Occupational therapy: worth the time?

[Cholderby]

So I had my first big episode about 5 weeks ago: double vision, dizziness, facial and tongue numbness. I had steroids and those symptoms went away. Two weeks ago I started dropping things. Last week I noticed a stiffness in my right hand. I have trouble picking up pens and silverware and the like (of course I'm right handed )

Iwas really sold on the hand problem being tendinitis. I saw my neurologist today and she said its ms (it matches up with a plaque on my spinal column). So...is the hand thing part of the last flare up that I somehow didn't notice until now? I did a home IV, I feel certain i would have noticed while i was hooking that up. Can you have rrms and get new symptoms between flares? I know that the brain sometimes remyelinates, can the spinal cord too? Will this go away?

The neuro offered occupational therapy. Is occupational therapy worth the huge PITA that it would be for me to find child care and go? I don't really get how some finger exercises are going to keep me from dropping stuff. I had to take one of the kids to physical therapy when he was a baby and I swear it did nothing.

Thoughts?

[lyndacarol]

As you must know, each case of MS is unique. No one can predict if a symptom will go away.

Steroids have never done anything for me; I have had a couple series of physical therapy, which did nothing for me either. And occupational therapy has also been unhelpful to me.

In my opinion, your hand problem is something new. I agree that you probably would've noticed it when doing the home IV. New symptoms can appear at any time.

With my belief in excess insulin, I suspect that you have weakness in your right hand due to insulin resistance in those muscles cells. Just MY thoughts.

[NHE]

So I had my first big episode about 5 weeks ago: double vision, dizziness, facial and tongue numbness. I had steroids and those symptoms went away. Two weeks ago I started dropping things. Last week I noticed a stiffness in my right hand. I have trouble picking up pens and silverware and the like (of course I'm right handed )

Iwas really sold on the hand problem being tendinitis. I saw my neurologist today and she said its ms (it matches up with a plaque on my spinal column). So...is the hand thing part of the last flare up that I somehow didn't notice until now? I did a home IV, I feel certain i would have noticed while i was hooking that up. Can you have rrms and get new symptoms between flares? I know that the brain sometimes remyelinates, can the spinal cord too? Will this go away?

The neuro offered occupational therapy. Is occupational therapy worth the huge PITA that it would be for me to find child care and go? I don't really get how some finger exercises are going to keep me from dropping stuff. I had to take one of the kids to physical therapy when he was a baby and I swear it did nothing.

Thoughts?

Some people find these exercisers to be helpful.

http://www.prohands.net/

[mmpetunia]

as an OT, yes it's worth it

OT's can be specially trained as hand therapists. even if it was tendinitis, it would help and certainly if its weakness from MS they can help...and there is much more they can do than some hand exercises but only you can decide if the time you would have to put in and the difficulties you might have getting there would be worth it. a big part of the success or failure of any therapy you might do depends on the time you devote to it outside of your appointments (home program!) and the lifestyle changes you are willing to make to accommodate for your new normal.

i'm biased of course, but having spent quite a bit of time in PT as a patient because of injuries (back injuries x2, bike accident) and MS, my PT worked wonders for me and i am still thankful for his help. i am currently back in PT for rotator cuff tendinitis and ulnar nerve entrapment, so i get how time consuming it can be. why not try it twice a week for a couple of weeks to see if its going to work for you.

[Cholderby]

Thank you! And, no offense?

[mmpetunia]

Haha none taken

[KateCW]

I've always found OT way more helpful thanPT because it's about activities of daily living and they often have rather cool modified tools or household items to help you cope.