I really don’t know! It’s true I don’t eat much else deep-fried, and have certainly never engaged in it at home, so it’s not easy to put to the test. I do buy Chinese ready-meals of battered pork or battered chicken from time to time, but can’t recall ever having a similar problem with those. In general, I’ve always been able to eat anything, whether it was a green salad, or junk full of E-numbers.
I do have a mild allergic reaction to almost any food, with a runny nose, and sometimes getting wheezy - it seems to be the mere act of eating, rather than any particular food. But none of it associated with MS, I’m sure.
The MS-related cramps have been with me a few years now - since well before diagnosis. I vividly remember having a really bad one one night, and wondering if I should call an ambulance, even though I knew it was “only” cramp, as I was unable to stand, and had visions of spending the whole night collapsed on the floor, which would not have been good. I’ve no idea whether I may coincidentally have visited the chippy that night too, but it was the first indication I ever had that I got cramps well beyond the normal ones that everyone gets once in a while. I knew it wasn’t normal to be unable to get up - and I’m not usually a drama queen - but I just did the usual self-delusional stuff of convincing myself I must have injured myself without realising, earlier that day/week, and that was all.
I never heard of anyone calling an ambulance for cramp, anyway, and thought the emergency services would take a bit of a dim view, so I lay on the floor until it passed.
Perhaps if I had called them and said it was so bad I was stuck on the floor and couldn’t get up, it might have triggered earlier investigations, and I might have been diagnosed sooner. But I’m not sorry, with hindsight, that I managed to pass most things off as: “not serious”.
Those cramps were the start of a lifelong issue, that is usually manageable with symptom relief, but it’s only rare I get these super-bad ones, and only lately I’ve spotted any pattern.
I did discuss with the neuro opting for some more drastic symptom relief, but we concluded it’s still rare enough not to. Yes, it’s very severe and painful when it does happen, but a bit drastic to medicate permanently, when it’s still the exception, rather than the rule. We also discussed botoxing the muscle - but again, it’s a bit drastic, if the problem is only sporadic. The other downside is it works best when a specific muscle is targeted, but as my whole leg cramps from toe to groin, they’re not realistically going to botox the whole lot - and if they did, could I still walk normally?
So we reluctantly decided the fixes were worse than the problem, and I would just put up with the odd episode of agony and swearing (mine!)
So far, it’s only ever happened at home, in private, and not on the bus, or in the middle of Sainsbury’s or anything. I guess if the latter happened, I’d end up in hospital whether I liked it or not, as onlookers probably wouldn’t understand my protestations that: “it’s just cramp”, and we need to wait for it to pass.
Tina
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