I have become a bit of an MS geek over recent months, reading and researching, visiting MS websites, joining Facebook groups and reading blogs. A common theme amongst MSers is the need to raise awareness of the disease so I thought I’d do my bit!
MS is a strange one – common enough that most people have heard of it, amazingly diverse in its presentation and rare enough that most of us are likely to know just a few MSers and assume everyone’s experience is the same. MS is sometimes described as a “silent” disease as so many symptoms are hidden. Wheelchairs and walking sticks are visible but there’s usually much more going on that that. In addition, experience of symptoms can vary from day to day or even hour to hour. Sometimes I stand up and am unsure if my legs are going to work at all – at other times I feel almost “normal”!
MS is an autoimmune disease where the body’s own immune system mistakenly attacks a protein called myelin. Myelin provides a protective coating to the spinal cord and within the brain, so it’s always going to be a problem when it’s under attack. The symptoms experienced by individual MSers depend entirely on whereabouts in the central nervous system the autoimmune attack takes place and on the severity of the attack. Since every organ, limb, system of the body is connected to the central nervous system, it is easy to see how the range of symptoms commonly listed are possible.
Before this disease crept up on me, I assumed that MS was mainly about muscle weakness and mobility issues, but now I know it’s much more complicated than that. When messages to and from the brain are interrupted due to inflammation and damage to the myelin layer, lots of things can go wrong.
I am lucky that I haven’t experienced bladder, bowel, breathing or swallowing problems. I am also lucky that I haven’t lost my mobility and over all my symptoms aren’t bad at all. I have weird sensory symptoms in my legs, feelings of hot and cold, tingling, numbness and a bizarre sensation of having something tied around my knees! My feet and lower legs are often numb or feel cold, heavy and dead. Often my balance and coordination are poor – I wobble and can’t walk in a straight line, I fall over and bump into things. I have stiffness (spasticity) in my legs, have lost a bit of control of my left hand and fatigue gets the better of me from time to time.
I really don’t want to get any worse than I am now. I worry about having more relapses and developing more symptoms. I worry that my disease is becoming progressive rather than having periods of remission.
And I’m not supposed to worry as stress is thought to be a contributory factor in triggering the faulty autoimmune response! 🤪🤪🤪
For further information on MS symptoms click here …