skin tender to touch

Do muscle spasms get so bad that you actually can't bear to touch your own skin? I've been having full body spasms for a few days now, but over my neck, shoulders and flanks its bad enough that even accidentally brushing it hurts like I'm hitting a bruise with a hammer. Or maybe I have something else going in in addition?

[Kelsey.23]

Mine wasn't spasms but my nerves used to get so sensitive my mom had to ask if it was okay to hug me or not way before my diagnosis. It still tears me apart that she had to do this.

[Cat Mom]

I too have painful and/or numb skin sometimes but not related to muscle spasms. It feels like sunburn and sometimes I can't stand the feeling of my own clothes or even a bedsheet . It presents itself during periods of extreme stress and stays for a few days. On New Year's eve 2008/2009 I stepped on a piece of dry cat food on my kitchen floor and the unexpectedness frightened me so badly that my skin was numb for over 2 weeks! Best of luck.

[SNOOPY]

Hello starry1,

It's not from spasms it is nerve pain (neuropathic pain). It feels as if your nerves were on the outside of your body, laying exposed on your skin.

I have had my entire body feel like that with 3 of my exacerbations (relapse, attack, flare-up). In my case anything touching me caused extreme pain (sheets/blankets, clothes, a gentle hug, socks/shoes) and was so painful all those things brought me to tears.

Talk to your neuro about medication that might help.

Take care

[Spydre]

I've had it too. It used to come just when I had a fever, but my flare that started in May was nothing but that, much worse, and everywhere. Unfortunately, that flare started on my 17th wedding anniversary, so you can imagine how well the next six weeks were, with me being afraid of letting my husband touch me. Since I've had that flare, it comes and goes anytime, unfortunately.

Thank you all so much for your responses. I feel kind of sheepish that I didn't realize these were separate symptoms, now maybe I can explain it to my neuro better when I see him on Wednesday.

[rocky282]

Yeppers

I've had it too and they traced it to a reaction I was having to Rebif. If you just noticed it with starting a med, sometimes that happens. Since I have gotten off of Rebif and onto Neurontin and Betaserone, The "Holy Crap Don't Touch Me!" feelings have gotten much better.

On a side note, have you ever watched the TV show Alphas? The girl on there with the enhanced 5 senses, I just imagine that she feels like that all the time. But of course it's TV so they don't actually have those problems. lol

@Rocky I'm on Rebif. Is it a rare reaction, did they give you any more info? It seems this has happened to me before, but I tend to ignore symptoms unless they start to impair function. I don't want to be on handsfuls of pain meds all the time, so I just push through it.

[Redwings]

Hi starry1:
The nerves causing pain in your muscles and the nerves causing pain in your skin are on different "circuits."

It sounds like you've developed allodynia, which is the perception of pain due to a stimulus that doesn't normally provoke pain. It's a kind of paresthesia known as a dysesthesia. Whatever it's called, it hurts!

[rocky282]

@Rocky I'm on Rebif. Is it a rare reaction, did they give you any more info? It seems this has happened to me before, but I tend to ignore symptoms unless they start to impair function. I don't want to be on handsfuls of pain meds all the time, so I just push through it.

I imagine it is a pretty rare reaction since the Doc was suprised it happened to me. I had to really track it though to prove it was the med. Have a little cheat sheet for 2 weeks and chart the pain every day and when doing shot, before and after. In my case there was an obvious increase about 10 min. after I did the shot and over the period between shots I got less and less sensative. Feeling the best right before the next shot. If you notice this in your case as well, I would mention the possiblity to the doctor. And, perhaps he/she can suggest a short time off of Rebif to verify if that is what is causing the problem. We did a week off the drug, then a week on, then a week off and charted. Kind of messes with you a little and it could put you at risk for an attack, but for me... I would rather not have more symptoms from side effects. lol

Ah well, as with all of my pain and spasticity, I'm fine three weeks out of the month and then the 4-5 days premenstrual is when I have those problems.

So I went to my MS specialist today and my reflexes are hyper and my legs and right arm are definitely weaker. I also swayed slightly to the right during that neuro test where you put your feet together and close your eyes (can't remember the name right now) when I never swayed before.

He knows I'm very sensitive to meds and have a lot of drug allergies and that I'm very anti-med, but he told me that he has a few female patients who only take gabapentin that premenstrual week and do alright on it. Most people have to keep a certain level of it in their bloodstream for it to be useful to them. So I agreed to try the gabapentin 1-3 times a day for that week and see if that helps with my spacity and dysesthesia.

I also brought up what Redwings said about such a low dose of steroids and he told me that for his first-time flarers that are still pretty young and strong he likes to try the low dose to see how they do on it, and that my response was exactly what he intended, I got better right away and then the symptoms returned slowly, but lessened, when I was done with them. He said he would have given me another and stronger course or done IV if I hadn't responded well. But those few days at the low dose were effective in interrupting the worst days and probably shortened my flare time. I'm to call him back if I don't keep getting a little better each day.

[Redwings]

... he told me that for his first-time flarers that are still pretty young and strong he likes to try the low dose to see how they do on it, and that my response was exactly what he intended, I got better right away and then the symptoms returned slowly, but lessened, when I was done with them. He said he would have given me another and stronger course or done IV if I hadn't responded well.

Hi starry1:
Considering that some neuros don't prescribe steroids at all for sensory symptoms (paresthesias) and spasms, your neuro's approach of starting with a low dose to assess the response -- and changing the approach if indicated -- is a perfectly fine option. It's a valid way of testing whether the dose was high enough for long enough, and is also valid because 1) it's his established approach based on the presentation (paralysis or blindness would obviously have required a different approach) (compare that to docs who just wing it to get the patient out of the office) and 2) he's operating in the awareness of your sensitivity to medications.

It sounds like you've got your bases covered. I hope you feel better soon.