Athletes with MS, hard to distinguish symptoms from injury?

[FitFlower12]

Hi there,

I am an aerialist, I own a studio and teach and perform. For years I have had heat sensitivity, numbness, and extreme fatigue. Lately though, I haven't been able to do a lot of the moves I used to do....due to an obvious weakness in my left side. I don't feel sensations the same, and my grip has weakened greatly (something that is integral in my job).

My questions is this...as an athlete, has anyone had trouble determining what was a possible symptom from what is a by product of training and/or possible injury? If you were an athlete before DX what were your hints that something was wrong??

LIttle History:
Dx'd Gluten intolerant (gluten free over a year)
Dx'd Hypothyroid (On 45mcg Armor Thyroid)

I have made an appt for an MRI and for evoked potentials with rxs from my Dr. as I failed her neurological tests.

Thanks ya'll!

[MrsBones]

I had that problem. I was a runner for years (half marathons and such, as I just wasn't into training for a marathon), starting in my teens after the first relapse (lost use of my arm for a month) and before dx. When I was 16, I broke my ankle and tore a ligament along the side of my knee. Nothing major or requiring surgery, it just took a while before I could run again. It wasn't quite right after that, sometimes giving me trouble when I ran too far or too hard.

In my twenties, I began feeling unsteady again, tripping and feeling as if that knee just didn't track. I put up with it for a while, but eventually realized it wasn't safe to run outside anymore. I switched to running on treadmills and indoor tracks.

We were all convinced it was just the old injury. It wasn't until the old tricks didn't help and the drs couldn't see anything new or anything aggravating the old knee injury that we knew something more was going on. Hello, drop foot!

The only thing you can do is be extra vigilant with safety and paying attention to your body's signals. Had I done that, the right testing might have been done sooner.

[Thinkimjob]

Used to ride horses, thought they were getting a tad unbalanced and shirty.

But, no, that was me. Poor old horses were trying to adjust for me.

Could no sooner ride a horse these days than, well whatever.
I fall off a couch, if I don't concentrate.

Love the sweaty horsey smell, beautiful sleek coat. Hey ho.
Patting, sugar cubes, bit of brushing. Can sort of hobble to the stable. That is it.

Please, please, anyone newly diagnosed, get it while you can.

MS sucks.

[KatieAgain]

I too was an athlete at diagnosis. I was able to run for several years post diagnosis. Two symptoms did occur that I blew off as something else. My hands would start tingling with pins and needles during runs and every once and awhile my left leg (my bad one) would just give out. Got a couple of really nasty abrasions from that.

I lost my ability to run after a flare. Please be careful as an aerialist.

[tommylee]

If you were an athlete before DX what were your hints that something was wrong??

LIttle History:
Dx'd Gluten intolerant (gluten free over a year)
Dx'd Hypothyroid (On 45mcg Armor Thyroid)

I was into moto-cross and snow boarding.
I started to notice my timing was off. My turns were just a little late. I was missing my lines, crashing because I was out of position on my bike, having trouble hanging onto the bars. (my hands went numb).
It feels like my body is behind my mind and every move is just a little too late.
In my games (like yours) timing is everything. If I am late or slow I crash. The difference between success and failure is a very thin line.
Lucky for me it was just a hobby that I was passionate about. It would have been much worse if I made my living doing it.

What kind of trouble are you having? Besides the numbness, do you feel like your body is out of sync? (like your body is a step behind your mind?)

[JerryD]

I would say that you should be seeing a neurologist because these questions are very specific, and fall directly in his wheel house. A neurologist should have more experience with these types of questions. Good luck

[FitFlower12]

I was into moto-cross and snow boarding.
I started to notice my timing was off. My turns were just a little late. I was missing my lines, crashing because I was out of position on my bike, having trouble hanging onto the bars. (my hands went numb).
It feels like my body is behind my mind and every move is just a little too late.
In my games (like yours) timing is everything. If I am late or slow I crash. The difference between success and failure is a very thin line.
Lucky for me it was just a hobby that I was passionate about. It would have been much worse if I made my living doing it.

What kind of trouble are you having? Besides the numbness, do you feel like your body is out of sync? (like your body is a step behind your mind?)

TommyLee,

That's exactly what it is, I have done so many of these moves so many times...and now my limbs just don't seem to catch up. It doesn't make sense to me that I have lost so much strength in one side, I used to use my left arm to push my body up and out and now I can't...it just doesn't feel strong enough and it starts to shake almost immediately. At this point I am 10/15ft in the air for a lot of movements so I try to do the things I KNOW I am comfortable with.

I ALWAYS wrote off my numbness and tingles and weakness as overtraining/etc...but I'm starting to think that's not the case.

[Special Kay]

I would say it was the exact opposite for me.

I was/am an endurance runner, and when I first had symptoms (gait problems, numbness), it was my doctors who thought it was running-related, but I knew that it was not running related. That's why and how I so aggressively pursued a diagnosis (8 doctors in one year).

Having run marathons for many years, having an almost obsessive attention to the minute details of my physical state, and having rehabbing many different kinds of injuries over that time, I knew the difference between something that was soft tissue or orthopedic and something that was neurological.

OTOH, having strength discrepancies as an athlete with MS, can lead to biomechanical or soft tissue injuries, so that's something to be aware of. They're still sports injuries, though, not flares.

[tommylee]

I ALWAYS wrote off my numbness and tingles and weakness as overtraining/etc...but I'm starting to think that's not the case.

It is probably not the case.

What has helped me is to try to visualize everything.
By that I mean I do everything by sight. I have to watch my foot placement, body position, hands etc. It helps to try to visualize my every move before I try it.... But as much as I try, I still suck at these activities now.
Sure I can still make it down a mountain standing and ride a bike, but that is not the same as being good at it.

Odd as it sounds marijuana seems to help me move better.
It seems to slow my mind down so it is more in sync with my body. (if that makes any sense?)
It seems to make me physically flow more smoothly or feel less out of sync.
Not sharper or more aware or better, it slows my mind speed just enough that it matches my body more closely.
Having mind and body with a matching delay is easier for me to work with.

I hope you can understand what I am trying to explain.

As far as the weakness goes??? Diet and training seem to help, but I get the idea you are already on that pretty hard.