long post. Hope you don't fall asleep reading it :) Thanks all.

G'day and welcome.
i'm not too clever on the sensible questions, but in my experience, a buzz tended to indicate that something might be repairing. followed by pain as the area comes back.
But more recently, my buzzes have been an indication that an area is getting worse and that numbness is spreading elsewhere.
So no clear answer here.
I'd take it easy if I were you. If it is MS, so much damage is silent before the sx shows and resting and allowing the body to repair or compensate is important.
There's a few antipodeans here. We're made very welcome by the U.S crew. :) There'll be one along in a minute to help you...

Hi Mick and WELCOME to NeuroTalk!! Sorry you've been having some MS symptoms, but you're in a good place for having questions answered. You've probably read about many in "limboland" as for some, a diagnosis takes weeks -- months -- years, others get their diagnosis with the first tests. My MS has gone to the secondary progressive stage where it never improves, but when it was in the early stages, I don't recall a 'buzz' feeling when the nerves were recovering from an attack. Of course everyone seems to be different with this disease so the one thing I can suggest is that you keep a journal of your symptoms -- what, what you were doing, how long did they last, etc. This can be very helpful to your neuro when he/she's trying to make a diagnosis. Like PF suggested, it would probably be a good idea to rest those affected areas and give them a chance to heal. That might indicate the difference between a trauma and something else.

In the meantime, feel free to hang around and ask those many questions. Nice to meet you and we'll hope for a positive outcome!! :)

Hi!

Good advice from Judy. I'm still in limbo, so hang in there. I know it's tough.

Pud - never thought about that until you put it the way you did. But I did used to have tingling - mostly feet. Now they ache most all the time. Some weird sensory things too. Never put that together, like there was progression. Hmmmm. Does sound about right though, that tingling could be an in between from better to worse or back again.


Thanks for that.

Mick - sorry you're losing your doc, and hope you find another you like soon. I am glad the sx are getting better, and hope they keep doing so. Jan seems a far way, but it's not, really. Track your sx and write questions for the doc, meanwile. Keep us posted.

Hi again Mick..:)

To me, recovering from nerve damage means that, my nerves are healing and are re-mylinating, which does happen with some types of MS (and other diseases). If you do have MS, though, chances are you will have more attacks and more de-mylination.

You may go into a long remission, though....I did, for 17 yrs, before having another attack.

Try to stay cool and as stress free as possible...go with the healing flow and cross the other bridges when or if they happen.:hug:

Everyone is so different. Your story and symptoms are way different from mine. Look at your own stuff and talk to a MS neuro. Reading caused me much fear but some what I read never happened, stuff I never read did. MS sucks, that I know for sure. Welcome!! But sorry you're here.

Hi Mick,
I'm from Oz as well and have been lurking in here for a few months.
I'm sorry I can't help you with your question, but can only offer some sort of empathy.
It's an awful place to be in - limboland - and I hope you find some answers sooner rather than later.
As people in here have told me, a lot of diseases can mimic MS, so it's a process of elimination in diagnosing it/ruling it out.

Your body is telling you something's not right, so if you can, ease up on the training perhaps?
I wish you all the best.

Thanks for the warm welcome guys :cool:and the advice :winky:

I'll leave it a while longer and see what, if any, changes come about. Wierdest thing is that if I play sport/ train hard in the gym the symptoms actually disappear for an hour or so. Getting hot and bothered offers me complete relief temporarily..... sitting still makes me more sensitive to it :rolleyes:

Nerves are crazy things :D

Hi Mick,

Basically that was a Transverse Myelitis attack, which can be caused by MS, or any number of reasons (including idiopathic).

http://www.ninds.nih.gov/disorders/t...s.htm#41903234

That was how my first attack went too, only it went as high as my chest, and was very severe. (There are different severities, depending on the amount of inflammation that goes on at the time, and how much of the spinal cord gets in on the "party").

My second attack like that wasn't for 12 yrs, and it was at that point that I allowed them to do a MRI. This time the complete numbness went to almost my neck, and included my hands, top of my head, ears, etc.

The escalation (changes/increase in symptoms) will generally last about 4 - 6 weeks, then we go through a recovery phase for the next 4 - 6 weeks. You can continue to improve after that (for up to two years, actually), but that was when the BULK of my recovery happened.

Ultimately, you may be left with some amount of permanent damage. The only symptom I had 18 months after the first attack, was numbness when I walked any distance, and less endurance for leg exercises. The second time I wasn't quite as luck though ....

I don't think the buzzing indicates that you are healing, per se'. The buzzing can actually be something that comes early on in one of these attacks (it did for me) and we can be permanently left with, like any of the symptoms .... BUT you have not fully healed, so I wouldn't worry about that yet.

Cherie

While this is not the norm for others, it is for you so go with it.

There is no normal, keep that in mind.

I do not do well with physical activity, especially where lifting is involved. But most of my symptoms do better when I'm warm - which is oposite of how most people are.

We all have our own new norms, and they change all the time. The change thingy is the hard part, I think.

:o