Hi has anyone suffered from numb legs. It feels like you have had an anesthetic at the demist.
Oh my goodness I was just about to post the same thing! Both legs are affected, I can still walk. Does anybody know what this could be? I am also bruising on my legs very easily as can’t feel myself bashing into things. To me it feels like when the anaesthetic is wearing off after having a filling. Only diagnosed a year ago so not sure if I should call the doctor or not…
If you are (both) diagnosed, then yes, numbness (anywhere) is a common symptom of MS.
If it comes on suddenly, and you don’t usually have it, you may be having a relapse.
You should have been told who to contact if you suspect you are having a relapse. In my case, I think there is actually a dedicated “relapse No.” at the hospital - they hold a relapse clinic about once a week. Luckily, I’ve never had to use it.
If I couldn’t find the number, I think contacting any of the MS nurses would work, and they’d point me in the right direction.
Relapses should be reported, as their frequency and severity may influence which treatments you are considered for in future.
However, not all relapses are treated. The only real treatment is steroids, which may help to speed up recovery, but there’s no evidence they change the long-term outcome (how well you recover). If your symptoms are sensory only - i.e. numbness or other strange feelings, but no difficulty with movement, not all hospitals are that keen on prescription of steroids, because they do have risks and side-effects. There may be a case for leaving time and nature to do the work.
So report it in anyway, and they’ll probably want to see you to assess it, but they may or may not recommend treatment.
Tina
my feet feel like they are made of foam.
i am still walking but i cannot feel the ground very well.
my hands get the same sensation sometimes and feel like i’m wearing boxing gloves.
surprisingly i can still cut veg and cook. (i use sharp knives too!)
basically i know that this isn’t how my bits should feel but they still work.
carole x
Yes, I’ve had this too. It started off as numb toes and over the course of a couple of days it became my whole feet. This led to diagnosis because I previously had CIS so my GP faxed my neurologist who said he would see me the following week. By the time I saw the neurologist, I was numb from the waist down and could barely walk so was admitted to hospital for 3 days of IV steroids. Definitely report it as, if it has come on suddenly, with no fever or infection, it is likely to be a relapse.
Fast forward 6+ years and I still have some numbness in my feet on most days but have learned to live with it.
Fingers crossed, yours won’t get too bad.
Take care
Tracey
Hi Everybody.
Numbness in the legs and feet, oh yes!
These were my first symptoms back in 2007 when I was un-diagnosed, it took 4.5 years for it to fade and get better. At the time I wasn’t sure what was happening until boom, the familiar numbness/altered sensation returned with a vengeance. This is when I started to get things checked out and I had an RRMS diagnosis in May 2013.
Although I describe it as numbness, its not completely numb… I still have touch sensation but I describe it as feeling like my feet and legs are in plaster casts. It’s a tight strange sensation, it is worse just above my knee’s on both legs, feels kind of like somebody has tied a bandage around my leg tight. The weird “numbness” sensation in my feet alters on a daily basis, before I had IV Steroid treatment it used to feel like I was walking on pebbles. And of course, the muscles and ligaments in my legs simply don’t work properly now thanks to the random signals fed by the MS, so walking is shall we say, challenging at the best of times.
It’s very interesting to hear how other people are feeling.
Best regards to you all.
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Oh blimey - I had to check it was elmo/Tracey who wrote her post as it sounded precisely like my experience (I thought I didn’t remember commenting on this thread :o) Like Tracey, the odd numb (but not really) sensation did eventually wear off, although it took about three months and I have been left with spots/areas of altered sensation on both legs and feet that don’t really go away. It does make walking even more of a nightmare but I count myself lucky that I can still walk, albeit slowly and very carefully.
So CazM, the likelihood is that it will wear off, possibly completely, but it’ll take time and maybe steroids if it’s considered a relapse. Fingers crossed for you.
Anna x
Hi Puddlejumper, I was diagnosed a year ago and I am numb from the chest down. The way you describe your legs feeling is very much like mine, my feet ache a lot at night and it also feels like I’m standing pebbles. Do you take anything to help reduce this sensation? I was on Pregabalin earlier this year and it did help, but made me very tired and my walking got worse. I also tried Amitriptyline & duloxetine, but neither had any effect.
Hi IanD,
I’m so very sorry to hear you are numb from the chest down, I hope you are coping and managing these symptoms ok as I know how disconcerting they can be (and frightening)
Interestingly, when I was diagnosed in May 2013 I was also suffering from a strange symptoms which helped towards getting a diagnosis. It was right sided numbness/altered sensation in my tummy/chest area. It’s hard to explain really, “it just didn’t feel right” if you know what I mean. But the really strange thing was, it was on the right side starting at my tummy, upwards to just underneath my breast bone where it stopped. You could literally draw a pencil line on me indicating the boundaries of this weird numb area (not completely numb though, I could still feel touch sensation). I remember saying to my wife, this is getting worse as the days went by, and I was scared it would start spreading to the left hand side, and it did! However since 2013 and my IV Steroid treatment it has subsided to the point I don’t really notice it now, its still there and if I were to give it a strength number out of ten it would probably only be one or two.
Something else you may be able to relate to, most of the time I’ve got no idea if my feet are hot or cold. I seem to have lost the ability to sense this, I have to literally feel my feet and sometimes when I’m convinced they’re freezing they’re actually quite warm.
Very nice to hear from you IanD, I hope your symptoms continue to improve over time.
Best Regards.
Apologies, I didn’t answer your questions…
Walking on pebbles was a major problem for me, the pains in my feet were just ridiculous. Fortunately after the steroid treatment in 2013 this improved. I do get a strange sensation that feels like my toes are curling when they’re not.
Yes I do take Pregabalin, but I was on a high dose which like you effected my walking considerably, I also got weird “down below” sensations as if I’d no longer got any control over my bladder and the gates could open at anytime. Hospital put this down to the MS, but I said it was the Pregabalin, I was right!! Shortly after I reduced the dose, the weird sensation of loosing bladder control disappeared.
I’ve reduced the dose to only one 75mg tablet at night, but on occasion I forget to take it and boy do I know about it. I’ve tried to drop off the tablet completely, but the pains in my legs and feet at night time just becomes too much to bare. I don’t take any other tablets. I’m not sure if your Doctor explained this to you, but it takes a couple of weeks for Pregabalin to get into your system and start working. You could try taking just one tablet (75mg) at night and see how you go, but you’ve got to give it a month or so to see if your symptoms improve. You have to give your body time to adjust.
Take care.
Thanks for the replies Puddlejumper. I too get the tight feeling on my right side, like I’ve just been punched in the stomach. My bladder has been a bit haywire too.Hopefully the Pregabalin will work for me on the lower dose. On the higher dose my walking got worse just as my daughter was learning to walk, oh the irony! Hope you have a Merry Christmas.
Hi IanD, no problem.
Yes I see the irony for sure, good luck with the medication and I hope things improve for you.
Merry Christmas to you.
I have heard and read about lots of people who have experienced “heavy or numb” legs but has anyone experienced “light” legs? Throughout the day, i experience a sort of wave of lightness in my legs. It feels as if my legs are lighter and moving faster than they actually are. It comes and goes but seems to be more noticeable the longer i have been on my feet or the further i have walked.
I am worried that might turn into something more severe and may lead to reduced movement. Can anyone relate to this?
Douglas, I’ve experienced what you’re feeling.
it 's difficult to describe what my feet like when I walk. There’s is some numbness there, but the sensation in the sole of my feet makes it feel like there’s a small block of wood in my shoes.
derek
Douglas, I’ve experienced what you’re feeling.
it 's difficult to describe what my feet like when I walk. There’s is some numbness there, but the sensation in the sole of my feet makes it feel like there’s a small block of wood in my shoes.
derek
Yes i have it down right side form ribs to foot…got used to it…diagnosed 2001 …cant drive now due to foot getting more numb…before xmas
Hi all
I feel kinda same - hard to move my legs, bad feeling in them, numbness and incredible weakness.
Hi,
Yes i have numb feet and legs. It worse when im trying to sleep, touching the bedclothes seems to cause more numbness like a bandage round them. Last night it and moved to my thighs,not only were they numb but very tight…
Christine