Can a flare hit that quickly?

[lstrl]

Friday night I had the very unfortunate experience of basically being attacked by a family member. I had my hair pulled on hard, my fingers squeezed to the point it felt like they were going to break, I was punched in the head, and I was also pushed back 2-3 times (where my chest feels like it's bruised but doesn't look like it) where I almost lost my balance, which would have sent me falling into a fireplace. I still don't know how I managed to catch my balance and stay upright. Needless to say, my adrenaline was pumping quite high.

The very next day, I noticed my legs much weaker than they normally are, just like what happened the last time I had a flare. I now can't walk as far and I can't go anywhere without a shopping cart to hang onto. It's not any better today. I'm thinking it has to be caused by the huge amount of stress I've been under. I'm now very afraid that I'm going into a flare, unless maybe it's just a pseudo from the stress. I don't know. All I do know is nothing feels better and I have no idea what I'm going to do. I'm supposed to be going back to work with this psychopath tomorrow and I've got to deal with the increased weakness.

Can symptoms of a flare start up that quickly? Or am I worrying myself for nothing? This is so frustrating. No matter what I do, I just can't win.

[Poppy7402]

Hopefully it's just a pseudo exacerbation. At Christmas time we had my least favourite family members coming over for Christmas dinner and my pain flared up so badly that we ended up going to my parents' place instead. A couple of days later I was fine again.

If were you I would look at taking some action against this 'psychopath' because you were after all, assaulted. Even just telling them that if they lay a hand on you again, you will be straight to the police would be a good start.

[Marco]

I am so sorry this happened to you. Did you contact the police and report the assault? They need to learn there are consequences for attacking you. If there are bruises or any indication of a scuffle please take pictures even if you don't contact the authorities.

For me, stress can definitely bring out symptoms, both new and old. Emotional stress tends to overwhelm my brain and cause speech-related, word search and similar type symptoms. Even during a long-lunch I can feel the stress overtaking my abilities and my wife normally rescues me. I hope you have some strategies to reduce your stress level. You may also check in with a counselor and if your symptoms don't let up then please call your neuro.

[lstrl]

I did inform my mom of what's going on and she clearly has been relaying it to him as quickly as I've told her. Sadly, I think it took him seeing that he probably did this to me to realize he can't be doing things like that. I'm hoping that puts a lot of fear into him and he can think about that every time he gets angry at someone.

I've thought about putting a call into the neuro's office if it keeps up, but I don't know how long I should let it go to see if it gets better. Is tomorrow (day 3 if it continues) too soon? I don't want to let it go too long, but I also don't want to call every time there's a hiccup. I'm supposed to be going out of town on Friday and I'm really hoping that this little episode doesn't screw all that up for me. After all the stress I'm under right now (it's something that I just can't get off my mind), it would do me a lot of good to get away for a couple days. Then maybe I finally can forget about it.

[KatieAgain]

I'm sorry that happened to you. I hope you take the necessary steps to prevent it from ever happening again.

As far as the flare..yes it indeed can happen that fast. You might want to give it one more day and try whatever it takes to de-stress. Which probably means calling in sick tomorrow.

Let's hope this is a pseudo-flare.

[Kimba22]

Hi lstrl,

I'm so sorry someone did that to you. I'm also very glad you did not fall into that fireplace! I do hope you think about what Marco and Poppy said about the assault. And this person, family or not, would forever think twice about assaulting you (or anyone else, for that matter) again if they had to spend a night in jail. (You also see them at work everyday? No wonder your stress level is up!)

Not only can stress cause a pseudo-flare, it can also bring on a real one. Like KatieAgain said, yes, one can come on that fast. http://www.mssociety.org.uk/what-is-...remitting-rrms I really do hope this is a pseudo-flare. But it could be either, especially since you are still stressed about what happened.

I would not just wait to see if things get better after a few days away, and recommend you give your neuro a call tomorrow. If it is indeed the real thing, steroids work best when given within 2 weeks of a relapse. Please let us know what he/ she says, OK?

Best of luck, and I do hope you can still go on your vacation!