This Is MS Multiple Sclerosis Community: Knowledge & Support

[Wonderfulworld]

Hi
I'm just wondering if we could all put our heads together to discuss the pre-relapse period....
I've noticed that I have a short phase, just before a relapse, when signs and symptoms happen. I am curious to know if others have a set pattern of these too? Perhaps we might come up with some ideas or suggestions.

I tend to get these things before a relapse (up to 4 wks before):

Increased bruising (typically small 1/2 inch round bruises on legs/arms)
Numbness at night (scalp, arms, neck) that goes once I move
Spot in right eye vision that can be clear or coloured
Greater intolerance to even a small drink of alcohol
Small amount of weight loss despite eating normally

I have had these symptoms now for the last week. I have been taking aspirin at night this time, just as an experiment for myself. On the nights I've taken 2 aspirin the numbness seems to be less, or not present at all.
Going to continue with the 2 aspirin a night for a while. If I've not had a relapse by Xmas then that will be significant. Usually all these symptoms are a sure sign of a build up to a major relapse with me.

[Lyon]

oo

[patientx]

Wonderfulworld:

Could you describe what happens when you do have a relapse? I'm pretty new to this, and I also haven't figured out what relapses are. I've had transient symptoms like you describe (tingling, numbness), but these seem to go away after less than a day.

[rasnet6]

I also get an idea that I am about to relapse.

Normally in the two weeks before i get a relapse i start to get tired, pins and needles, patches of excema (sp?) show up on my arms and legs, and i also get a very strange tummy ache.

If i get the tiredness and excema then if i get lots of sleep and generally wrap myself up in cotton wool sometimes I can stop a relapse happening.

But if i get to the stage where the tummy ache occurs then theres not much I can do about it, just look after myself and wait for it to happen.

It has only taken me ten years to figure this out though... he he he

R xx

[Wonderfulworld]

Thanks Bob, yes I am wondering quite a bit now about endothelial disfunction and coagulation of blood. Although I've been tested for Hughes' syndrome twice I'm still left wondering about it. Xmas doesn't stress me out! - it was more that I meant that when these pre-relapse signals happen I'm usually only a month away from a relapse happening.

Patientx, well as you probably already know everyone's different with MS, but my relapses are severe fatigue. The kind where you'd not bother to feed yourself if you lived on your own. Bed rest for 2-3 weeks is the only way of lifting my fatigue. There is the background symptoms that you have that can wax and wane, but a relapse is where they really build up to a kind of crisis - that's my take on it.

Rasnet6 I am really fascinated by your excema and tummy ache...I've never thought of those things as being related to MS. I wonder how they tie in to a relapse? I did know a man with MS who actually bled from his stomach during a major relapse and the neuros dismissed the relationship to his MS.
Know what you mean about it taking 10 years! Me too!

[chrishasms]

I only noticed this was MS related because it came back and these things happened in the last month or so, just like when the disease was active before.

The hair on my lower legs has dramatically gotten thinner to almost bald where my jeans rub.

I get ingrown hairs on the inner thighs no matter if I scrub 10 times a day. I think it's my immune system reacting to the slightest bacteria. It's in my jeans and it gets warm so any little sweat may set the immune system off.

I get a weird little sinus type headache.

I get emotional and my anxiety goes through the roof.

[Loobie]

Basically all of my noticeable symtpoms start to just 'creep up' in intensity. It also takes a noticeably less amount of effort to flare up my ON. Like getting up from a seated position , where it normally takes some significant amount of effort. So to sum it up, MS is always in my way based on effort, but right before a relapse it takes less and less effort to flare things up.

[patientx]

Thanks everyone.

[MrsGeorge]

The fatigue gets really bad.
Increased tingling/numbness in my arm and legs
My existing symptoms get a bit worse

[Punchy]

Fascinating!

I also have problems with alcohol prior to relapse. It makes the muscles in my neck and shoulders ache.

I become fatigued and have a terrible time getting up in the mornings.

The back of my neck swells and hurts. Actually my neck pain is my number one indicator. When I was Dx at first we thought it was an injury caused by the massages I'd had to combat my aching neck.

[cheerleader]

I only noticed this was MS related because it came back and these things happened in the last month or so, just like when the disease was active before.
The hair on my lower legs has dramatically gotten thinner to almost bald where my jeans rub.
.

Hey Chris,
Jeff had this leg baldness thing going on, too. Freaked him out! I've learned it can be a sign of poor circulation, or hypercoagulation in your blood. People with diabetes or heart disease get this, too. His is better now with proteolytic enzymes. Hair's coming back (at least on his legs, if not his head!) and the blood spots (petechiae) are gone. Headache can be a sign of vascular issues, too.

I know neuros never recognize things like bleeding stomachs, bald legs, headaches, or in my husband's case, high liver enzymes and jaundice...but it's good to know your "signs of relapse" and get on it right away. Of course, I believe now that it's directly related to the vascular system, but Jeff hasn't had a relapse in 2 years...so maybe we'll know differently in the future.
AC

[Artifishual]

I'm not sure if my comment has any bearing on this, because I have only had two flare ups, but both of mine were just the numbness type. It started in my feet and then to my waist eventually becoming an "ms hug."
The second one was stopped early by prednisone. The first one was what sent me to the Dr., which also was treated with prednisone. I still have a lot of back pain and with the onset of colder temperatures is seems that the back of my neck really gives me trouble too.


I have had this back pain for so long that I have adapted to it. This is probably my biggest complaint to date.

[Miss_Feisty]

Currently I am flaring, not at the nose per usual.

Seriously, I am hoping not to have a full blown relapse. I have noticed that REST and eliminating stress has made a huge difference when the flare up occurs.

I have a cold and the floaters started, then a killer headache, then there's the itch and scratchy til I bleed game, last night the back spasms started (I really hate these with a PASSION). OH there go's another back twister....ouch. No complete numbness yet...so far so good.

I will be resting as much as allowed for the next few days, passing the buck to my fellow householders. I will be praying to any God who will hear me, popping a few pills and I hope the excess rest does it's job.

For me stress always seems to bring about an exacerbation, it is difficult avoiding it at times. I wonder if some people are more sensitive to stress than others who experience flare ups at these times? Is it common or typical depending on how the stress is perceived?

If the endorphin theory is correct (ms'ers have less) then would we be more sensitive to stressful situations and less able to recover from them (re: our nervous/immune system reaction)?

[DIM]

...so LDN which increases remarkably endorphin levels and works as vasolidator (endothelium theory) is THE remedy for MS?

By the way let me ask something, my wife has the first or in worst case even the second day of her menstrual cycle very mild symptoms (say slight stiffness in her leg due to hormone levels) last days she has the same symptoms increased (still mild) and even at the 3rd day they stay unchangeable, should I worry or is this quite normal?
Although I try to calm her she is very anxious due to this!

[Wonderfulworld]

DIM have a look at this: http://www.citeulike.org/user/Zephyrus/article/3423016 and http://www.mstrust.org.uk/atoz/menstruation.jsp. Premenstrual worsening of MS is quite common, though the first link above mentions the first couple of days of the cycle too, like you say your wife has.