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Can Someone please define "new attack"
Hi there, I hope everybody had a Very Merry Christmas. I had a lovely but very tiring Christmas (hence my question.) Today and yesterday I have had leg weakness, just like my leg has gone too sleep, feels heavy and foot feels like it's had anesethetic in it, with this I have had painful muscle spasms in my thighs and the painless twitches in my legs. I haven't had it all day but on and off there has been something most of the day, mainly sensory stuff but the leg weakness freaks me a bit!
Now I have had all these symptoms before and to the same level ( I think) but the leg weakness seemed to last longer and hang around most of the day, where before it was pins and needles or numbness or burning etc.
I was under the belief that an attack was something that lasted for more than 24 hours in the absence of fever/illness or new symptoms or worsening of old ones... I'm confused as to how you define an attack? I seemed to be getting better with just a bit of burning and altered sensation but this leg heavy/lead feeling and weakness frightened me? But today it's not been too bad.
When you have remissions do you recover completely in the early days of the disease? Or is this just what I'm stuck with or is this a new attack?
Sorry if I have gone in circles (that's because I am confused) and everyone's symptoms seem to be so different.
Cheers,
Udkas.
Now I have had all these symptoms before and to the same level ( I think) but the leg weakness seemed to last longer and hang around most of the day, where before it was pins and needles or numbness or burning etc.
I was under the belief that an attack was something that lasted for more than 24 hours in the absence of fever/illness or new symptoms or worsening of old ones... I'm confused as to how you define an attack? I seemed to be getting better with just a bit of burning and altered sensation but this leg heavy/lead feeling and weakness frightened me? But today it's not been too bad.
When you have remissions do you recover completely in the early days of the disease? Or is this just what I'm stuck with or is this a new attack?
Sorry if I have gone in circles (that's because I am confused) and everyone's symptoms seem to be so different.
Cheers,
Udkas.
Thanks again for your input. Much appreciated. I think I get it but it's still confusing, I am feeling a bit better today so I am assuming that I just did too much over the christmas break but I am not symptom free. Then i wonder if I am just flaring old symptoms all the time from years ago. Who knows! I will check out the website Shoshin.
Happy New Year everybody.
Cheers,
Udkas!!!
Happy New Year everybody.
Cheers,
Udkas!!!
You might want to check out the website that Dr. Kantor suggested in his response to my question about relapses on the ask-the-expert forum:
http://www.*************.com/multiple-sclerosis/c/428/18973/relapse
I'm not sure it exactly answered my question, but it gives good info and might answer yours.
As far as I understand this, a relapse is new or worsening of symptoms that last a certain amount of time (24 hours, but usually longer) and can't be explained by something else (e.g., fatigue ,heat) and eventually improve at least somewhat or even go away. But I'm probably not the best person to ask as I'm still not sure I was/am having relapses.
Glad you're feeling better in any event.
sho
http://www.*************.com/multiple-sclerosis/c/428/18973/relapse
I'm not sure it exactly answered my question, but it gives good info and might answer yours.
As far as I understand this, a relapse is new or worsening of symptoms that last a certain amount of time (24 hours, but usually longer) and can't be explained by something else (e.g., fatigue ,heat) and eventually improve at least somewhat or even go away. But I'm probably not the best person to ask as I'm still not sure I was/am having relapses.
Glad you're feeling better in any event.
sho
What I believe, is that a person with MS has a limited amount of energy just due to having this dumb disease. We use up our reserves quickly, versus the "normal" population. It seems that most people overdid over the holidays.
We are busy with preparing meals, entertaining family and guests and just don't have the time to take our rest breaks. So we then have an energy deficeit per say. We continue on, until our bodies say, "enough is enough, rest time." If we ignore that, we pay. Most of the time with symptoms or an temporary increase in old symptoms.
Although Neuro's say that an attack lasts more than 24-48 hours, I go on the basis that if my symptoms persist more than a week, I am in a flair up. It's so hard to know. But the one thing that we have to remember, is that when we are having no symptoms at all, the MS is still active and doing it's damage. In between flair ups, the damage continues. The "silent" damage.
My advice is to always listen to your body. If you are tired, then you need to rest. If you are hot, you need to cool down. Knowing your own body's signals, is sometimes all we need.....to SLOW DOWN.
I did that very thing today. I went to sleep around 9 pm last night, got up at 4 am, went back to bed around 8 am this morning and just now got up at 2:30 pm. That's alot of sleep, but apparently my body needed it. I never sleep like that. With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I could feel that my body was super tired. So I just gave it the rest it was crying out for..... I am just getting over a staph infection in my left eye as well. Something like this AND the holidays was all that this old lady's body could handle and it screamed out for rest. It really is all about listening to what our bodies are telling us.
Keep a little bit of information in mind...now that I think about it....this staph infection that I have been fighting for a month now, now 95% better due to antibiotics, IS enough to put me into a full flair up a couple of weeks down the line. My immune system has been activated into high gear to fight this infection and it IS enough to activate the MS, as well. Please note that I say MAY cause a flair up. But it's something I know to watch out for in the next few weeks to come.
Hugs to you babygirl. Have a great week, everyone.....A New Year is almost upon us..
Heather
We are busy with preparing meals, entertaining family and guests and just don't have the time to take our rest breaks. So we then have an energy deficeit per say. We continue on, until our bodies say, "enough is enough, rest time." If we ignore that, we pay. Most of the time with symptoms or an temporary increase in old symptoms.
Although Neuro's say that an attack lasts more than 24-48 hours, I go on the basis that if my symptoms persist more than a week, I am in a flair up. It's so hard to know. But the one thing that we have to remember, is that when we are having no symptoms at all, the MS is still active and doing it's damage. In between flair ups, the damage continues. The "silent" damage.
My advice is to always listen to your body. If you are tired, then you need to rest. If you are hot, you need to cool down. Knowing your own body's signals, is sometimes all we need.....to SLOW DOWN.
I did that very thing today. I went to sleep around 9 pm last night, got up at 4 am, went back to bed around 8 am this morning and just now got up at 2:30 pm. That's alot of sleep, but apparently my body needed it. I never sleep like that. With all the hustle and bustle of the holidays, I could feel that my body was super tired. So I just gave it the rest it was crying out for..... I am just getting over a staph infection in my left eye as well. Something like this AND the holidays was all that this old lady's body could handle and it screamed out for rest. It really is all about listening to what our bodies are telling us.
Keep a little bit of information in mind...now that I think about it....this staph infection that I have been fighting for a month now, now 95% better due to antibiotics, IS enough to put me into a full flair up a couple of weeks down the line. My immune system has been activated into high gear to fight this infection and it IS enough to activate the MS, as well. Please note that I say MAY cause a flair up. But it's something I know to watch out for in the next few weeks to come.
Hugs to you babygirl. Have a great week, everyone.....A New Year is almost upon us..
Heather
Hi U,
Heather explained all this great.
Mokibear and I had a discussion about why when we overdo or get overtired it causes our symptoms to worsen.
I know when I get overheated it's a problem, but since overdoing at Christmas, both Moki and I both seem to be falling apart!!! hahaha
I'm sure Heather knows the reason for this since she has been dealing with MS for so many years. What say you Earth Mother?
doni
Heather explained all this great.
Mokibear and I had a discussion about why when we overdo or get overtired it causes our symptoms to worsen.
I know when I get overheated it's a problem, but since overdoing at Christmas, both Moki and I both seem to be falling apart!!! hahaha
I'm sure Heather knows the reason for this since she has been dealing with MS for so many years. What say you Earth Mother?
doni
I'm sorry I didn't answer your remission question.....it is true that very early on in the disease, you can experience a full recovery and have no symptoms at all. Many, many people never go back to their "normal" state after an attack.
Your body has a way of repairing any damaged myelin in the beginning, but this is less and less complete as the years go by. Myelin can actually be replaced by the body in the beginning, but as time goes by, it replaces the damaged area with scar tissue, this is where the name Sclerosis comes in. Meaning scarring....
Heather
Your body has a way of repairing any damaged myelin in the beginning, but this is less and less complete as the years go by. Myelin can actually be replaced by the body in the beginning, but as time goes by, it replaces the damaged area with scar tissue, this is where the name Sclerosis comes in. Meaning scarring....
Heather
This is not a true relapse or flair up. This was caused by obvious over-doing. It's a fatigue type of temporary worsening. IF these symptoms continue for more than a week and not relieved by rest, then you most probably are going into a flair up.
Even after 13 years of going through this disease, dearheart, I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what is a true relapse and what is a temporary exacerbation.
Jot down some notes about what you feel caused this increase in symptoms. If it turns out to be a true relapse, you will have a record of what may have started it. And get some rest. You have obviously over-done.
Chin up,
Heather
Even after 13 years of going through this disease, dearheart, I sometimes have a hard time figuring out what is a true relapse and what is a temporary exacerbation.
Jot down some notes about what you feel caused this increase in symptoms. If it turns out to be a true relapse, you will have a record of what may have started it. And get some rest. You have obviously over-done.
Chin up,
Heather
HEY THERE, I'M SORRY YOUR HAVING "HELL" WITH YOUR LEGS, BUT I CAN RELATE.~~~FOR QUITE AWHILE I HAVE HAD THE INFAMOUS LEG TWITCHES, AND THEY WOULD BE VERY RANDOM ( ALTHOUGH GENERALLY AFTER I GET UP IN THE AM, OR FROM A CHAIR OR WHATEVER),--IT'S LIKE DOING THE 1-2 DANCE.---AND WHEN I MENTIONED IT TO THE DOC, HE JUST PRETTY MUCH SAID, YUP--THERE REALLY IS'NT A WHOLE LOT YA CAN DO FOR IT AND UP'ED THE MUSCLE RELAXANTS I'M ON, (WHICH "SORTA" HELPS).~~ARE YOU ON ANY MUSCLE RELAXANTS NOW? AND IF SO, COULD YOU SPEAK TO YOUR DOC ABOUT PERHAPS UP-ING THEM TO SEE IF IT HELPS?~~~AS FOR THE "DURATION" OF REMISSION VS NEW ATTACKS I'M NOT SURE---HOWEVER I'M CONFIDENT SOMEONE ON HERE CAN " FILL IN THE BLANKS" FOR US.----WELL, HOPE THINGS IMPROVE FOR YOU, AND BE SURE TO KEEP US POSTED.
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