I am just wondering if pain is a common part of MS. This is a new symptom I have been getting over the past few weeks. Quite sharp pains that come and go, mainly in right leg and arm. In my leg it tends to be lower part, calf and towards the front of it. Arm is also lower part and sometimes this can shoot into my fingers. Very painful when it happens, has kept me awake at times.
Does anybody else have it and how do you deal with it???
Thanks
Nat
Hi Nat x
My worst and most constant pain is more to do with muscle stiffness and spasming especially round my middle - Baclofen has helped to ease this quite a lot - not totally though unfortunately but enough to make it tolerable x
I get shooting pains in my leg but not very often - I also get sharp pain under my foot x I have also been having horrible burning pain in my thigh and down my leg and a sensation of being very hot when it’s actually freezing cold
I’ve just started Gabapentin and after just 4 days it’s certainly taken the edge off it - which is a huge relief beleive me!
I’m upping the dose soon so hopefully if I get it right it’ll get rid of it altogether!
Ask your GP about it - the neurospinal consultant sent mine a letter prescribing it xxx jen xxx
Sorry, also wanted to ask do symptoms come and go with MS, do some symptoms stay and never go??? Do some stay and some go??? Does it depend on which sort of MS you have??? Hope this isn’t a silly question,I just don’t know very much and find people on here more helpful and imformative than searching the internet.
Thanks again x
Hi Nat F
I have exactly the same symptoms as you and can only put it down to MS. Sometimes I get what feels like a lightning bolt shoot down the side of my face, through my neck, along my shoulder and down my arm. More recently, I’m starting to get it in my legs and feet. This pain comes and goes, and I can only associate these symptoms with MS, as I never had this before. To deal with it, I think I have a high tolerance to pain, but this cold weather makes it worse. I used to love the wintery season, but these last few weeks with the snow and ice, I havent been coping well at all. How are you coping with it? x
Hi Hayleybob, my memory is rubbish,can’t remember if you said before if you have been diagnosed or not. This pain is all quite new, this week I have had pain in my jaw, felt like someone had thumped me,and then felt it in the back of my neck and down to my right shoulder. Thankfully this didn’t last too long,came and went over Monday night and Tuesday. Upto now I have lived with the pain,wasn’t sure if to go back to the docs to tell him about this or wait for my next appoinment at the hospital. The arm and leg pain is there everyday but comes and goes. I am just about managing to get through the working day, better in the mornings,flagging by mid afternoon. Do you also get fatigue??? If so how do you deal with this??
x
I did write a little bit of my history some where on this forum but can’t remember where now! lol I have been dx, but my occupational dr thinks I’ve been mis-diagnosed the type. Originally told last month RRMS, but this Dr thinks PPMS. I’m waiting to hear from another neuro.
With fatigue, I had one really really bad episode a few months’ ago. It just suddenly hit me from nowhere. I’ve had a few others but no where near as bad as that one, I just have to put myself to bed. Now my family are aware of this condition, I’ve got their support and understanding, as I thought they were thinking that I was just being too lazy/idle. What has helped me deal with this is giving booklets about MS to family and friends to read up on it.
Shooting pains, like someone’s throwing darts at you or like electric shocks, are very common in MS. Neuropathic painkillers like amitriptyline, gabapentin and pregabalin can help loads with them.
As far as symptoms coming and going, it depends on the type of symptom. Things like shooting pains obviously come and go, but we might have periods when we get them more often and then periods when they go away. Sensory symptoms like pins & needles and burning tend to come in chunks of time (days, weeks) or are permanent, but they can be more noticeable at certain times (e.g. when we’re tired, we’re resting or in the evenings) so it can seem like they come and go. Spasms are usually intermittent, but spasticity (tight muscles) is usually permanent. In other words - it varies! What MS symptoms do not do is jump around. So if someone gets pins & needles in their arm today, it will not be in their leg tomorrow instead. This is because MS symptoms come from a particular area of damage, and only the bits of the body that that area is responsible for are affected. The symptom goes when the brain works out a way around the damage or the body repairs the damage sufficiently well to use it again. Ultimately though, MS can cause just about any neurological symptom and we all have our own unique version - so there is no hard and fast rule.
Whether or not symptoms become permanent generally depends on the type and severity of damage. People with RRMS, relapsing remitting MS, generally find that their symptoms improve during remissions, often getting complete remission in the early years. As time goes on, RRMSers tend to accumulate more residual symptoms and recover less well from relapses. People with PPMS, primary progressive MS, have gradually worsening symptoms from the beginning so that once something starts, it tends to be here for good (this isn’t always the case though). Somewhere around 50-65% of people with RRMS will become SPMS, secondary progressive MS, at some point (typically 10-15 years after diagnosis). This is when their MS becomes more progressive than relapsing remitting - most people find that they no longer have relapses, although some still do. Because getting over symptoms often depends on the body fixing things sufficiently well, symptoms due to more severely damaged bits are more likely to be permanent. Also, people with more lesions/damage are more likely to have symptoms that become permanent because finding a new route around the damage may be difficult.
These are very rough and ready explanations - if you have a look at the publications on this website and on the MS Trust website, you’ll be able to get better info. They are free to download or even to order hard copies.
Hth!
Karen x
Hi Nat,
I get terriable shooting pains up my middle fingers throught to above my wrist in both hands. Also in my big toes too.