My wife was diagnosed with MS in late September this year after her legs and hands became all numb. Eventually she was given steroids (oral) after several weeks though. She still had the numbness and pain even after 4 weeks post steroids. She went back to her neuro doctor and he then gave her Gapapentin for the pain. Although the pain seems to be controlled her numbness remains on her hands.
Does anyone know or had experience with this? and if so, how long did it last etc?
Nerves are peculiar things. The numbness and pins and needles may never go away, but our nerves compensate for weird feelings and the ‘sensations’ change, so while the numbness may stay, you stop noticing it.
I don’t think I ever felt my feet properly again after my very first relapse, 22 years ago. Yet I stopped remembering what my feet felt like before. The feeling changed to a ‘new normal’.
Having said that, a relapse can take months to remit. And the later you take steroids after a relapse starts, the less likely they are to hurry the remission up, which is the point of the steroids. They aren’t a ‘cure’, just something to speed up recovery. And they are not guaranteed either, sometimes they simply don’t work. But the end result, ie the remission does not depend on steroids working or not. Your wife’s remission will happen or not regardless of the steroids.