Toes tingling, feet tingling, leg tingling, arm tingling and that's just been in the last few days. My wife's MS seems to be acting up since she has completely worn herself out the last few weeks. Even with extra sleep during the mornings, she is still struggling to finish the day without having some tingling or pain in her legs or feet. Tonight she even had an odd pain in her ankle area right above the ankle bone. By the end of the day she has been limping and dragging one of her legs most of this last week. Tonight was no different, she came home dragging her left leg and having pain issues up and down her thigh. She just took a hot bath to relax her legs and it seems to have helped.
The tingling has come and gone with the amount of stress she has put on herself this last week. The more rest she gets, the less tingling and issues. The more stress, whether it is physical or emotional, the more tingling and issues she has. Yesterday was probably the worst I have seen her in a while. Her eyes showed it all. I have always been able to look at her eyes and tell how she is doing. Yesterday they looked bad and I immediately setup and appointment for a massage to try and relax her to see if that would help. It did help, and she was doing better last night. We have noticed that after a massage she can have some odd reactions. We are not sure if it the toxins that are stirred up during the massage or something else, but last night she was having chest pain which is usually a sign of low Potassium. By this morning she felt really great and her eyes looked much better.
One difference my wife commented about tonight was that her eyesight was very good when we were driving home. Normally she has problems seeing clearly at night and making out things in the distance. Tonight she was very excited about how well she could see and commented that she wishes it was like that all the time. I guess we will see if it is the same tomorrow. We feel like some of this may be from the massage and just relaxing. Yesterday was the first time we tried this particular massage therapist and we both feel like her massage technique has really helped. Her massage style was different than anything we have done, so we are very excited to find a method that seems to help. For tonight my wife is dealing with a little bit of pain and some tingling, but nothing major. After a good night's sleep I am sure she will be off to another day of overdoing and stress. I wouldn't expect anything else from her after fourteen years of marriage.
Showing posts with label chest pain. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chest pain. Show all posts
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Wednesday, April 8, 2009
Stopping Chest Pain In Multiple Sclerosis
Chest pain for my wife can be very painful. It can take her breath away and cause her to wince when she moves wrong or takes deep breaths. I saw her eating a banana the other night and asked her if she was having chest pain again. She said she had been having chest pain off and on for a few days but it wasn't severe yet. I have written other posts about past chest pain and even emergency room visits for what felt like a heart attack. She has learned from those experiences to do a few things immediately when she starts having pain.
We have learned that for my wife, the chest pain comes from a lack of pottasium. Our understanding is that her lack of pottasium is a combination of things, but can be caused from too much salt in her diet and a lack of the vitamin itself in her diet. By eating bananas and other pottasium rich foods, she can stop the chest pain almost immediately and relieve future issues. All of this has shown us how important it is to have a balanced diet when dealing with disease. It seems so simple that pottasium could be the fix for my wife, but I think that is why it gets overlooked so often. Multiple Sclerosis can cause so many complications but this is one thing we feel like we have control over. I hope others with MS can have the same results and maybe next time a little potassium can help relieve their pain.
We have learned that for my wife, the chest pain comes from a lack of pottasium. Our understanding is that her lack of pottasium is a combination of things, but can be caused from too much salt in her diet and a lack of the vitamin itself in her diet. By eating bananas and other pottasium rich foods, she can stop the chest pain almost immediately and relieve future issues. All of this has shown us how important it is to have a balanced diet when dealing with disease. It seems so simple that pottasium could be the fix for my wife, but I think that is why it gets overlooked so often. Multiple Sclerosis can cause so many complications but this is one thing we feel like we have control over. I hope others with MS can have the same results and maybe next time a little potassium can help relieve their pain.
Wednesday, October 15, 2008
Multiple Sclerosis Chest Pain
Two times in the last 5 years my wife has had the feeling that she was having a heart attack. Both of those times, she felt extreme pain in her chest and arm. The first time we rushed her to the emergency room and waited 3 hours to see a doctor that told us it wasn't a heart attack, but a lack of a particular vitamin. Little did we know that the attack was brought on by a lack of Pottasium in her cells. As soon as she took Pottasium vitamins, the pain stopped and she was OK.
She had the same issue this last week. She had the chest pain with arm pain and a general feeling of dizziness and lack of energy. We realized quickly what it was and immediately started treatment. We learned the first time that salt can push the pottasium out of the cell, which literally causes the bones to ache. So, we have gone back through the routine of increasing pottasium in her diet and decreasing salt intake. We were amazed when the doctor gave us a list of the sodium content in normal foods we were eating. This has been a hard shift for my wife since she craves salty foods, but she has done great to stay away from the bulk of it.
We are not sure how all of this ties into Multiple Sclerosis, but I would be curious to know if anyone else has had this same issue. We know that vitamin deficiency and MS is an issue, and we have taken vitamins by IV and orally for a long time. This time, we were able to easily fix the issue but last time my wife's health deteriorated rapidly after the pottasium issue. One of the issues we realized was the blood tests for vitamins are not always accurate. The doctor told us that what you are seeing on the test is the vitamin outside of the cell. The problem is that you can't see what is in the cell, and it is hard to replenish those vitamins after they are pushed out.
The first time she had the problem, we had to take IV drips to increase the pottasium enough to make a difference. This time we caught it soon enough, but it is a reminder of how MS is always lingering. Living with MS is like living with a puzzle where you never seem to find all of the pieces. You get a piece here and a piece there, but it doesn't ever seem to come into view clearly. I will keep studying these issues and we will figure it out at some point, but until then, life is always interesting.
She had the same issue this last week. She had the chest pain with arm pain and a general feeling of dizziness and lack of energy. We realized quickly what it was and immediately started treatment. We learned the first time that salt can push the pottasium out of the cell, which literally causes the bones to ache. So, we have gone back through the routine of increasing pottasium in her diet and decreasing salt intake. We were amazed when the doctor gave us a list of the sodium content in normal foods we were eating. This has been a hard shift for my wife since she craves salty foods, but she has done great to stay away from the bulk of it.
We are not sure how all of this ties into Multiple Sclerosis, but I would be curious to know if anyone else has had this same issue. We know that vitamin deficiency and MS is an issue, and we have taken vitamins by IV and orally for a long time. This time, we were able to easily fix the issue but last time my wife's health deteriorated rapidly after the pottasium issue. One of the issues we realized was the blood tests for vitamins are not always accurate. The doctor told us that what you are seeing on the test is the vitamin outside of the cell. The problem is that you can't see what is in the cell, and it is hard to replenish those vitamins after they are pushed out.
The first time she had the problem, we had to take IV drips to increase the pottasium enough to make a difference. This time we caught it soon enough, but it is a reminder of how MS is always lingering. Living with MS is like living with a puzzle where you never seem to find all of the pieces. You get a piece here and a piece there, but it doesn't ever seem to come into view clearly. I will keep studying these issues and we will figure it out at some point, but until then, life is always interesting.
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