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18903836 tn?1475454773

Can calf pain be a result of brain lesions?

Hello, I was diagnosed with MS three months ago. I have 25+ lesions on my brain, and cognitive symptoms of the disease. What is weird, though, is that for the last two weeks I have often had pain in my calves that I think might be spasticity. I also had a tingling sensation all up and down my legs the other day, but it only lasted for a few minutes. Can these things be caused by brain lesions, or is there a chance that I have spinal cord lesions that weren't caught in my MRI? I'd appreciate any thoughts on this. Thank you!
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398059 tn?1447945633
Pain resulting from MS can be extreme.
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398059 tn?1447945633
your brain runs your whole body and whole mind; so, yes.
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1 Comments
You might need muscle relaxers. I have spasticity and myclonic jerks. My muscles jerk. I only have brain lesions
Alex
987762 tn?1671273328
COMMUNITY LEADER
Hi and welcome to our little MS community,

Sorry to hear about your diagnosis, how are you?!

Keep in mind that the first year after dx is often the hardest, having to learn what MS means to you, work out your bodies strengths and limitations, when to tune in to your body and when to tune out, understand when your experiencing a pseudo and when it's another relapse, when it's MS and when it's not etc etc it can also be an emotional roller coaster so try to take a few deep breaths from time to time and remember to be kind to your self, chocolate cake is often prescribed :D

"The word “spasticity” is derived from the Greek word “spasticus,” which means “to pull or to tug.” It is defined as “disordered sensory-motor control, resulting from an upper motor neuron lesion, presenting as intermittent or sustained involuntary activation of muscles.”[1] It can range from mild muscle stiffness to severe, painful, and uncontrollable muscle spasm. It is associated with some common neurological disorders: Multiple sclerosis, stroke, cerebral palsy, spinal cord and brain injuries, and neurodegenerative diseases affecting the upper motor neuron, pyramidal and extrapyramidal pathways."
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3858699/

It might actually be either or neither, If it is 'spasticity' it can be intermittent or sustained, typically there will be other upper motor neuron lesion signs that go along with the bilateral calf spasticity but as we've learnt over the years, not everything is primarily MS....Your calf consists of two muscles, the gastronemius the outer calf muscle and the soleus, which is the inner calf muscle, spasticity can effect one or both but tight calf muscles is a very common complaint in the general neuro typical population, basically anything from deconditioning ie a sedentary lifestyle, prolonged sitting, squatting etc to being highly active  ie strenuous physical activity, workout etc, with everything else in between eg vit deficientcy, medication side effects etc etc

MS in general, more commonly causes presenting unilateral issues, if you think about how unlikely it is to have brain lesions develop at exactly the same moment, in exactly the right neural pathway in locations on both sides of the brain, it makes sense to why presenting bilateral and or symmetrical issues are not typical in MS, and why symptoms are more typically unilateral.

Potential upper motor neuron (lesion) explanations for spasticity are cortical (motor cortex), brain stem, or spinal cord.....

"- A cord lesion may also cause sphincter symptoms, a sensory level, bilateral motor signs.
- A brain stem lesion may also cause dysarthria, dysphagia, Horner's syndrome, cerebellar signs, spinothalamic sensory loss.
- A lesion of the motor cortex may be associated with frontal signs, dysphasia, hemianopia, disturbance of higher sensory function eg agnosias.

https://www.ole.bris.ac.uk/bbcswebdav/institution/Faculty%20of%20Health%20Sciences/MB%20ChB%20Medicine/Year%203%20Medicine%20and%20Surgery%20-%20Hippocrates/Neurology%20-%20Presenting%20complaints/page_29.htm

It's not that uncommon for MS spinal cord lesions to not show up on an MRI, MRI brain lesion mapping is not always possible though, your clinical abnormalities can often be more accurate than what's on your MRI's but to answer your question on whether a spinal cord lesion was missed or not, 'basically' it depends....MS spinal cord lesions can be quite small so they can be more easily missed on lower strength MRI's.

We've heard many stories of MSers who have had some abnormal clinical assessments that are strongly indicating spinal cord lesions but when their spinal MRI was run on a 1.5T MRI it didn't show up any and when re-run on a 3T (or stronger research 7T), they actually had multiple old and new cord lesions showing up, so it definitely can and does happen. It's unlikely to be a missed spinal cord lesion with 'bilateral' symptoms though, the lesion would usually need to be big enough to cut across the cord, large lesions are less likely to be missed and more likely to cause more of the associated symptoms.

Have you contacted your neuro about these new issues, or considered anything else could be the cause of intermittent tight calf muscles?

Hopefully i've not confused you with my laundry list of wandering thoughts, and something in there will help..........JJ  

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