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My mom can't walk. Please help!!!
Hello,
My mother (48) had her legs just completely give out on her one week ago. She still cannot support her own weight. She does have feeling in them but can barely move them and has to focus really hard on telling her legs to move.
She said her legs have given out on her 2 or 3 times within the past 6 months but it was only for a few minutes right after waking up. Also she was having pain in her hands and issues with her fine motor skills within the past year or so, not sure if that's related or not.
She had a CAT scan and an MRI that both turned up empty. The doctors are currently thinking it's an auto-immune thing. They don't think MS or Lyme.
Some possible things that I have thought of: osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillian-Barre syndrome..? Just thoughts or things I've read.
Please help me, she hasn't been able to walk for over a week and nobody can say why!
I can give some more history if needed. Thank you.
My mother (48) had her legs just completely give out on her one week ago. She still cannot support her own weight. She does have feeling in them but can barely move them and has to focus really hard on telling her legs to move.
She said her legs have given out on her 2 or 3 times within the past 6 months but it was only for a few minutes right after waking up. Also she was having pain in her hands and issues with her fine motor skills within the past year or so, not sure if that's related or not.
She had a CAT scan and an MRI that both turned up empty. The doctors are currently thinking it's an auto-immune thing. They don't think MS or Lyme.
Some possible things that I have thought of: osteoporosis, fibromyalgia, gout, rheumatoid arthritis, Guillian-Barre syndrome..? Just thoughts or things I've read.
Please help me, she hasn't been able to walk for over a week and nobody can say why!
I can give some more history if needed. Thank you.
SO VERY SORRY TO HEAR ABOUT YOUR MOM'S TROUBLE. I GOT HIT IT THE HEAD AT WORK A FEW YEARS AGO. USING CAPS CUZ MY VISION GETS BAD TOO. OTHERWISE I HAVE ALL THE SAME PROBS TOO. I HAVE BEEN CHECKED FOR EVERYTHING I CAN THINK OF ALL THE ATHRITIS'S N LUPUS, CELIAC ETC. I HAVE BEEN ASKED BY DOCS IF I AM DOING THIS FOR ATTENTION. SO FAR ALL HAVE BEEN NEGATIVE. SOMETIMES I FEEL LIKE THINGS ARE BITING ME OR I'M BEING BURNED. -THE ONLY TESTS THAT SHOWED ANYTHING ARE SOME MINOR VERTEBRATE? DAMAGE, HIGH 29 CRP? HIGH WHITE CELL COUNT N LOTS OF TREE ALLERGIES? THE LONGEST MY LEGS HAVE GIVEN OUT FOR IS 4-5 DAYS. I RARELY SLEEP AND I'M VERY TIRED, WITH TONS OF MUSCLES SPASMS. SO SLEEP IS RARE. EVEN FACE IS NUMB. YOU CAN POKE IT, I FEEL VERY LITTLE. - I HAVE WALKERS AND THINGS LEFT FROM WHEN MY M.I.L. WAS SICK. SO THIS HAS HELPED.
- LOOK UP THE AARP WEBSITE UNDER HEALTH AND IT LETS U PUT IN ALL YOUR SYMPTOMS. THEN MS COMES UP. THIS IS THE FIRST THING I FOUND ABOUT BURNING PAINS. ALMOST CHOKING EVEN ON MY OWN SALIVA NOW SEVERAL TIMES A DAY. GOING TO CALL NEUROLOGIST AND TELL THEM MUSCLE RELAXERS NOT WORKING. EYES N FACE NOW BURNING? HOPE SOME OF THIS HELPS. I JUST TURNED 54, PLEASE TELL YOUR MOM SHE IS NOT ALONE. BLESSINGS AND HUGS TO HER AND YOU.
- LOOK UP THE AARP WEBSITE UNDER HEALTH AND IT LETS U PUT IN ALL YOUR SYMPTOMS. THEN MS COMES UP. THIS IS THE FIRST THING I FOUND ABOUT BURNING PAINS. ALMOST CHOKING EVEN ON MY OWN SALIVA NOW SEVERAL TIMES A DAY. GOING TO CALL NEUROLOGIST AND TELL THEM MUSCLE RELAXERS NOT WORKING. EYES N FACE NOW BURNING? HOPE SOME OF THIS HELPS. I JUST TURNED 54, PLEASE TELL YOUR MOM SHE IS NOT ALONE. BLESSINGS AND HUGS TO HER AND YOU.
My heart goes out to you and your mother. Getting a diagnosis in these cases is often a long long process. From your symptoms it sounds an awful lot like my brother's MS, I know you said they ruled it out, but they are wrong sometimes. Have you sought out other doctors? A second opinion can't hurt and it might help.
Please keep us informed of any DX or improvements in your dear mother. Please tell her that we here at MedHelp are pulling for her and she is in my prayers. I'm glad she has you too!
Please keep us informed of any DX or improvements in your dear mother. Please tell her that we here at MedHelp are pulling for her and she is in my prayers. I'm glad she has you too!
So sorry to hear this is happening..
Please ask your physician about a 'nerve conduction test'. The tremors and the fact you are having a hard time swallowing bothers me.
Not that I want to scare you, but this is the same cycle my good friend went through before being diagnosed with ALS... Please God, I hope that is not what you have.
Remember that many neurological related diagnosis can have very similar symtoms, but the sooner you are diagnosed yourself, the better so that you can start working towards a better life.
God Bless...
Karen
Please ask your physician about a 'nerve conduction test'. The tremors and the fact you are having a hard time swallowing bothers me.
Not that I want to scare you, but this is the same cycle my good friend went through before being diagnosed with ALS... Please God, I hope that is not what you have.
Remember that many neurological related diagnosis can have very similar symtoms, but the sooner you are diagnosed yourself, the better so that you can start working towards a better life.
God Bless...
Karen
Thank you all for your feedback, it is greatly appreciated.
@Red_Star: I will pass this information onto the doctors, thank you.
@dlady66: She has been receiving B12 injections at the hospital, I am unsure about vitamin E. Besides that I think she's just been given mild pain killers, nothing major. Also, today I learned that they ran another MRI, awaiting those results.
@msnova74: I believe she went to a rheumatologist first, perhaps thinking it was related to the issue with her hands, but he sent her to the neurologist to run the CAT/MRI scans.
I have some more info from her now as well. Please excuse the lengthy quote, copied directly from my email... She says:
"Starting about a year ago -- I was on Lyrica for nerve pain in my abdomen following a surgery that caused nerve damage. I had been on the lyrica for a couple of years, but was having more and more extreme fatigue/exhaustion/sleepiness/weakness plus having more trouble concentrating and some trouble finding words and shortness of breath. I figured this was side effects from the lyrica and went off the lyrica.
Getting rid of the lyrica didn't really help with all of those symptoms, which just pretty much stayed the same.
I then very suddenly got extreme pain in my hands and some other bones throughout my body. This felt kind of like when you have the flu and your bones just hurt. My hands were the worst part, and especially with fine motor skills. I can do things like lifting or pushing a stroller, but typing is very painful.
Over time the bone pain spread and intensified throughout my body, particularly in my hands, legs, hip, feet, knees, jaw, elbows -- and a severe pain in my left ribs and my right shin. There has also been a lot of swelling, although not right now. And my hands are kind of "clawing"... Lots of pain that is just increasing.
Along with the pain is a great deal of stiffness, tightness, and weakness and sometimes tremors/shaking.
Things that make it worse are heat and sun and also things like typing /texting small motor is really hard on my hands. Exertion makes it worse. And my energy goes very, very quickly and my balance is poor and I drop small objects sometimes if I'm trying to use my fingers.
I had a very elevated c-reactive protein on my first tests, but that seems normal now. I also had a slightly low lymphocytes and vitamin D on first tests. Now have low b-12, but I think everything else was normal.
The physical therapist said some sort of reaction... klovis, chronis?? something like that where the nerves aren't reacting to what the muscle is doing... but I can't remember the name and had trouble looking it up.
Also, blurry vision sometimes and sometimes it feels like i have too much saliva and it's hard to swallow."
Thank you all again very much, I will parse together this info and pass it on.
@Red_Star: I will pass this information onto the doctors, thank you.
@dlady66: She has been receiving B12 injections at the hospital, I am unsure about vitamin E. Besides that I think she's just been given mild pain killers, nothing major. Also, today I learned that they ran another MRI, awaiting those results.
@msnova74: I believe she went to a rheumatologist first, perhaps thinking it was related to the issue with her hands, but he sent her to the neurologist to run the CAT/MRI scans.
I have some more info from her now as well. Please excuse the lengthy quote, copied directly from my email... She says:
"Starting about a year ago -- I was on Lyrica for nerve pain in my abdomen following a surgery that caused nerve damage. I had been on the lyrica for a couple of years, but was having more and more extreme fatigue/exhaustion/sleepiness/weakness plus having more trouble concentrating and some trouble finding words and shortness of breath. I figured this was side effects from the lyrica and went off the lyrica.
Getting rid of the lyrica didn't really help with all of those symptoms, which just pretty much stayed the same.
I then very suddenly got extreme pain in my hands and some other bones throughout my body. This felt kind of like when you have the flu and your bones just hurt. My hands were the worst part, and especially with fine motor skills. I can do things like lifting or pushing a stroller, but typing is very painful.
Over time the bone pain spread and intensified throughout my body, particularly in my hands, legs, hip, feet, knees, jaw, elbows -- and a severe pain in my left ribs and my right shin. There has also been a lot of swelling, although not right now. And my hands are kind of "clawing"... Lots of pain that is just increasing.
Along with the pain is a great deal of stiffness, tightness, and weakness and sometimes tremors/shaking.
Things that make it worse are heat and sun and also things like typing /texting small motor is really hard on my hands. Exertion makes it worse. And my energy goes very, very quickly and my balance is poor and I drop small objects sometimes if I'm trying to use my fingers.
I had a very elevated c-reactive protein on my first tests, but that seems normal now. I also had a slightly low lymphocytes and vitamin D on first tests. Now have low b-12, but I think everything else was normal.
The physical therapist said some sort of reaction... klovis, chronis?? something like that where the nerves aren't reacting to what the muscle is doing... but I can't remember the name and had trouble looking it up.
Also, blurry vision sometimes and sometimes it feels like i have too much saliva and it's hard to swallow."
Thank you all again very much, I will parse together this info and pass it on.
The other comments are excellent. Please have a neuro, and rheumy workup done.
My MCTD started by being unable to use my right leg.
T
My MCTD started by being unable to use my right leg.
T
Hi, I am so sorry to hear of your moms problems. Does she have a vitamin B12 deficiency or vitamin E deficiency? Tell her not to give up, keep fighting with the Dr's to give her answers. This is not normal and she be checked out further than just those two tests. Did they put her on some type of meds?
I will keep her in my prayers, sorry I have nothing to really help her.
I will keep her in my prayers, sorry I have nothing to really help her.
I would highly recommend checking vitamin D levels. Vitamin D council recommend vitamin D serum to be 50 - 80ng/ml (125 - 200nmol/L) year round. The symptoms of severe vitamin D deficiency include bone pain, and weakness including severe proximal myopathy that makes it difficult getting up from chairs, out of bed, or to walk.
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