I have always had painful legs but for the last 4-5 days it has become unbearable. It is so bad that I try to avoid walking about the house which is not very practical! I am also very wobbly and shaky and I just shuffle about the house. I just wonder if anything could have triggered this. I take Gabapentin and Duloxetine but they obviously aren’t working. Can anyone advise me on what meds they take?
I’m also confused cos the results of my recent MRI show no new lesions (which is great news!) but how do I explain the way I’m feeling? I have had a terrible year with worsening of symptoms. I thought I was having relapses and have had steroids 3 times this year but my ms nurse said it can’t have been relapses due to the fact my MRI showed no change. So I’m totally confused.com!!
Hi Helen, I’ve no idea what to say about your meds, I’m SPMS so don’t take anything special. Perhaps a chat with your nurse or neuro might help? There might be something that could help you right now.
Sorry I’m not much help, I’m hoping somebody else has some advice to offer.
Even though you may not be having relapses as such. MS is a progressive disease and perhaps your symptoms in general have just progressed a little over the last year…sorry to say. Or I could just be talking a load of rubbish and someone with more knowledge will come along and explain.
Have you ever had your back looked at, I was the same and no change on mri, told it wasn’t relapses. A year later found out I had 2 prolapsed disks lots of visits to a chiropractor and physio and touch wood much better xx
That sounds pretty horrible to live with. I know Pregabalin is another drug that can be used and is supposed to be more effective than Gabapentin.
And for a non-drug option, you could look into mindfulness meditation for pain management. I’ve been doing mindfulness meditation for a few years now since taking part in a study into it funded by the MS Society. To be honest, the basic idea of mindfulness (that you simply notice what you’re feeling without judging it as bad or good, or wanting to change it or make it go away) sounds like it won’t help at all. When I first started doing it, simply noticing the pain and spasms in my leg, without doing anything to change it, felt like torture! I thought It could never help, and that I’d never be able to do it. But, weirdly, it really can help. I soon found I was able to start letting go of the desire to stop the spasms, and I felt much more calm & relaxed when my legs were being painful, instead of getting stressed. It seems like the pain & spasms lessen more quickly too.
I think part of the way it helps is that it makes the pain much smaller mentally. Before I would say that I am in pain. But actually, because of doing the mindfulness, I now know that’s not true. Actually, it’s my leg that’s in pain…Or more specifically, it’s a bit of my leg that’s in pain. And it’s not in constant pain either - it’s stronger or weaker at different times. And the rest of my body is feeling all sorts of other things. It’s like looking at a street on Google maps. Noticing the rest of my body is like zooming out on the map - suddenly that street looks so much smaller than it did at first (hope that makes sense!) So, really, it’s not true to say that I am in pain. I am simply experiencing pain in part of me.
Hope you get some reiief soon though, and can start functioning a bit more normally.
