I've got a question for those of you who, unfortunately, have more experience with MS than me.
MS first showed up for me this past Oct. in what appeared to be symptoms of diabetes - optic neuritis and balance problems. It was only later, in March when I had my first full-blown relapse, that doctors began putting two and two together and realized it was MS.
Since then, I've had lots of symptoms that come and go, but it seems that the symptoms that are most consistent are balance problems, pins-and-needles (paresthesia), and headache. These three symptoms interact with each other, causing me to experience the combination more acutely than what would have been the individual symptoms.
For example, when my headache is acting up more than usual, if there is a sharp noise I feel it reverberate all through my whole body at a visceral level as it "piggybacks" through my paresthesia. A couple days ago there was a wedding in our residential neighborhood (I live in China) with lots of the normal firecrackers being set off. Oh my goodness!! I was in my bedroom with the windows closed, and it took my body several minutes to stop reverberating after the firecrackers finished!!
For the past few months, when these symptoms get acute, I've found that after a while I just want to lie down, not because I'm fatigued (at least, not in the normal sense of being fatigued, of your well of physical energy being drained dry), but because I just want what I perceive to be a sensory overload to STOP!
Part of my new normal definitely includes a lower level of energy available to me, but I find myself wanting to lie down more to try to reduce the sensory input than because I feel physically tired. It's more like a mental tiredness. Does anybody else have this feeling?
MS first showed up for me this past Oct. in what appeared to be symptoms of diabetes - optic neuritis and balance problems. It was only later, in March when I had my first full-blown relapse, that doctors began putting two and two together and realized it was MS.
Since then, I've had lots of symptoms that come and go, but it seems that the symptoms that are most consistent are balance problems, pins-and-needles (paresthesia), and headache. These three symptoms interact with each other, causing me to experience the combination more acutely than what would have been the individual symptoms.
For example, when my headache is acting up more than usual, if there is a sharp noise I feel it reverberate all through my whole body at a visceral level as it "piggybacks" through my paresthesia. A couple days ago there was a wedding in our residential neighborhood (I live in China) with lots of the normal firecrackers being set off. Oh my goodness!! I was in my bedroom with the windows closed, and it took my body several minutes to stop reverberating after the firecrackers finished!!
For the past few months, when these symptoms get acute, I've found that after a while I just want to lie down, not because I'm fatigued (at least, not in the normal sense of being fatigued, of your well of physical energy being drained dry), but because I just want what I perceive to be a sensory overload to STOP!
Part of my new normal definitely includes a lower level of energy available to me, but I find myself wanting to lie down more to try to reduce the sensory input than because I feel physically tired. It's more like a mental tiredness. Does anybody else have this feeling?
Comment