Sensory, or a real balance issue?
 

Color me confused.

I know I've talked about this one on here before. Since my last relapse (about 2 years ago now), I have this "thing" where when I put my weight/center of balance on my left side, or I reach with my left arm to do something (such as get a plate out of the cupboard), I feel like my left leg's "buckling" under me, or folding.

This came on during relapse, and took a good 3-4 months (or possibly more) to start to fade a bit. It has never completely gone away since it came on 2 years ago.

In the last month, it's back, only this time it's much worse than before. I don't fall (thankfully!) and I can walk without any issues. The worry is that, because the feeling I get from it is so pronounced, I could 'follow through' and tumble from feeling off-balance.

It's gone from a slight buckling/folding leg sensation to now being that feeling one gets when they're almost asleep, and suddenly feel like they're falling/dropping, and they bolt up or wake up otherwise with a jolt.

What on earth is this "thing" called?! Is there a name to it? Anyone else had this wax and wane (I know others have mentioned having something similiar happen).

It's not a new symptom for me, it's just a symptom that's progressively become worse over the last month.

The first thing I would recommend is having the knee checked. Sensory problems, balance issues, weakness, spasms... Things that may have you putting a wrong step in one too many times and/or plain old wear and tear can lead to tears in the connective tissues that support the knee. Also ligaments and tendons don't have nerves so they can be torn without pain.

I have torn the ACLs and MCLs in both my knees and they do feel as though they might buckle (and well they could) frequently, but not all the time. It does come and go with stretches of time where I almost wonder if the ligaments regrew. Times where I wonder if they'll ever be able to support me again, and everything in between.

Ironically it's the left leg for me as well that seems the most inclined to buckle if I shift myself too far left. The right leg is a bit more amiable about the abuse, but it also generally doesn't give a warning feeling of about to buckle when it's had enough, it just collapses leaving me stuck on the ground till it decides it's ready to play again.

To my knowledge, no issues with the knees (seem to be fine in exams, no history of injury).

I should have added to my original post (figures I'd forget something major, dur!!) that in the last few months, something that is new with this feeling I'm having is a "rotation" feeling. Hard to explain, not vertigo, no nausea. I just feel as though my body's doing a slow rotation from left to right. Like one of those ballerinas that turns ever so slowly on a music box. I'm rotating (or so it feels) clockwise (left to right). Doesn't always happen, more so when I'm tired/lacking sleep/overworked.

MS is fun times. :p

Hmm... Well thank goodness for these boards, I never thought about that 'feeling' thing as not being normal. For me it's not so much rotating clockwise but more like I can feel the rotation of the earth, but I'm not 'dizzy' or off balance just everything, self included is slowly tilting. I almost feel like I want to tilt to compensate for it but since everything is still level what good would it do?

But that's something that's happened occasionally for as long as I can remember.... I used to think my room was haunted as a child and ghosts were picking up my bed and tilting it. Growing up with it, I've just learned to ignore it and gone on like nothing has happened even when I could swear I was standing on the wall instead of the floor.

Sheesh Laura, I've had that feeling too.:eek:

It's definitely unsettling. I can see where, if you've always had it, that it never struck you as being anything but normal.

For me it's new in the last couple of years, though with the M.S. and migraines, I've gone through a good amount of different neurological "things" over the years.

I get Alice in Wonderland syndrome migraines. Those are wild. Things appear larger/smaller than they should, and the ground feels like it's closer to my face/chin than it should be (like I've shrunk). Noticed it when I was still avidly walking every day (which I should get back into, perhaps now with the nicer weather, after we're moved into our new house, I'll get back to walking - a lot nicer neighbourhood).

Congrats on the new house :D and sorry for not having any clues as to what's going on. And at the same time thanks for pointing out that... I guess it's not normal for people to get episodes like that. 34 going on 35 and still learning new things. But it also took me 25+ years to learn that most peoples muscles don't dance constantly.

I wish my neuro could give me a list of all possible symptoms with explicit definitions, and probably a couple of weeks to try and think if I have experienced it or not. Soo tired of them getting upset with me for not telling them symptoms they notice that I think of as commonplace. It's like asking how often I blink or draw a breath in a day.

Thank you. :hug:

and symptom list, wouldn't it be nice? Though, it would probably be a volume of novels. There's so many. :\

Laura, I've had this happen many times before. I don't know if it's a weakness that is causing the muscles to tighten up, which then makes if feel like my left leg will buckle up and I won't be able to move it or if it's something else. My left leg is much weaker than my right. I have more trouble with the left in general (leg, MS hug, arms, and eye). I don't have any suggestions on how to deal with the symptom. I usually just try to shift my weight more to the center or right so I am not putting a lot of weight on the left. It's probably not the right thing to do and an OT or PT may suggest other things but I just seem to do it naturally.

Thank you tkrik, I think we both discussed this one before, though it was a long time back so I could be wrong.

Your left side as well? I've had the same as you've mentioned on my left too, almost all activity seems exclusive to my left side. The one thing I haven't had that you mention is MS hug (to my knowledge at least). My eye though... when hit with Optic Neuritis it was the left one.:hug: