The Weird of MS

I have had parathesia in my feet and hands most of the time since my MS diagnosis.  Parathesia is a mild tingling sensation kind of like touching a low voltage electric fence, or a tuning fork after its humming.  I also have had Dysesthesia in my left foot for several years which makes my foot feel like it’s tender and sunburned.  Most of the time I didn’t notice it except in the evenings or when I’d get over tired or stressed.  A month ago it reared up in my left hand.  I get the throbbing and burning and if it is bad more of an electric buzzing.  Washing my hand hurt as well as picking up some things. Thursday I woke up and the burning and pain had spread to 90% of my body and is more intense.

Putting on clothes and shoes, carrying things in my hand, even sitting on hard certain surfaces suddenly became intense enough to bring me to tears.  Thursdays I drive my son to band so he doesn’t have to tote his trombone to school.  So I loaded myself up which brought me to tears that I quickly managed so I could be happy mommy when I picked him up.  I got him dropped off at school and he realized he forgot his book which he set down to put on shoes, so I ran back to Joes and grabbed that which put me to tears again.  I dropped off his book and headed to my office.  I knew I wasn’t staying, but had left my laptop on my desk so it could update for a couple days.  I collected what I needed and shuffled out.

Once home I Sent a note to my primary doc and waited.  I’d had a similar pain on my lower half in 2012-13 timeframe before my official MS diagnosis which she thought was shingles. (Always suspected it was my MS looking back).  She passed the buck and sent me to my neurologist who quickly confirmed my fears.  Dysesthesia!  No real treatment just Gabapenten which is a nerve blocker of sorts.  I had some from when I had shingles last spring so started taking it Thursday hoping it helped.  So far it’s taking the edge off, but little things like a hug, or putting clothes on and off, sitting all make me cringe.  I’ll still willingly take on any hugs (don’t worry if I cringe) 



I did go swim on Friday as I needed a little fresh air, and ran 4.4 miles on Saturday.  I noticed however that not only is my skin sensitive and burning, but it’s making my muscle response in my left leg feel different when I exercise for more than 20 minutes or so. It’s Almost like that leg is fatiguing faster and I have less control of it.  I'm also noticing my recognition of being cold on that side is also limited since the skin feels like it’s burning warm. Neurologic signals in my body often lie and that lying is running rampant on my left side now.

So what does that mean for the future?  I’ll keep praying each day that the symptoms subside (MS is weird like that as symptoms can rear for weeks or months and then disappear again like a sleeping dragon).  I’m increasing my gabapenten dosage per my neurologists recommendation, and I’ll start a several month round of CBD oils once my supply arrives.  I’m also planning to cut out excess sugar and the last of the processed foods o still eat between thanksgiving and Christmas to see if that helps too. Hopefully with that, regular exercise and better sleep things will calm back down.

In the meantime I’ll leave you with a nice article about Dysesthesia.  I’ll be okay either way because there are so many great reasons to keep on moving. 

Hope you all have a wonderful thanksgiving!

https://www.healthline.com/health/dysesthesia