I have been in hospital over the weekend waiting for an mri after going into a and e because i lost feeling in the left side of my body from my feet up to around my shoulder. Im now home after getting the mri and being diagnosed yesterday. I’m only 28 and have 3 young children and I’m feeling quite stressed about my feeling going back to normal and when that might be! Has anyone else had this sort of thing happen to them and how long did it take to regain the feeling? At the moment I’m still able to walk it’s just the left side of my body is numb I’d describe the feeling as though I was under local anesthetic and I dont like it!
Aw Prinny
What a shock for you. To be so suddenly affected then diagnosed all at once. It’s a bad time whenever you are diagnosed with MS, but right now, with Covid meaning face to face meetings are difficult or impossible is even worse.
Most people (about 85%) diagnosed with MS have the relapsing remitting type (RRMS) see https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/types-ms This means they typically have relapses or flare ups followed by partial or complete recovery. The only medication available to speed up recovery from a relapse is high dose steroids. These are quite heavy duty drugs, they are unpredictable so may not work, have side effects, aren’t a cure, they just hopefully speed up remission. Medical professionals tend to prefer giving them when the relapse is ‘motor’ or mobility related rather than sensory.
Relapses can take weeks or months to get remission from. It’s not an exact science, nobody can give you a timescale for the length of time it will take for recovery. It can seem so slow you think it’ll never get better, but then one day you’ll maybe suddenly think you can ‘feel’ things better in that leg or that arm, or moving feels better. Have a look at https://www.mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/ms-symptoms/managing-relapses for more information about relapses.
You have a steep learning curve ahead of you, and having young children isn’t going to help matters a bit. I suggest that you try to take things slowly. MS isn’t going to go away, so you don’t have to learn everything all at once. Try not to worry, the chances are that you will make a full recovery back to where you were before.
Have you had any contact with, or got the phone number for, an MS nurse? S/he will be the best resource you can get for information and help with learning about the disease. S/he will also be able to guide you towards a disease modifying drug treatment that will help to reduce the number and severity of relapses in the future. If you do have any ongoing symptoms, the MS nurse should be able to help you with medication and / or physiotherapy.
I am sorry you’ve had to find your way here. But this forum is a great source of information, experience and support. Ask any questions you have, there is bound to be someone here who understands what you are facing. Try not to randomly google symptoms and treatments. Information that you get from this site (see the tab at the top of this page marked ‘About MS’) or on the MS Trust webpages is good and reliable.
Best of luck.
Sue
Hi I’m in the same boat I went to a+e 3 weeks ago with numbness mine was from the waist down on both sides, I was in hospital for 3days and was diagnosed with ms after 2 mri scans (spine and brain). I was given high dose steroids and have now regained feeling. I still have pins and needles in my feet and I suffered quite bad with pain (I was told it’s the feelings coming back to the nerves) but I am walking better and after pain killers the pain has settled.