Is Clumsiness A Symptom Of MS?

For the last 15 years of knowing my wife she has been one of the clumsiest people I know. A day rarely goes by when she doesn't hurt herself somehow. She will misjudge the distance to something and hit it or trip and hurt herself. She has lost her balance and fell off of steps and beds and even lodged herself between two beds at a hotel. She was laughing so hard she couldn't get out. It makes for interesting times when she does some of these things. One time she thought she shut the shower glass on the tub and went to sneeze while in the bathtub. What she didn't realize is that the glass was closed on her side too, and she slammed her head straight into the glass as she tried to sneeze outside the tub. She laughed for hours about that one.

I know that clumsiness isn't a symptom of MS, but many of the symptoms of MS seem to affect her abilities to balance, walk, judge distance and a host of other things. As a teen she competed as a gymnast for 12 years so she had awesome balance and grace, but as an adult with MS, that grace is lost in translation. Sometimes the clumsiness is funny, sometimes it is scary and other times it is just frustrating for both of us. Rarely do we take a trip somewhere that she doesn't hurt herself in some way and then have a bump or bruise or headache or some other malady. There are a few things like her always poking me with her nails or not being able to see when she enters a dark room that we have just gotten used to, and there are other things that come out of nowhere and hit us. Multiple Sclerosis has taken a lot of her balance and a lot of her dignity at times, and most of the time she just laughs and goes on with life. I guess that is why I love her so much, it is never dull when she is around!