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The Cramp You Can t Stretch
Sometimes there is nothing you can do but live with a symptom and hope it passes. By Trevis GleasonFor Life With Multiple SclerosisReviewed: November 4, 2021Everyday Health BlogsFact-CheckedMuscle spasticity, or involuntary contracture, can make a muscle feel like a piece of rope.Richard Drury/Getty Images I have written about my experiences with multiple sclerosis (MS) pseudoexacerbations, phantom symptoms, and the itch you can’t scratch. They’re all real, they’re all annoying, and now they have a cousin: the cramp you can’t stretch. I woke on a recent autumn morning with the feeling that something had changed since I’d closed my eyes the night before. It wasn’t one of those foreboding feelings you get when you know you slept on it wrong, and it will likely get worse as your day progresses. Rather it announced itself in full-throated fury as soon as I stepped from the bed. A Strand of Muscle Felt More Like Bone
A strand within the mass of muscles we call the calf felt more like bone than soft tissue. It wasn’t the whole back of my lower leg, but a thumb-width band of the gastrocnemius or soleus of my left leg had turned into a hot, wiry, rope. I rubbed the offending area, and it wasn’t just a perceived experience. There was a ridged swath that ran from just below the back of my knee down to some lower point of insertion. It was as hard as a tendon and as tight as a violin string. It was real, but it made no sense, as can often happen with multiple sclerosis. You could even see the rigid tissue bulging beneath my skin. Editor' s Picks
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I’d not been particularly active, beyond my routine physio exercises, as our dog, Maggie, is rehabilitating a shoulder injury, and I was nursing a facet joint strain. Maggie and I had not been out on our regular walks in some weeks. The night before there was no sign of the tightness or pain I was now experiencing — telltale signs of an “MS thing,” if you ask me. I tried all the usual things — hot water bottles, cold compresses, ointments, liniments, pain relievers, and good old massage — but nothing seemed to work. I researched what injury or strain might cause such an odd symptom and found none. Then I remembered that favorite oldie from the MS symptom books: spasticity, often referred to as rigidity. This particular area of muscles was getting a crossed signal from somewhere in my brain and thought it was being told to tighten. Fair play to the fibers: They were following what they thought were their directions very well! RELATED: MS Muscle Spasticity: What It Is and What to Do About It All I Could Do Was Get On With My Day
Expecting that it might pass, I tried to get on with the day I’d planned. I did find myself — almost involuntarily — stretching my leg or bending down and rubbing the offending muscle. It was like having a charley horse that just wouldn’t go away, but in a small and very specific location. That thought brought to my mind that I’d had a couple of incidences in the previous month or so when a tightness or twinge in that same area caught me up short for a moment or two. As with the more acute episode of that morning, I’d not done anything to aggravate the area. On those occasions, however, the pain was fleeting, and I simply got on with my day. The spasticity began to subside after about 36 hours and fully abated within a few days. It wasn’t a pleasant time, but at least it was temporary. It hasn’t returned (thankfully), but I will be mindful. There are medications if that sort of carry-on becomes a lingering symptom. As my old MS friend Rusty used to say, “Things that make you go, Hmmmmm.” Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis My book, Chef Interrupted, is available on Amazon. Follow me on the Life With MS Facebook page and on Twitter, and read more on Life With Multiple Sclerosis. Important: The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the author and not Everyday Health.See More NEWSLETTERS Sign up for our Multiple Sclerosis Newsletter
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