Spasticity and other lovely symptoms

I've always suffered from spasticity when I've suffered a relapse, but not usually when I'm in remission. Until now. 

Spasticity

But what is spasticity? Spasticity refers to feelings of stiffness and a wide range of involuntary muscle spasms (sustained muscle contractions or sudden movements). It can vary from mild muscle stiffness, to more uncontrollable shaking and spasms. In the past, when I had a relapse, the stiffness would be extreme which would make moving my legs hard, let alone walking. I used to have to hobble about.  

Current symptoms

Recently I've noticed that I've got stiffness in my right leg in my thigh and around my knee. This is making walking difficult, which is a real pain. It's odd getting a new symptom in remission. Maybe it's just something I need to expect since I've had MS for so long.

Or maybe there's another reason. It could be because it's starting to get a bit warmer now, or maybe it's a relapse? 

What is a relapse?

The definition of a relapse on the MS Society website "a relapse is defined by 'the appearance of new symptoms, or the return of old symptoms, for a period of 24 hours or more – in the absence of a change in core body temperature or infection'". Symptoms you have experienced before, or perhaps grown used to dealing with, might appear in a different part of the body.

Now it mentions core temperature, but it certainly hasn't been hot enough for me to really suffer with the heat. I first noticed it when we were on holiday at the beginning on half term, so maybe I've just been overdoing it? 

Mystery pain

However, now I sit down to think about it, I have been suffering from a bad elbow pain over the last 6 weeks. It sounded like tennis elbow when I googled the symptoms, and I've just been waiting for it to get better, but according to another article I've just found it could actually be my MS. It's a real burning pain in the muscle around my elbow and on my arm, and it's very stiff. It's hard to straighten my arm too. I've never had it before and is persistent to say the least. 

The fact that the symptoms are all down the right side of my body, and they are new, leads me to think it may be a mild relapse but luckily I have a phone call with my consultant on Thursday anyway so I can discuss it with him and try and work out what's going on. 

In other news...

We had a great half term. We went to Whitemead Forest Park in the Forest of Dean for a couple of nights and it was loads of fun. I heartily recommend it! I even managed a day at out Birdland nearby in the Cotswolds. Nice to have some quality family time.  

Me and Lib at Birdland

The Pain

I don't often talk about the pain I feel as an MS sufferer. Not just on the blog, but to anyone.

I've been suffering with it for so long, it's just become part of me now. The awful aching, the sensitivity, the burning pain, it all just gets lumped into the wonderful MS package.

However, I actually sat down with my consultant this week, and brought it up. For years I've been experiencing intense pain if anything knocks me, or I scratch an itch, for example. The area just flares up and burns intensely and it occurs all over my body. Last night I was taking off my shoes, and my foot slipped and the shoe hit me in the ankle. I nearly hit the ceiling. It's honestly painful enough for me to have to sit bunched up for a few minutes until it subsides.

I know what you're thinking....it can't be THAT bad. Or maybe I just have a low pain threshold, but no. I know I don't. I gave birth twice with no painkillers, so no, I've always been kind of proud of my high pain threshold.

This is something different.

When I mentioned the type of pain to my consultant, he said,

'No. That's not normal with MS'.

He said it could be something called allodynia. But it's normally just in one place, not over the entire body. He seemed a bit stumped, and is writing a letter to my GP.

It's only when I started researching allodynia, that I got onto fibromyalgia.

The symptoms match to a tee...even down to it often causing IBS, which I suffer from.

Symptoms of Fibromyalgia

• Widespread pain
• Extreme sensitivity
• Stiffness
• Fatigue
• Poor sleep quality
• Cognitive problems
• Headaches
• IBS

Some symptoms overlap with MS (stiffness, fatigue, cognitive problems), but the rest is definitely what I'm experiencing on top of everything else. The poor sleep quality is especially an issue at the moment.

But what can be done?

My consultant mentioned that the drugs to take for allodynia (the same taken for fibromyalgia, namely gabapentin and pregabalin) can be addictive, not really help, make you feel sleepy, and can flare up depression.

Now, I'm not really down for that. Having to deal with the kids, means I just don't want to take anything that makes me feel groggy, and I struggle enough with depression as it is!

So I looked into other therapies for fibromyalgia

Alternative therapies

• Swimming in a heated pool
• Exercise
• Cognitive behavioural therapy
• Psychotherapy or counselling
• Relaxation techniques
• Aromatherapy
• Massage
• Acupuncture

That gives me something to be going on with. I'm trying to up my exercise at the moment anyway (though in the depressed state I'm in at the moment, that's hard to get my head around). I think relaxing as much as possible, is something to aim for, and I think I'm going to try and start counselling and chase up my CBT that was meant to begin.

Needless to say, I'm going to make an appointment with my doctor to hopefully get a diagnosis, or at least talk to them about it.

Watch this space....