Relapse?

[susanjc]

My most recent "event" has been ongoing since December. The symptoms had started to improve about 2 weeks ago and then I had some significant emotional and physical stressors over this last weekend. Now the symptoms are back. My question is, is it possible for a remission to stop right smack in the middle of the improvement and go back to the relapse?  

[supermum_ms]

Alex gave you a really good reason, it's pretty normal with out the million or so daily life distractions, which 'help' to keep the physically issues at the back of your mind, to be unconsciously giving your body more of your attention at the end of the day or when your trying to sleep. If your anxious about your health, you can unconsciously be giving your body more attention than what's normal, your anxious thoughts can hyper focus and fuel your anxiety and make things feel worse....

Spasms (sudden muscle contraction) at night are not always painful but its a very common issue in general, basically connected to what you've physically been doing during the day, in general they are caused by over use, strain, dehydration etc and stretching, massage, hot/cold should help relax the muscle and relieve some of the pain BUT if there is an underlying medical condition like MS the nerve supply to the muscles is directly effected, causing spasms, spasticity, muscle weakness etc and often requires medical intervention to reduce the negative impact.

Keep in mind that it's possible that what your experiencing is more to do with nocturnal leg cramps, and there are quite a few medical conditions that cause this see article below for insight....

http://www.mayoclinic.org/symptoms/night-leg-cramps/basics/definition/sym-20050813

CHeers.........JJ    

[HVAC]

May be you notice them more. When you are busy sometimes you overlook pain.

Alex

[susanjc]

May I ask another question? What causes the spasms to be so much worse at night?

[supermum_ms]

Hi there,

When your undiagnosed and under going testing for neurological conditions like MS, it's very easy to assume there is an MS answer for everything but it would not be in your best interest to inadvertently over look any other explanation.....

If what you have been experiencing is caused by MS, to much physical activity and or emotional distress could temporarily cause what's called a 'pseudo relapse' but pseudo's are not true relapses. In a true MS relapse, it's not possible to predict how long a relapse is going to last, and after relapsing what symptoms will remain, how much a particular symptom will improve, if a symptom will fully remit etc.

Usually if there isn't at least a 30 day stability gap between the last relapse and the return and or worsening of symptoms, it's not considered a 'new' relapse but a continuation of the last one or in other words one relapse and not two.

It might be worth considering if your mental health actually really does effect your symptoms and if you can pin point any physical actions that coincides with the return or worsening of your symptoms, seeing if there is any notable pattern eg heavy lifting, stressful day, horrible boss, lots of bending, scrubbing etc etc etc

Cheers.........JJ