When Come-and-Go MS Symptoms Come and Stay Everyday Health MenuNewslettersSearch Multiple Sclerosis News
When Come-and-Go MS Symptoms Come and Stay
MS symptoms are notoriously intermittent. But sometimes they don’t go away, even on the “good” days. By Trevis GleasonFor Life With Multiple SclerosisAugust 22, 2018Everyday Health BlogsFact-CheckedWhen intermittent MS symptoms become “forever” symptoms, they go from annoying to concerning.Michael Goldman/Getty ImagesI had to take my laptop into the local tech repair shop this week. It has been giving me problems with the touchpad for the past several weeks. Sometimes it’s fine. But other times the cursor seems to stick in one place, and I can’t get on with the job at hand. When that job is my next book, it can be annoying. That it happens on and off and then on again — well, that’s just “MS annoying.” I had to bring it in because even though it’s still an intermittent problem, it was getting more frequent. I’ve also had an old, on-again, off-again multiple sclerosis symptom not go “off again” for the past few months. And I almost miss that annoyance of intermittence. In the Doctor s Office Symptoms Hide
Like with my laptop, come-and-go MS symptoms — the ones many of us first experienced before being diagnosed — are some of the toughest to diagnose. The tech guy couldn’t get the problem to happen while he played with the computer, and I didn’t really have the time (nor budget) for him to play around with it for the day. So I left with an external mouse to try to bypass what he suspected was a faulty sensor in the touch pad. You guessed it: As soon as I got home not only did the problem start again, but the “fix” didn’t fix it, either. How many times have many of us left a doctor’s office with this or that prescription, diagnosis, or even lack of diagnosis only to find that the patch was far from effective? Intermittent Is Annoying Permanent Can Be Worse
But that’s just one stage of dealing with MS symptoms. When the intermittent symptoms become forever symptoms, they go from annoying to concerning. Sure, we learn to live with them as part of the constant background noise of our disease, but as an open window is first covered with a screen, then a curtain, then the window closes, we eventually realize that it’s also been locked. I’ll miss the breeze coming in that window. An old, dear friend used to say, “Better bad breath than no breath,” and he wasn’t wrong. Weakness that makes me fall now and again (and again, and again) is better than the total loss of those legs. Not knowing if I’ll wake with burning, neurogenic pain down my leg or if that pain will go away if I do wake with it isn’t pleasant. That pain being my constant companion is even less so. A pesky dark or cloudy spot in the field of vision is a pain in the arse. But when that eye is lost to optic neuritis for good, we lose a level of independence. MS symptoms come, and MS symptoms go, but sometimes they come and they stay. And that’s when I find myself longing for the “good old days” of when they went away, even if only for a little while. 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
SubscribeBy subscribing you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy. The Latest in Multiple Sclerosis
How to Craft a Life s Mission Statement
By Trevis GleasonOctober 21, 2022 Dysarthria When MS Makes It Hard to Speak
By Mona SenOctober 20, 2022 Is That Really How I Walk
By Trevis GleasonOctober 18, 2022 How Do You Know When to Throw in the Towel
By Trevis GleasonOctober 14, 2022 Living With MS What to Know About Neuropathic Pain and How to Manage It
Neuropathic pain is not your average pain. Here’s what to know about this unique type of MS pain and how to find relief.By Kerry WeissOctober 12, 2022 UTIs and MS The Importance of Early Diagnosis and Treatment
If you have multiple sclerosis, you may be prone to frequent urinary tract infections. Besides being painful, UTIs can make MS worse, so it’s important...By Kerry WeissOctober 12, 2022 Why Is Orange the Color of MS
By Trevis GleasonOctober 11, 2022 13 Celebrities Who Have Multiple Sclerosis
Look among the millions of people with multiple sclerosis and you'll find famous faces, too. Learn how some of these celebrities are dealing with MS and...By Regina Boyle WheelerOctober 11, 2022 We All Have Something to Teach Our MS Doctors
By Trevis GleasonOctober 7, 2022 EBV An MS Box I Can Finally Tick
By Trevis GleasonOctober 4, 2022 More In Life With Multiple Sclerosis How to Craft a Life s Mission Statement
Is That Really How I Walk
How Do You Know When to Throw in the Towel