So over these past few months I have lost the ability to walk, I can stand up but struggle to lift my right foot up of the floor, I have to move with the aid if a Zimmer at the moment and I’m sleeping on a chair at the moment because I can’t get up the stairs to bed, I just wondered if anyone had experienced this and if so does it get better? Because I’m scared I’ll be like this indefinitely now
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I guess it depends on what type of MS you have, and if you are recovering from a relapse?
In any event, it would be a good idea to get a physio to check you out and suggest an exercise programme that you can manage.
Hopefully, things will improve as your muscles get stronger.
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Hiya Hannah
You must be pretty scared at the moment …. but as Whammel suggests you must get assistance. You need to have an assessment by a physio to see what can be done to help you. Contact your GP to be referred.
Do you have an MS Nurse - if so they are usually helpful?
The longer you avoid the stairs the more scary they will become.
Please post on here again and let us know how you are doing!
Sue xx
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I had a similar experience.
Little by little, I started walking more and more wobbly with my right leg being rather difficult to use. I wasn’t really sure what exactly the problem was (well, I knew I have MS and that it was probably an attack, but not what part of the body wasn’t working). I could feel my leg when I touched it etc so it took a while to figure out if it was actually the leg that was the problem.
After a while, I drove to the hospital. I could only barely lift my right foot at this point, and so I all but had to pull and push it around using my right hand while driving in order to press the speeder and the brake. Rather a dangerous ordeal, but I made it there safely.
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Hmm, seems my post is too long so will split it into pieces, sorry!
I was promptly told by my doctor to come in for 3 days with IV steroids. I somehow drove back home, and then had my father-in-law drive me there the next day.
They kindly took me inside in a wheelchair, and then after 3 days on IV steroids I got a little better and was able to walk slowly back out to the car and be driven home. I continued steroid pills for 2 weeks afterwards I think so that there wouldn’t be a huge rebound from suddenly stopping. Eventually, I got my right leg mostly back to normal. It has a certain softness remaining now which means I randomly just step into thin air rather than on my leg sometimes and consequently sink like a stone until I notice there was no leg reaction and I then forcefully tighten my muscles to catch myself. Kind of like, if I am not concentrating on keeping the leg properly working it just randomly turns off. So I cannot casually walk down the stairs for example, because it’s quite a long fall and rather hard to do with flexed muscles, but walking up the stairs is not a big deal if I just walk slowly and carefully.
Well, to answer your question then, have you tried calling in or going to the hospital saying you are probably having an MS attack that makes you unable to walk, and that you might need steroids to stop it? (or does the NHS not do that? I live in Japan sorry so I don’t really know how things normally go there).
Once the attack stops, the body might go to work on rebuilding the myelin damage that’s causing your leg to not work properly due to it not being able to get the messages from the brain properly. That has nothing to do with the muscles themselves being weak or anything mind you, it’s entirely a communication problem. Mind you, if it is an attack. You can possibly help it a little by having enough healthy fats in your diet, like fish oil or walnuts. Not medicine mind you, the body has to do the work itself. If you have had MS for quite a while and are getting older, that becomes harder unfortunately. But initially the body can heal the MS damage quite well, it just needs time and resources. The steroids can at least buy some time, like the various MS medicines.
The most important is to get treatment quickly if you want good odds at least. As long as the attack continues, you could be burning through all your myelin and into the actual nerves, and that is a lot harder to heal.
They say attacks usually last around a month I hear, but I always went on steroids within a few weeks at most so I haven’t got any experience myself in that area I’m afraid, sorry.
I was at least restored to mostly normal walking ability despite being an inch away from walker or wheelchair life due to stopping the actual attack and letting the body have a break to rebuild.
But you are saying “a few months” now, so it sounds like that attack, if it were one, may have happened and finished already. In which case the damage may already be done, and you can only focus on indeed the rebuilding process like I mention with healthy fats above, and then rehabilitation like whammel mentions, trying to see if you can get other muscles to do the work instead for example, thus using nerves that are still working.
If you get a contrast agent MRI you can see if the attack is still ongoing by seeing if there is activity in your brain, or well in the case of the legs it might be your spine I imagine.
My attack knocked out part of my big thigh muscle making me unable to lift my foot, and even now the muscle sometimes feels a little strange sometimes when I get flareups of old symptoms. Depending on what part of your leg or well indeed foot exactly isn’t allowing you to move properly, the activity and thus damage might be in a slightly different place.
Err but as usual huge caveat that I have no medical expertise of any sort and know only what Google and indeed my own body’s anecdotal experiences can tell me, apply plenty of salt before you believe me wholeheartedly.
I do hope it works out for you Hannah, losing the ability to walk all of a sudden was a gruesome experience and I was terrified of never being able to play with my newborn son at the time, so I can imagine how horrible you must have felt these few months, truly crossing my fingers for you!
Hi
You’ve already had good advice re physio etc.
When I developed MS I lost the ability to lift my left leg properly instantly, however we’re all different.
My tip is stair related. I always walk down them backwards either holding on a bannister etc or if that’s not possible on all fours. Haven’t fallen in 12yrs.
Hope it helps
Adam