Need advice from someone with experience

[dontstopbelieving]

Hi everyone! For those who have not heard from me before I am 20 years old and was diagnosed when I was 18 with numbness in my hands and right leg (two separate attacks led to diagnosis) I've been on rebif now for two years and been attending college with no interruption thankfully. I'm living a very full life nothing bothers me except occasional fatigue and heat trouble.

Recently I had some numbness where I had a bad injection site reaction so I played it off as just part of the reaction and it went away within a week.

I am a little overweight and my legs rub together when I walk. I had an active day recently and it irritated my
Legs some chaffing. Now I feel some
Numbness on my inner thigh. It started yesterday and I don't know what to think. I get nervous I don't want any relapses or anything to happen

I need some words of advice. I've never had numbness here
But numbness is my only ever symptom just in other places. So would that mean its an exasterbation instead of a relapse?

What do you think?? Some advice please!!

[Mamabug]

Exacerbation and relapse mean the same thing:

Exacerbation: "The appearance of new symptoms or the aggravation of old ones, lasting at least twenty-four hours (synonymous with attack, relapse, flare-up, or worsening); usually associated with inflammation and demyelination in the brain or spinal cord."


Perhaps you are asking if it is a real exacerbation/relapse, or, if it is a pseudo-exacerbation? http://www.nationalmssociety.org/download.aspx?id=86

NMSS says that, a true exacerbation, lasts at least 24 hours, and, it must be separated from a previous relapse by at least 30 days. Most exacerbations last from a few days to several weeks or even months.


~ Faith

[BigA]

Exacerbation, Relapse, Flair = all the same thing. My doc uses the word Attack to differentiate an actual MS event and not an increase or movmement of symptoms.

Truth is that sometimes if things are small, we can't tell if it's an attack or not. But it can also be true that if it is small, that our medicine is working and there's nothing to do.

If you didn't have an attack, then nothing to worry about. If you did have an attack, then it's small and nothing to worry about.

Here's a good guide to exacerbations.
https://www.virginiamason.org/workfi...acerbation.pdf


But you should lose weight. No sense adding diabetes, heart disease and kidney problems to MS. Live an extra healthy life and in 20 years you could be healthier than your peers.

You might want to wonder over to the diet section here.

[JerryD]

Hi dontstop,
I see that you asked for advice and received definitions.
I know that this situation is difficult to live with. I hope that what I suggest helps you. If you don't know by now, let me fill you in. MS almost never re-appears the same way. It is unpredictable. That's why there is so much positive buzz over the DMT's.
First, you probably will not want to hear this but food and diet can be your friend or foe. I would start by using one of the MS diets. Swank, McDougall, Terry Wahls , MS recovery diet, etc.
Second, get your vitamin D levels lab checked and know your ng/mL numbers. They should be between 50-80 ng/mL.
Get your food allergies / sensitivities checked. Most regular MDs know about this, but don't do anything about them. A nutritionist probably knows how to detect these things.
That's what I got for you. Hope it helps. Good luck

[cosake]

I have no personal experience with this, but my neuro's office asks that I report any symptoms that last more than 24 hrs. It may or may not be something that they want to check out.