The waiting continues. Still no word on nerve conduction tests. Must be an extra long waiting list for them!
Last couple of days I’ve been having problems with my right foot. It’s no longer lifting up properly, and if I’ve done a lot of walking I start hitting the floor with whole foot rather than the heel, if that makes sense!
I can still heel walk, but my right foot feels jelly-like doing it and is not not fully lifting up. The outside edge (little toe side) is tipping down, and I can’t for the life of me raise it up so that it’s flat with the rest of my foot. I think this is called inversion, so that the sole is pointing inwards.
Is this a form of foot drop? It doesn’t seem to match what I’ve read about foot drop, which is always described as an inability to lift the foot at all.
Yes it does sound like foot drop. I can still lift my foot but it has been gradually getting worse over the years. About five years ago it only happened after a long walk. I have found it is the only symptom that has not got any better. I use an FES stimulator now to help with it.
Thanks Moyna. I think it’s something that is gradually getting worse for me, and it’s just reached a point where I can’t pretend it’s just in my head. I’ve been dismissing what seemed to be happening, because I could lift part of my foot. The rest of me has gone from strength to strength, but I still seem to be declining in foot & leg strength, and knee reflex - very non-ms like!
I trip over things with my left foot because the usual amount of effort lifts that foot less and I keep forgetting to compensate (this has been the case for over 5 years and I still forget). With me, the ankle/foot is only part of it - that whole leg doesn’t quite work as it should from hip downward and gets fatigued much more quickly than the right. After a certain amount of walking I will come to a standstill because I eventually can’t lift that foot at all any more and will go round and round in small circles like Billy Connolly’s Glasgow drunk until the bad leg is restored by rest. Is this foot drop? I don’t know and don’t really care: it is what it is - a blasted nuisance. For me, it’s MS for sure, but I don’t know what the technical term for that particular deficit is.
By which I mean that I know that it is an MS thing in me, Mali, not that I think it is an MS thing in you (I have no idea about what is the matter with you!) I just wanted to clarify that because I had phrased it so clumsily in my earlier reply.
Don’t worry, I know what you meant! For me it’s definitely a something but we’re not sure what thing. MRI was clear and I was told that MS causes reflexes to become bigger rather than reduced as in my case. I understand about the fatigued leg thing. My right leg always seems to be a marathon ahead of the rest of me.
I think I need to give it a name because I don’t know where any of this is leading, and if something has a name I can get my head around how to deal with it. I don’t know if that makes sense to anyone else. Living with the unknown makes you a bit wobbly in the head, especially when some people think you’re making it all up. Grrrr…