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Phantom MS Symptoms
By Trevis GleasonFor Life With Multiple SclerosisReviewed: July 11, 2017Everyday Health BlogsFact-CheckedMultiple Sclerosis can be a disease stacked high with so called “invisible” symptoms — things that happen to our bodies that no one else can see. These maladies can range from (but are not limited to) fatigue, pain, numbness, cognitive dysfunction, bladder and bowel issues, and the list goes on. There are also, in the wonderful world of our stupid commonality, symptoms that can be even more frustrating to explain: phantom symptoms. We’ve chatted about “the cold hand of MS” in our pages before. A new one woke me in the early hours before the roster down the lane made his morning announcements, and so I thought we’d talk about them again. By definition, a phantom sensation is something we experience that isn’t really happening. The creepy crawlies that feel like bugs on our skin are a perfect example. I will often get an icy cold drip falling onto my thigh that feels like water or wax splashing onto my leg. Many of you have chimed in over the years with some of your not-really-there experiences. This morning — so early it should be called last night — I awoke lying on my left side to a vibration in the bed that was so very real that I thought maybe someone had put a washing machine on the spin cycle under our bed. When I was awake enough to analyze the sensation, I eventually understood that it was something related to MS and that I wasn’t really vibrating. First, the bed was not moving. That was pretty easy to ascertain. Next I came to understand that it was only the left side of my body that was feeling the harmonic bodily hum. RELATED: Don't miss these lifestyle tips from people who have MS. Find answers on Tippi. Still, the sensation was so real that I placed my right hand all over my port side to see if I could feel any movement. None was to be had. It’s one thing to have a tic or twitch where I can say to Caryn, “Can you feel (or see) this happening to me?” and she can experience the oddity as well. To feel something that really isn’t happening is a whole other level of crazy. Whatever lesion on whatever part of my electrical system that was causing the formidable rumble was only affecting my left side, but it was the entirety of that side of my body — from the center of my spine to my sternum, and from crown to heel. It lessened when I rolled to my back and became even fainter when I continued to my starboard beam, but it didn’t disappear altogether. As I sit (still many hours before the Apollo is scheduled to make his daily chariot run across the sky) I still note a faint vibration in every part of that side. My teeth, my ears, fingers, buttock, toenails… it’s just there. But it isn’t there, for nothing is really moving. This thing that I can feel from the inside cannot be experienced by anyone else or even the part of me intimate enough to share the same skin and organs. Weird disease ,this multiple sclerosis thing; weird, indeed. Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers, Trevis You can also follow me via our Life With MS Facebook page, on Twitter, and in our group on MS Connection.org. Also, check out our bi-monthly MS blog for the United Kingdom, look for our very special new monthly blog for the National MS Society, and don’t forget to check out TrevisLGleason.com. 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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