Differculty lifting legs

[mistylee]

Hi everyone , Lately when I have been walking for about 20-30 mins with a little incline , my legs have been feeling very heavy and harder to lift up to walk. They start to drag a bit.  This is also happening after 30 mins light excercise in the pool.

I have just been recovering from the last relape and wondering if this is the new base line???  Although I have felt tired legs in the past they have never felt this leaden and hard to lift up with each step.  Climbing stairs is also harder.
It affects both legs the same. I am not DX yet only possible.  I have had 4 separate attacks but only one clinical sign . The neuro is looking for a new lesion to satisfy the mac donald criteria for dx.  The clinical sign is showing a spinal lesion but could not be seen on the MRI.

Is this symptom something that others with MS can identify with??? Will it improve over time??
And is this related to the hyperreflexes and ankle clonus??

Thanks for your help in advance.

Mistylee

[Udkas]

Hi there,
I am joining in this discussion on the later side, better late than never.  I have trouble walking any distances, especially hills or up stairs, my legs often feel heavy and lead like, or weak and jelly like, heat makes it worse for me.

When I take the stairs I find that I almost trip as I am going up them and it seems really hard to lift my leg up to the next step, they feel heavy and if I go up a couple of flights my legs sometimes get shaky when I get to the top.

I have Transverse Myelitis,  my neuro tells me this is from my spinal lesions (T10).  I also have hyper reflexia, clonus.  I have weakness in the neuro exam when they do the strength testing, I can't hop on my left leg, it won't lift off the ground, but I can on my right, I can't do the walk thing with one leg in front of the other, I find that really difficult, but I am not sure what that means.

Recovery from an attack can take as long as two years but usually if no recovery at all has happened in the first 3 to 6 mths it is unlikely.

You really do need to get back and see this neurologist ASAP.  I hope someone cancels soon.

Take care,
Udkas.

[mistylee]

Hi supermum and twopack , thanks for your replys.  I think your right JJ about....the more I do to try get stronger the harder it is.

I will try and find that discussion with Quix . Did she say what the best approach to it is??? Like should I do less and just give it more time . Is it harmful to walk constantly until you reach the point where it takes days to recover. And if you dont do much will that just make you weaker??

Mistylee

[supermum_ms]

I didnt respond not because i dont relate but because of "Is this symptom something that others with MS can identify with??? " i never know if i should respond or not.

A few things i think you should focus on is, if the issue is being exaserbated by doing too much at the moment and the other thing is pace over time. I'm thinking that your muscle tone sounds like its getting weaker the more active your trying to be. Quix explained it to me once, to para phrase, the more you try to force your self the harder it will become.

I was also falling over a lot, with out warning my feet seemed to be stuck in place as my body continued to move as i wanted it too, and down i'd go. If i remember right it was to do with speed of the message and speed of movement.

Over the last 12 months i've gone from not being able to walk with out assistance to wakeboarding, within that time i've got better and then gone backwards, got better and gone backwards, thankfully i didnt go back too far. One thing i'm very aware of is when i do too much, yes i can get a few minutes of wakeboarding in but it takes weeks to recover. Imediately after i've pushed my self, i'm back to not being able to walk unaided and the spasms and tremor are ragging, fatigue rediculas, muscles so weak i can hardly hold my body up but i can still smile, i trust its all temperary, i trust!!

If i look back on the last 12 months i cant believe how far i've come, not perfect but compared its beyond good. By 6 months the level of improvement was huge but still had a long way to go to get to where i am now, i can honestly say it took at least 9 months to understand what i can get out of my self but big notible changes have really only happened in the last few weeks, after the fatigue lifted i feel lighter lol. I see what i can do more than what i cant.

I do recall a pretty big discusion about all this with Quix, my executive functions are not letting me work out how to find it, sorry.

Cheers........JJ

[twopack]

Sorry it's taken so many of us so long to respond Mistylee.  My calendar is a mess with all the appointments and reminders on it for a three week period.  Today starts week two and I'm beat already.

I did want to add my name to the list of fellow sufferers.  Last summer I realized there was something more to my troubles than just being out of shape.  I got a dog and planned to walk once or twice every day to build stamina.  We did walk.  After four months I still struggled to make it a mile.  

The warmer the weather the shorter my stamina.  The last stretch to home usually had me taking short steps on a wide base.  I had to start using a walking stick to help my balance.  I'd collapse in a chair once I made it home and needed to rest for several hours.  Several times I had to stop and rest so I could make it home.

I did a little better this winter.  My legs got tired walking through snow but the cold protected them from the worst of the leaden fatigue.  With spring came a renewal of the difficulty you describe, except now I would LOVE to go that measley mile.  I'm real wobbly after about 100 steps ( 200 feet?) on the flat.  

ANY incline and I'm done.  Up or down are both bad but up is worse.  I don't have to see a hill  My legs tell me immediately when I've left the flat.  There's a small hill in our back yard.  It makes me feel like I'm walking on a moving escalator.  My legs (sorta) move but I don't seem to get anywhere.  

I understand your frustration, worry and concern Mistylee.  I'm not seeing this getting any better.  I don't expect it will now that I've been diagnosed.  I do think I'm developing some spasticity now.  Maybe that's what's keeping me from crumbling to my knees somethimes.  I've not had a thoracic MRI so I don't know about any lesions.

I walked that mile at the Walk for MS.  I SO MUCH wanted to make a second pass around the track.  I just knew my desire would outpace my ability.  I'm sad to have lost what I took for granted for so long, not long ago.  I hope you get some improvement.

Mary

[mistylee]

Kelly my DR reffered me . I was unable to rotate one leg...ie couldnt look at the sole of foot or move leg out or in without pain due to tightness of muscle. Getting in and out car differcult as well as turning in bed with out pain.

Any quick movement caused extreme pain/spasm.  They spotted the weakness....and been going to the hospital physio for 3 months now.

Ok went walking . Managed 20 mins before tiring and by 25 I was done.Started tripping up and dragging legs.

Up an incline I dont think I could do more than 10 mins slowly.  I am better on the flat.

Mistylee

[anon07072023]

Yes, I have spasticity, too. I'm taking Baclofen for it. I used to hike all day long, but now I can just go for minutes, not hours anymore. And when I'm finished walking/hiking I feel like my legs are all shaky on the inside, like I've just worked out for hours and hours.

When I go up inclines, I also often hear my foot dragging. The soles of my shoe(s) I can sometimes hear dragging.

How did you get to see a physio? Did your neurologist offer to send you or did you ask?

I am glad that there are people on here that can relate - so, Hello! to you all.   :-)