feeling drunk and disorientated

I feel like this most of the time and really spaced out, it’s not meds but nobody can explain why i feel like this.

It’s generally worse when i move about and when i walk i feel as though everything is moving around me but not spinning like vertigo.

I also feel as though the ground beneath me is not solid and that i’m sinking when i walk. Weird !

Anyone else experience this ?

A mild dose of optic neuritis with a dash of peripheral neuropathy?

You should think about keeping a diary of when it gets better / worse; what you are doing to make it better / worse…

A diary might help you get some context on whether it progresses one way or the other, how long it lasts, any behavioural traits you might want to work on / avoid and of course, if you need to see a neurologist about it, you will have the diary as a supporting document so that you can explain your situation most clearly and precisely, and thus most helpfully to the bod in the white coat.

best of luck to you!

Hi Lisar,

Yes, me.

The way we experience the world is through our nervous system. When nerves ‘short-circuit’ they produce that don’t match our memory of what things are supposed to like.

Your sense of balance is in the inner ear. When these nerves are affected you get the same as being on a ship. The deck is moving about but your eyes tell you it’s stationary. Then you throw up. That’s why we’re told to look at the horizon. Then the horizon is moving the same way the deck is.

It’s the same thing with the nerve endings in your feet. Normally you’d each footstep. You never knew it, but the nerves in your feet are measuring the hardness of each step, the texture of the ground you’re walking on and the temperature of the tarmac/pavement/gravel/sand. Now those pesky little nerve endings (that no one told you about) are sending the wrong signals to your brain.

That’s why concrete spongy. And that’s why you drunk (without the fun part).

Personally, I’m holding out 'til I can get drunk and still sober. (Is there any point to that?)

Anthony

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or perhaps the inner ear and foot neurons are functioning perfectly and the messages being received by the central processing unit (the brain) are compromised by stretches of demyelination…?

either way, same net effect.

make mine a double (vodka not vision).

Thanks boys, both replies make sense, why can’t the neuro come up with something along those lines, rather than ‘don’t know’.

I also have a lesion on the brain stem, which has always made me wonder if this is part of the reason ?

i think there is a good chance of that. does it give you l’hermittes too?

I feel like you describe and i have brain stem lesions.no fun at all is it ?

J x

Yes, it most likely is.

The reason that neuroes don’t like to commit themselves is that they are afraid of clear and simple explanations for fear of “dumbing down” their profession and being made to look fools by their peer group.

Some seem to have forgotten that part of the Hippocratic Oath that goes:

“I will remember that there is an art to medicine as well a science, and that warmth, sympathy and understanding may outweigh the surgeon’s knife or the chemist’s drug”.

You can insert ‘MRI scanner’ as well if you like.

Personally, I really like analogies like the one Paolo uses. I think of my brain as a central processing unit and the five senses as the peripherals. Eyes are the scanner, the mouth is the printer or speakers (guffaw), the keyboard is the sense of touch(obviously). I haven’t found a simile for my bladder though. Recycle bin?

Answers on a postcard please to:-

MS Society

327 Edgware Road

London NW1 6ND

Lines close at midnight.

What a wonderful clear explanation

Yes, me too but particularly over the past three weeks. It’s worse in the morning and settles as the day goes on. This morning when I got up I had to sit on the edge of the bed and wait a minute to steady myself as I felt like I was on a ship in rough seas!

Great explanation, Anthony. I’m seeing the neuro next Wednesday for my annual check-up - well, fourteen months check-up. This is going on my list of things to discuss!

I’m doing searches for similar symptoms I have.this sounds very familiar to how I feel all the time which is so frustrating.is there anything I can take to help with this?so frustrating!any advice to give

Hello Michy21, sorry to hear about your symptoms. I had my initial event in September 2019 and one of my main symptoms, along with the double vision and interneuclear opthalmoplegia, was the feeling of being drunk, spaced out and floating when walking (a bit like when you step off a running machine and feel you are still moving forward). This also caused motion sickness when moving, especially walking. It did subside over time, but never completely went away. I recently had some temporary prisms fitted to my glasses which has made a massive difference once I got used to them. My left eye was impacted during the initial episode and it is not in true alignment with the right eye. When I relax my eyes the left one drifts noticeably out and upward, and under normal vision (without the prism lenses) my eye muscles have to work overtime to try and align my left eye to my right eye, and I think this disparity between the two eyes is partly responsible for the sensations. Do you have an MS Nurse and/or do you have any vision issues?

Thanks so much for your reply.yes I have an MS nurse.I might ask their opinion to see if any medication can be taken for the problem. My eyes have deteriorated over the years but I find wearing glasses only works when I’m sitting watching TV as walking around makes me have the strange drunk like feeling and it makes me off balance so I don’t wear them when up walking.