What is Multiple Sclerosis MS
Multiple sclerosis (MS) is a chronic disease which affects the brain and spinal cord. MS can cause a variety of symptoms, including changes in sensation, visual problems, muscle we...
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newly (semi-?) diagnosed - need advice
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Hi - I am 34 yrs old and have had numbness in both feet and legs for 8 months. Due to MRI showing several lesions on my spine (no brain lesions) and a lumbar puncture positive for 3 oligloconal bands, I have been told I probably have MS but just to wait for a 2nd flare-up for proper diagnosis.
I am very confused because I never felt I had a flare-up. The numbness slowly came up my legs over a couple of months and now my legs are always numb 6 months later. If I had had a flare-up, shouldn't my symptoms have improved a little? Could I still be having the same flare-up over this many months? I've been to 2 very good neurologists but they never seem to give me a good answer to this. I just get the "MS is different for everyone phrase." I'm hoping some of you with experience can enlighten me on this. Starting on Avonex in about a week. Thanks so much for any help you can offer. Posted on 11/02/09, 11:11 pm |
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I had a symptom clear up in as little as 6 weeks and as long as two years. Some symptoms within the same episode. The symptoms will resolve at different times with in the same episode. When I was anxiously waiting for that 2 year symptom to resolve, I read on an MS message board someone posted that her doc considered anything lasting more than 2 years to be permanent, before that time her doc considered the symptom is still in the process of resolving.
Recovery from a relapse can be anywhere from 0-100%. So assuming it will go back to the way it was may or may not be realistic.What you will get, is unknown. Have patients. Earlier in the disease it usually is 100%, later in the disease ( its considered a twenty year disease) it is more like 0% After your relapse you will achieve a "new normal" or new baseline for you, that you will hold until the next relapse, after which you will establish a new normal(baseline) again. My doc explained it to me like this when he told me I had MS. It would be a series of baselines & every succeeding baseline would be less thas the previous one. Recovery from an attack, is not from medication. Its your own body repairing the damage MS has done. Multiple Sclerosis means Multiple Scars... You own body is putting scars on the nerves where the MS has demylenated them. Just like if you cut your hand. The cut would form a scab, then a scar. In repairing MS damage your body can form a scar anywhere from 0-100% of the nerve that has been demylenated. That is what you are waiting for....Your body to form a scar and cover as much as possible and as much as it wants too.. Give your body every thing it needs to recover. Don't push yourself, rest as as your body calls for rest, don't try to do too much and don't get too stressed. Let your body do its work. Did your doc give you any steroids? IV or Oral? That helps in reducing the time of the relapse. Not speeding up the recovery, that you need patience for..its your own body setting the time table on the recovery. Good luck. I hope this information helps you understand what you are feeling. 
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Sounds like you have MS. You're scheduled to begin treatment on an approved drug. Sounds like you're on the right path.
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