Sunday, June 27, 2010

Tingling, Numb and Frustrated With MS

I wrote about my wife falling a few days ago and I have been worried ever since that it would cause other issues. Well, it has. We left town this past week to go to Albuquerque, NM, and after the first night we were there, my wife woke up tingling and numb on her right side. From her right toes to the top of her head, her whole right side had decided to lose feeling. Luckily we were near our Chiropractor, Dr. Kevin Atchley, and he was able to get us in for an adjustment. By the time we went to his office, my wife was limping and having issues getting her right side to function properly. She couldn't stand for very long, and had no energy. Dr. Atchley adjusted her that afternoon and she immediately began to feel a wave of "feeling" come into her arm and hand. Within a few hours she started to have more and more feeling come back, but by the next morning she was still not back to normal. Dr. Atchley saw us again, and was able to adjust her more thoroughly and again she started to feel the waves of feeling coming back.

By that afternoon, the feeling in her arm and hands was almost all the way back and she wasn't limping anymore because her leg and foot was behaving better. We are now in Red River, NM, and she still has some faint tingling on her right side, and is still having energy issues, but she isn't limping and has walked quite a bit around town without issues. She has been resting everyday, and is regaining the feeling more and more everyday. One of the odd things with this particular attack has been the numb feeling on the side and top of her head. Her head literally hurt from the issues this time, and she was very frustrated with it the first few days. Now, the feeling is back and the pain is gone, but we were very lucky that the numbness was on the side of her head and didn't move to her face.

I had a feeling that she would have issues like this after the fall last week, and I know she is extremely frustrated that she has missed out on things while we are in the mountains. Anytime she has had a "shock" to her body, like a fall or a physically demanding incident, she has almost always had some kind of after "shock". Sometimes it is tingling or numbness, and sometimes it is fatigue or bladder issues. This time she went numb really fast. Normally it takes days, but this time she went to bed fine and woke up numb on her right side. I know it scared her how quickly it happened this time, and we will be watching over the next few weeks to see if she continues to get better. We were very lucky that it happened in a place and time where we could get in to see our Chiropractor and get adjusted. I truly feel that Chiropractic has stopped and reversed her MS attacks, and has made living with this disease a lot more manageable.

6 comments:

Dusti said...

Hi, my name is Dusti, I was diagnosed with ms 5 years ago. I have just stumbled onto your site while looking for other people's descriptions of ms leg pain. I awoke at 4 AM today with absolutely excruciating pain in my right leg; your account of your wife's description of her's being between the hip & knee, around the outside muscle is exactly what I'm having.
Also, I don't fall often but I agree, a fall does seem to be followed by new worsening symptoms! It is comforting to hear of someone going through the same thing.
Also I have to applaud you for being such an awesome husband, keeping a blog to track your wife's ms issues. I'm amazed.
Thanks so much & good health to you both~D

Justin- Duluth MN said...

Hi, I stumbled across this blog and I'm curious to know. Did your wife have really bad headaches every day for a while, along with sensitivity to light? Reason I ask is, I've not been diagnosed yet but the symptoms are there. Tingling in the left leg, fatigue, some weakness in the leg, tingling in the left hand/arm, bad headache for the last 8 to 9 days with some dizziness and uneasy feeling when walking, along with stiffness in the back of the neck. I believe this all started overnight on the 18th of July. I had a bladder issue which is very odd for me, I did manage to wake up and still go to the bathroom and such. The next afternoon I came down with a massive wave of tiredness. Was sitting in a restaurant and could have just layed down on the table to sleep. I can't remember ever feeling that tired in my life. The following day the headache started up in the afternoon and had it ever since.

I've had an MRI done, a CT-angiography, blood tests for lymes and a different parasite from being out in the woods. They all came back negative and unremarkable. I have yet to see a neurologist about this, I am planning to sometime in August. I just can't seem to get the headache to go away. Did your wife ever feel like there was a constant "fog" with everything she did? As in slight confusion or easily forgetting easy things to remember?

Also you say in your post a chiropractor does these "adjustments"?? what do you mean by that, like in the neck or different joints? I'm sorry im so curious... I know I have a lot of questions, but what I have seems to fit the same problems even if my doctor can't see the symptoms plain as day.

Thank you for your posts and enlightenment into such a personal subject. I look forward to reading more.

-Justin-

Unknown said...

Justin, many of the things you are describing sound just like symptoms my wife has had or continues to have. She does have light sensitivity with headaches. She had one last week. She has the exhaustion and brain fog issues, and slept in this morning to try to overcome weariness. If you browse my posts, you will see almost all the things you mentioned, and many more. As far as the tests go, my wife's tests came back negative at first too. It took a MS specialist to nail down the problem and start to treat her. The Chiropractor we see "adjusts" my wife using an instrument. You can look it up by googling Pro Adjuster Chiropractic. As with any chiropractic, there are good and bad ones, and people who are trying to discredit it, but we have seen it work over and over and over. I don't mind answering any questions you might have, and you can write me directly at mywifehasms@gmail.com. Please keep me updated and thanks for the comment.

Anonymous said...

Hello, I am the "wife" with ME & yes, Dusti, I am very blessed with a great husband who desires to care for me & desires to learn everything he can about M.S. Good luck with your "MS walk". Don't ever give up.

Justin, I did & still do have headaches. Several years ago, I had a headache that lasted over a month. Cory did some research & found a guy who did a technique called "Bowen", we traveled an hour & a half one way to see this guy. He gently rolled the muscles in my neck, arms, legs, back,even my head then he would let it set for a few minutes then would roll more muscles & let them set. I almost immediately felt some relief. By the time I left, I had no headache any more. It was such a relief my husband even took the first class of Bowen in Austin, TX. I had an incident there in Austin during that time with my bladder which I had never had. Cory came home from his first day of class & used what he learned that day on me, immediately that "problem" disappearedas well. To this day, Cory still will do Bowen on me when I have a really bad headache or bladder issues. Those where the two things he happened to learn about during that weekend that absolutely help me.

If nothing else, I would definitely suggest the Pro-Adjuster Chiropractic my husband keeps mentioning. I know I'm super sensative to it & I am so fortunate it works.

Good luck to ypu both & I pray you will find the answers you are each looking for. God bless!

Me

Rob Ruscoe-Ohio said...

First of all- great blog. I was researching some info tonight and came across this. My wife is 35 and was diagnosed with MS at 19. She has been experiencing bouts of numbness along the entire left side of her body for about 10-15 minutes at a time over the past several days. She did have a pretty bad fall and now I am wondering if this triggered the numbness.
We live outside of Youngstown, Ohio and are blessed to be relatively close to the Cleveland Clinic and have one of the best neurologists in the country in Dr. Robert Fox. We just had a visit a few weeks ago and he had nothing but fantastic news for us. Her MS does not seem to be spreading as of now, but all the sudden she has been having issues with her leg "dragging". This has led to her change in gait and balance issues.
With two boys at home and the amount of traveling I have to do as a sales trainer, I have been thinking of changing careers to be at home more. What have you experienced regarding this? Is it a good idea for me to make a change now? I am due a nice promotion within the next few months which will require more travel, though I am home every night. I am stuck between not knowing which way to turn. I am taking care of my family and looking at a handsome increase in salary, but am not sure of my wife's health condition.

Unknown said...

Hey Rob, sorry to hear about your wife's recent issues. Yes, my wife had definitely dealt with numbness after a fall or even a jolt or intense exertion. If you look through my blog you will see that she immediately goes to a Pro Adjuster Chiropractor and that seems to stop the numbness and starts her to getting better. Many times she doesn't even notice that she is dragging her leg, and then she struggles to keep from falling. On the job front, I have always been very fortunate that my job has been close to home and I can be there to help. I have changed jobs a few times to make things easier on her, but again, we have been very fortunate. We have found that the simpler we make life, the better she does and our family does, so we have tried to build our work life, play life and church life around keeping things simple. We don't always do a good job at that, but it really helps. Let me know if you have some specific questions. You can always email me at mywifehasms@gmail.com.