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What is relapse?

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    What is relapse?

    I keep reading about relapses. I don't get it. My MS symptoms change but I haven't been symptom free for a very long time. I am 61 and newly diagnosed. Mostly foot problems but the symptoms that ended my career were memory and confusion. That was in 2009. The rest were leg and foot issues that mostly change area and or type. So do many people go symptom free? I'm new to this but I sure am glad it has a name. I was thinking I was a demented hypochondriac.

    #2
    Hi there, welcome to the club. Your MS can "remit," but this does not mean symptom free. There is more often then not residual damage that hangs around. Hypodense lesions that show up during an MRI are inflamed, but MS is also proving to be a background disease. There are gray matter lesions that do not show up on an MRI, and overall atrophy of brain matter affecting the ventricles and outer sulci. Axons also suffer in a lesion as well as myelin, so the damage is not only extensive, but irreversible. Lower limbs are affected more as descending motor tracts of the spinal cord are affected.

    Cognitive issues are "unlikely to remit" (Kalb, 2009), but will probably remain stable for quite some time. You may also tire easily because your brain has to reroute around these damaged areas. I regained my ability to walk, but still have "lag time" with responses. I also have unilateral weakness, frequency of urination, and general fatigue. Some things went away after I started treatment, like Lhermittes, overt fatigue, and a cottony feeling in my head. I've never seen anyone post that they've gone back to 100%, but some say they've had symptom free days.

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      #3
      Hi Robin,

      Welcome to MS World! Sorry why you joined us, but glad you are here. I hope you'll find this a valuable resource for information. There are many knowledgeable and supportive members here.

      I've never been symptom free, like many others with MS. The Remitting part in Relapsing Remitting MS can be misleading. It's not necessarily the same as, let's say, being in remission from Cancer. But, to answer your other question, a true relapse is a new or worsening symptom that lasts >24 hours. A relapse must also be separated by at least 30 days from a prior one. There's also something known as a pseudo-relapse, which will go away once the cause (such as an increase in body temp) goes away. Here's a link to the National MS Society explaining them (also read the green box on the right): http://www.nationalmssociety.org/abo...ons/index.aspx

      Hope you find this information helpful! (And so very glad to know you aren't really a demented hypochondriac )

      Take care,
      Kimba

      “When you change the way you look at things, the things you look at change.” ― Max Planck

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        #4
        Thank You..

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          #5
          Hello! I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person newly diagnosed in my age group - I was diagnosed this past November, just before my 60th birthday. Have had the same question!

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            #6
            Originally posted by suenan View Post
            Hello! I was beginning to wonder if I was the only person newly diagnosed in my age group - I was diagnosed this past November, just before my 60th birthday. Have had the same question!
            Hi suenan and Robin and welcome! Some of us are dx at later ages, but with various symptoms happening for years before and the inability to get a proper diagnosis. I was dx at 50.

            In our Senior Sanctuary sub-forum (under I Can Relate) here's a thread called Age at time of Dx.
            http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=108721

            There's also a lengthy thread about late onset MS http://www.msworld.org/forum/showthread.php?t=120329

            Read these and you won't wonder anymore!!
            1st sx '89 Dx '99 w/RRMS - SP since 2010
            Administrator Message Boards/Moderator

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              #7
              late dx

              I was just dx'd in Nov, I am 58 3/4. Sx for over 30+ yrs

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