Had IVSM in july, had improvements, numbness went away, vision problems cleared up for the most part...most of my complaints about MS improved.

Now, in the last week and a half, I've had my left arm go numb...blurred vision....a minor potty problem...pain in my neck (that may be related to my crappy WalMart pillows) and burning feet.

Is it normal to have most of your symptoms go away a few weeks after steroids, only to have a bunch them come blasting back a few weeks after they calmed down??

and yes I know there's nothing "normal" about MS...I'm just wondering if anyone has had that happen before...

edited to add:

forgot to mention that this morning, I woke up to a totally numb hand. Dont think it was MS related, because my hands fall asleep at night (I sleep on my side, and I'm not a small person...that's been going on since I was little, and I was a skinny little thing back then)

My hand woke up immediately after I woke up and moved it. If it were MS related, I would think the numbness wouldnt have gone away 30 seconds after I started wiggling my fingers.

I noticed that when I was washing my hair, when I lifted my left arm up, I had pain going from the shoulder to my elbow, and slightly more painful pain going from the elbow to my hand. (all along the outside of my arm...along the ulnar side of the arm.)

My fingertips are still slightly tingly. I'm really not sure if this is an MS thing, or some other thing that's got a physical cause and not a neurological cause. I'm going to call my neuro on tuesday and ask about it.

do you see a chiropractor? Mine does amazing things for me. I wake with numb fingers, or twisted feelings, and *crack* ta da!

Medicare will cover the cost of a chiropractor. it has helped me with pain control, and posture.

I dont know about IVSM, but it sounds like a massage would help as well.

That is not unusual at all, Erin. IVSM is just a temporary fix and does not alter the progression of the disease. It's the path of RRMS..

dangit. I was hoping for more than a few weeks of no numbness anywhere.

At least so far it's just the left hand...and it's not as bad as it was yesterday.

My aunt (a nurse practitioner) told me it sounded like the completely numb hand that I wake up with most mornings was similar to what happens to her sometimes. She said it was her pillows that cause it for her. When they get squooshed and lumpy, she tosses her pillows in the dryer for 20 minutes (do NOT do that with a foam pillow...I read the warning on the side of my mom's machine)

My aunt has down pillows, mine are fiberfill. I decided to try it last night. I used the dryer to fluff my pillows and when I finally got to sleep (at nearly 5am... was asleep at 4am, but my mom woke me up for some piddly thing about a light) I actually fell asleep and fell asleep a lot faster than I have been doing. I didnt lay there for hours, trying to get comfy.

And, my hand, when it did fall asleep, it wasnt such a "deep sleep" as it has been doing. Maybe a little more tingly in the fingertips when I woke up, but nothing like it has been doing. I've been getting woken up by a completely numb, cant move my hand numbness. Didnt get that this morning. Hopefully having fluffy pillows instead of lumpy pillows will help. I hope this fixes the problem. (not likely, but I can dream)

My left hand isnt quite as numb as it was yesterday after I got up and moved around this morning. I still have nerve pain running up my arm if I raise my arm above my head like you would to wash hair. (that sucks) My shoulder hurts too. But it always hurts. I can pull my shoulder out of joint and let it snap back at will (I think it slides out at night when I'm sleeping too) Been doing that since I was really little. (can do it with both shoulders) so I dont know if the hand going numb while sleeping is related to that or to the MS or a combination of the two.

I did have a disturbing sensation last night. I had just laid down, and was in the process of turning to my left side, when I had what felt like a lightning bolt going thru my right shoulder down my rib cage. OWWWWW! It almost felt like what I felt when a lightning bolt struck in front of our house when I was in our garage a few years ago. Something burned my my head and the ponytail holder I was wearing in my hair broke at the same time. Back of my head tingled at the time too like the pain in my shoulder last night. The incident with the lightning hurt more than what happened last night tho.

sounds like someone needs to save up for a new pillow, or ask santa. He will be coming to town soon.

I am glad you found a fix or partial solution for it. Sleep is so important.

I was thinking it was Lhermitte's last night, because my arm and shoulder hurt. But, this morning it doesnt hurt, even tho my fingers are still a little tingly. I dont really feel anything weird when I bend my neck forward, but if I bend my elbow at all, the tingle feels a bit more prominent.

I had Lhermitte's back when I first got diagnosed, so I know what it feels like, (oh, it really really sucked then!) and I just dont think this is it.

I'm starting to think that it's tendonitis in my elbow. I sit and knit or crochet a lot. When I do, the way I sit, my elbow stays bent a certain way, and when I sleep, it's on the left side, and usually wake up with my elbow under me. It seems like everything is centered at my elbow. I can touch the back of the elbow where the funny "bone" is, and it seems to trigger the pain in the arm that I was feeling yesterday if I press on it just right (or wrongly?)


I seemed to sleep a lot better last night with the pillows in a different (more flat) arrangement of just two pillows, instead of sleeping with a collection of four or five pillows arranged in a half circle and layered 3 pillows deep where my head lays. I still didnt fall asleep till 4am, but I actually stayed asleep the entire time and only woke up just now (9am) when our cleaning lady started banging the kitchen chairs around. I havent done that in a long while, stayed asleep for 5 hours straight. (I usually wake every hour or two) I feel like I actually got some decent sleep. Not enough, but it was a quality sleep and not the crappy sleep that I seem to have been getting lately. I dreamed!

So, now I'm wondering if the fingers being tingly is an MS thing, and the elbow hurting is tendonitis. The left hand was the one that was the most tingly/numb before I had the steroids this summer.

If it gets worse, I'll ask my doctor about it when I call him about getting a Rx for LDN next week. I think I'll assume it's a tendonitis. One of the trainers down at the gym I do my treadmilling at is a physical therapist. I think I'll ask them what exercise I can do down there that might help.