Thursday, August 17, 2006

Must Be The MS Weather...

     After reading the "titillating" news (yes, Mdmhvonpa...I found your use of the word "titillating" in your blog http://mdmhvonpa.blogspot.com/  so titillating, I just HAD to borrow!) in the national cesspool of news regarding the recent developments of the "JonBenet" murder 10 years ago, I proceeded to check in with my regular MS bloggers to see what "titillating" news they might be sharing.  It appears we are all under the MS Weather right now...

     Dear Mdmhvonpa (you already got his link), Jaime at http://mymsjournal.blogspot.com/ , and even Suzy at  http://miss_suzy.typepad.com/my_weblog/ are all experiencing some sort of relapse/sickness/symptoms/crap of their Multiple Sclerosis.  Dare I throw my name carelessly into that pot as well?

     I've been feeling a bit of "dropsy" coming on myself this past week...that's my term I like to use for these MS symptoms that come and go or come and stay!  Several days ago I had the crushing calf pains, which have now settled into a return of restless leg syndrome in my ever so compromised left leg...I'm having the "I can't seem to keep this leg still or comfortable" symptom.  There's really no other clear way to describe it, except to say two words:  It Sucks.

     My fatigue has also been royally kicking my butt for a few weeks now.  It certainly doesn't help that I have had a return of insomnia on top of it.  It's actually hard to tell which came first:  The chicken or the egg theory.  The insomnia, then the fatigue or the fatigue, then the insomnia.  Last night (or should I say early this morning) was a real EYE OPENER!  I could NOT fall asleep, no matter what my interventions...I think I finally drifted off some time around 5:00AM, only to awaken at 8:30AM.

     But while I'm whining publicly and perhaps even "bitching", let me also add my visual disturbance I awoke with today on top of my stack of complaints!  I've got that weird "things are blurry because they seem too clear" vision.  I'm sure it's just because my eyes are so tired...whatever the cause, it's quite annoying.  I don't know if any of you have ever experienced this type of visual disturbance or not (and I'd LOVE to know it if you have!)...it's like certain colors are more vivid, while my visual field is somewhat blurred at the same time.  I'd attribute it to LSD or speed (Timothy Leary would be so proud with my "Oooh, the colors" reference), but since I've NEVER done those drugs, I can only assume it's the MS.

     I have never found any profound studies about the timing of MS symptoms in correlation with weather or geography or season, but I'm starting to believe from my own experience (and that of other MSers) there is something to it...we DO seem to experience flares/relapses/symptoms in relationship to each other...not unlike women who synchronize there menstrual cycles when they live or work closely together (No fears, Mdmhvonpa...you WON'T start having periods because of reading the girls' blogs!).

     I don't have any proof it's the weather or the season causing this.  All I can say is, I do hope this CLOUD of MS passes soon for us all...

3 comments:

Anonymous said...

Linkety-link!  Wierd thought.  MS is like breaking up with your boy/girl friend.  It Sucks (tm) when things are bad.  But when you Make up, it is oh so sweet.  I think us MS ppls have a great blessing in that we know that when you are well, you have the world at your feet.  People who have never had it bad just don't get it.

That vision thing ... it means your sensory perception is overloaded and your neural net cannot handle it all.  I get something similar but it is more of a 'My body feels disconnected' type of thing.  My Neuro told me it is not common, but than again neither is MS.  Something to do about the Rods vs Cones sending signals at different impuse rates or some other nonsense like that.

As for the Chicken/Egg thing ... Chicken Soup & omlettes help solve that quandry.


Heh ... she said titillating ... heh-he.  

Anonymous said...

Thanks for giving me a MUCH needed laugh today!  

I think you may be on to something.  The more I read other MS'ers blogs and come in contact with other MS'ers...it does seem that there is some connection between the weather changes and our health.  Then again...it could all be a coincidence.  One thing we do know about this illness though is that it does NOT agree with the heat and this year has been especially HOT!  

As far as the eyes go...this year is the first time I have had any eye troubles with my MS.  I have noticed with the current ON however something that sounds similar to what you have been experiencing.  For me, I seem to be getting weaker throughout the day and I have noticed that some colors seem either brighter or faded....depending on the time of day and how I am feeling at the time.  I too have had the mental confusion to go along with it...so I am not sure it is really the same thing, maybe just similar?  

Whatever the case may be....something in the air, coincidence, etc. I hope we all get to feeling better real soon!   Take care.  

Anonymous said...

Can I whine here as well?  I just gotta say that I'm SO FLIPPIN' SICK of trippin' over my own left foot, that I'm almost ready to cut it off!  Whats up with Foot Drop, Mondovpa? (since he's rich in technical terms, I thought I'd ask him now instead of boring you with my silly MS questions....lol, oh and I gave up spelling his name the right way)

And the stabbing eye pain....does that mean an Optic Neuritis spell is about to come on?  And should I be shakin' in my shoes about this?  Ahhhhh...what the heck, my legs already do that twitching, jumping on their own thing, so shakin' is what I'm all about already!

Okay....so I'm just sayin'....at least we're all in the dayum MS boat together...even if it does sink, right?   =o)

Bless her little ol MS soul.....(that was for me, after all, it's all about me...lol)

~~hugs~~