Tag Archives: neuropathic pain

Feb 17 2019
6 Comments
Daily Life

Playing The MS Game

Almost seven years after my diagnosis, and years of symptoms before that, I think I’m now fairly adept at playing the MS Game.

I know when it’s best to:

Wake up – 5am – brain at fullest function, emails, print things off, brainstorm Uni stuff. Coffee helps.

Shower – straight after work (I know, weird, huh?) but working as a builder, it’s best to wait until after work as I just can’t handle two showers in a day. I shove my hair under a woolly hat and hope for the best (and some customers call me ‘lad’, gah).

Cook – a moveable feast – whenever I have the energy. Freezer bags of pre-cooked food are my friend for bad days when I can do nothing more than microwave. On really bad days, well …

Work – has changed so much over the years. Thank goodness my job is flexible and can be adjusted to how I’m feeling, plus working with a group of friends is balm for the soul, compared to the bullying I put up with in my previous job.

Study – five minutes here, ten there. Anywhere and everywhere. Boss drooling in Screwfix? Whip book out, highlighter in hand. Boss talking for hours with the plumber/electrician/plasterer? Same. As friends, we go back a very long way and he knows I pull my weight (lol).

Do Housework – on an ‘As And When’ Basis. Cordless vacuum, ignore the dust. Keep hold of that leaflet for cleaning services for when I win the lottery.

LIve – the tricky one. I no longer travel alone. I rarely socialize. Once, twice a month – it’s a lot of effort. Home is my safe space. Meetings are planned for the morning and taxis are a godsend. It’s the afternoons and evenings that are the problem.

Handle Relapses – the worst of all worlds, especially living alone. All of the above is scaled back to The Sofa.

Hold a Pity-Party – definitely in the wee small hours. I’m plagued by MS insomnia at the moment and seem to feel every single symptom, amplified. My legs crawl with neuropathic pain, I twitch, my hands move too fast or too slow. It’s a waking nightmare.

I think when you have MS, you live with endless body-consciousness – we know exactly what we are capable of (or not) on a day-to-day basis. I still smile when someone says, ‘yeah, cool, next Thursday?

I have absolutely no idea how next Thursday is going to be …

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Oct 08 2017
12 Comments
Daily Life

A Bit Twisted …

iceI never use normally use the word ‘twisted’, but this is two blog posts in a row now.

From ‘twisty-turny path’ of my last one to a real, live twist in this one.

Am I actually clairvoyant?

I twisted my knee yesterday.

Of all the things to do and in such a random way. I don’t know about you guys but sometimes messages take a little longer to get from my brain to the correct bits of my body. So, I’m standing there, in work, knowing I want to turn. Most of my body does, except my lower legs and feet.

Snap. Pop. Twang. Something went in the back of my knee. It hurt, and then it didn’t, so I carried on.

A couple of hours later, I was in agony. All evening I slapped bags of frozen parsnips on it (I hate parsnips, no idea why I bought them) and elevated it. Painful doesn’t begin to describe it. As it was a Saturday night, there was no point going to A&E, so I took some Nurofen, watched ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ and shuffled slowly to bed.

This morning, I got up early and took myself off to the emergency department. Or rather, I limped. The pain was excruciating and triggered every nerve cell which is normally kept at bay by the neuropathic pain meds I take. I was a bit of a fizzing mess.

After triage, an x-ray and a consultation, I was told to rest, but keep moving. Move, but rest. And then prescribed the strongest painkillers they were allowed to and given a leaflet about knee injuries.

I felt like being brave so I went to work (I know, right?), where I took the first painkillers. The Boss had made coffee, so it was worth turning up just for that. Anyway, within half an hour, I was pain-free and ever so slightly out of it. Perhaps I shouldn’t have gone to work, but the thought of being laid-up at home reminded me too much of a relapse.

I got home, discovered the cat had left a poo on one of my rugs, realised I was out of milk and began to feel sorry for myself. Time for some more painkillers. And maybe a different kind of ice …

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Dec 11 2015
4 Comments
Symptoms and Treatment

Give and Take

backflipIf I could do backflips and turn cartwheels, I would.

For the first time in over four years, I have zero nerve pain in my legs. It’s nothing short of a miracle.

Yesterday, after consultation with my MS nurse and GP, I doubled my dose of Pregabalin. Within hours my legs felt, well, normal. I prodded them, stood up, sat down, walked across the room.

Ah. Of course. As with anything MS-related, it gives with one hand and takes with the other. Sure, I could feel my legs, but my balance was shot. I staggered around the kitchen, unaware The Teenager had snuck up behind me for a fridge-rummage.

‘Wha’s up with you, muv?’

‘S’alrigh’. Meds. Strange.’

‘You’re talking funny.’

‘Yar.’

‘Can I have a tenner for the cinema tomorrow?’

‘Erm, yesh.’

I was slurring my words. My head was spinning and I felt drugged. The Teenager found the last yoghurt I’d been hiding behind the jam and wandered off, tutting.

I flopped onto the sofa, polished off the chocolate Buttons and tried to think. Pregabalin is also prescribed for Generalised Anxiety Disorder as well as neuropathic pain, so I guess that’s where the drugged, cotton-wool-brain feeling came from. It can also affect balance and speech. Excellent.

I weighed up the pros and cons. The nerve pain is manageable during the day, excruciating at night. I’ve spent hours whimpering on the sofa in agony, unable to concentrate on anything. Whole evenings have been wasted. Could I swap this for a spaced-out feeling? Would I trip more than usual?

I’m going to give it a go.

The pain in my legs has defined my life too much and is a constant MS-memento. Unfortunately I still have the numbness in my feet, so the foot-drop is here to stay and sometimes I can’t feel my feet at all, although the pavements are there to remind me as I trip over yet again.

So for now, I will ricochet around the house, falling over the rugs and the cat, but I won’t mind so much as my head will be floating around somewhere else. I haven’t been outside yet – I’m about to get ready to take The Teenager to town for lunch.

Should be interesting?

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