Does anyone feel that the slower they walk the harder or weaker they are?

[loveshinesthru]

I feel like if I Walk too slow it gets harder for me to walk and I get weaker. Is that normal? I have not been diagnosed yet. but I can barely walk and have almost all the symptoms of ms. It started a month ago. and I do not have insurance.

[SNOOPY]

Hello loveshinesthru,

I have had my legs affected by this disease from the beginning. I have bilateral leg weakness regardless if I walk or not. Exercise to maintain my mobility is absolutely necessary.

Walking slower is needed for my own safety. The farther I walk beyond my ability (2 miles) the more unreliable my legs become.

What you have described isn't something I have ever experienced.

The only way to the know if you have MS or not is to under go testing which includes ruling out all other possibilities for symptoms. There are many conditions that can cause similar symptoms as those seen in MS. There is no single test, by it's self, that will give a definitive diagnosis of MS.

[loveshinesthru]

Yes I am aware of that, and im just waiting til i can get enough money together to get an mri or get insurance. Was just wondering if anyone had the same issue, whether it was harder to walk the slower they walked or felt weaker the slower they walked. I too have to walk slower for my safety but i just feel like it makes me weaker. if that makes sense.

[KoKo]

I feel like if I Walk too slow it gets harder for me to walk and I get weaker. Is that normal? I have not been diagnosed yet. but I can barely walk and have almost all the symptoms of ms. It started a month ago. and I do not have insurance.

Hi loveshinesthru

The only way that I am able to walk is slowly and mindfully, and with a rollator (4 wheel walker).

My nerve signals are too impaired to walk fast. In fact, the faster I try to walk, the less my legs want to move.

Wishing you the best.

Take Care

[loveshinesthru]

I Dunno its just weird. If I try to walk faster my legs feel more rubbery, but the slower I go the harder it is and the weaker i feel. I know it doesnt make sense lol. Sometimes I get these sensations where my legs are just being weighted down and then I have to go slow and i get really weak.

[jreagan70]

I feel like if I Walk too slow it gets harder for me to walk and I get weaker. Is that normal?

It can be normal. When you walk faster, you have momentum that propels you forward. When you walk slowly, you don't have enough speed to propel you into the next step. Other people may have the opposite experience, but they aren't in the same situation as you are. Your experience isn't strange or abnormal.

Think about someone who wants to walk across rocks across a stream. It's hard from them to do if they try to do it one step at a time because there isn't enough momentum to carry them forward. if they actually run from rock to rock, the speed and forward momentum carries them across the stream easily. It's physics in action.

You're just using the same principle, even if your legs feel rubbery while you do it. For you, momentum moves you forward with more kinetic energy and less muscle energy; one step at a time takes more energy and doesn't move you forward as easily.

[loveshinesthru]

yes that makes sense. I know that even if Im walking with a little bit of incline its hard to for me to walk up it. Thank you.

[jennyver]

Yes

I just came across this thread and thought I'd add my thoughts because I've experienced the same feeling of weakness when I walk slower.

For background, I usually walk with a cane unless I know I'm going to need to go a longer distance, be on my feet for a long time, or if I need to walk a distance across uneven ground. In those cases, I use either a rollator or scooter. I have severe leg weakness as well as an awful lack of balance.

In my experience, when I have to walk slowly -- like one step, pause, another step -- I get fatigued particularly quickly. I notice it when waiting in lines and other instances where I don't have the opportunity to walk at my usual speed or cadence.

My theory is that the lack of motion requires more effort for me to balance which hastens the weakness and makes the walking even harder.

Because of this, I almost always wait to be the last to go when there's a situation that requires me to stand while waiting my turn -- leaving theaters, exiting an airplane, etc.

[Dawn74]

I haven't been diagnosed either but...

When I walk about 50 feet, I slow down and even if I tried I couldn't walk fast it's like my legs my shoulders everything have suddenly have lead weight in them. I also have the balance problems
pain is unbearable.
But I don't know yet if it's even ms.

[naiyve]

Cash MRI

Yes I am aware of that, and im just waiting til i can get enough money together to get an mri or get insurance. Was just wondering if anyone had the same issue, whether it was harder to walk the slower they walked or felt weaker the slower they walked. I too have to walk slower for my safety but i just feel like it makes me weaker. if that makes sense.

A lot of places will have an insurance price and a cash price some of them really low. Call and ask all your local free standing MRI clinics if they have special rates for uninsured. I know in a town about 30 miles from me there is one that would do cash MRI's for $200.

I too have problems with lower leg weakness I can maybe walk halfway around the block that's it. On some evenings when I'm really tired I use a rollator to help me around. I also get these weird sensations when I'm walking like a pressure in my hips running down my legs and I have to stand there and hold onto something to keep from falling since I can't move my legs at all at that point.

I hope you get some relief and some answers!

[ElectricJAW]

You really need the diagnosis first

I do experience a lot of the symptoms you’re talking about and I work around them in fact I command them to do what I say when I need things to be done. It’s like the person with superheroes strength lifting a car off and injured man, I can do the same thing with my walking functions when I have to. However, everything I could tell you is tempered with the fact that I don’t know if you’ve been diagnosed with MS so I don’t want to give advice to somebody who may have A completely different diagnosis. There are “the indigent “opportunities for professional medical care outside of having insurance. I know that because my own brother just went through an emergency surgery and he has no insurance. All he had to do was sign a paper that when he’s employed he will start to make payments. So please, pursue that and and get your diagnosis so you can get ahead of your symptoms. I wish you well and your recovery/diagnosis