odd experience with ice

[willowwoman7]

Tonight, my hubby isn't talking to me. He's mad at me for embarassing him. It's my 25 year old daughter's birthday. I was cooking dinner for the party and I bent over (painfully) to mop up some water. My husband thought he was being funny. My shirt had pulled up above my pants, so he put a bag of frozen peaches on my back. Right where it always hurts. It felt like I was stabbed. It burned. I jumped and yelled, "Don't ever do that again. That hurt!". I can't understand why it hurt. I felt that pain where he p ut the frozen stuff for about 3 hours. Anyone have any idea about that? (I am dx'd with ms)

[Quixotic1]

It is always so good to see you!  I'm sorry that DH had his feelings hurt when he thought he was playing a harmless joke.  I hope it isn't a serious thing.

What you are describing could be a cross between a paresthesia (garbled nerve signal) and actual nerve pain.

When the sensory nerves (the ones that bring sensation information to the brain) are damaged by demyelination, they may send completely faulty signals.  Something that is cold may feel hot and vice versa.  A light touch may be felt as an intolerable burning.  There are any number of combinations where the signal may be confused.  A hand may burn, but the hand is not burned nor is it near the heat.  We may feel a rock under our foot, but there is not rack or any foregn object when we check it out.

In nerve pain we feel pain where there is no reason to feel pain.  Pain may be caused by something that is so mild, that it shouldn't be painful at all, like your ice that felt like a deep and severely painful stabbing.  The medical term for this is "allodynia -Pain from stimuli which are not normally painful. The pain may occur other than in the area stimulated. Allodynia means other pain. "

What the ice felt like to you is also something called "hyperalgesia" (hyper - too much, algesia - feeling)  When a stimulus that is normally uncomfortable - ice on the skin - is felt as an unbearable pain.

All of these can cause the pain to still be felt long after the stimulus is removed.  This is because the nerve is not functioning properly and continues to "fire" its garbled signal long after the touch or stumulation is gone.

There are Health Pages that deal with what you went through.  They are the one on "Paresthesias - Things that Go Buzz in the Night"

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple+Sclerosis/Paresthesias---Things-That-Go-BUZZ-in-the-Night/show/378?cid=36

and

"Nerve (Neuropathic) Pain - a Primer"

http://www.medhelp.org/health_pages/Multiple+Sclerosis/Nerve-Neuropathic-Pain---A-Primer/show/371?cid=36

I hope these will explain your fierce reaction to your husband.  It is important that he and you realize that your reaction was to real pain but NOT to real injury.  He surely thinks you over-reacted and may, inside, be afraid he actually injured you.  These paresthesias and allodynia feel like sever injury, but actually do no real harm.

As an overall answer, MS patients may have abnormal responses to pain in some places, the places where the sensory nerve signal have been changed by areas of demyelination.  But, other than that, they may actually have a higher ability to withstand pain, because they deal with so much.  On the other hand, those that need to use narcotic pain maeds may, indeed, have a lower threshhold for pain.  So, the best we can say is that we certainly can have "messed up" pain and sensation responses.

I hope this helps both of you understand what happened.

Quix

[willowwoman7]

bump
Do MS patients have a higher sensitivity to pain? Is that it?

[Sunnytoday]

Hi!
You know, i can't help answer your question... only lend a gentle hug and say this stuff isn't fun. I spilled macaronie, twice today. Once in the pantry all over everything and into all the shelves of food. Later, I spilled another full container all of the kitchen since my grip is bad today, it went into the entry and everywhere and then I cried.... and my poor mom didn't know what do with me!! It's hard not to react much louder or harder than we want or expect when things are unexpected, isn't it?!

I hope others will stop by and help answer your question about the pain...

Many gentle ((((hugs))))... I hope your back improves if that is able, and that your hubby is talking to you in the morning (smiles) and that you will find answers....

~Sunnytoday~