Hi and welcome,
I'm reluctant to say it could be one or the other, apart from "heavy" within this part you wrote "my leg joints and feet joints/heals are very achey and feel heavy/swollen, especially in my feet/ankles" joint issues and swelling are not typically the types of issues associated with MS, not primary symptoms, possibly secondary from long term disuse, circulation issues, water retention, spinal structural issues, osteoarthritis etc
The common IVSM side effects we often talked about seem to be more along the lines of difficulty sleeping, feel hyper, jittery/antsy, weepy, laughing, affecting mental health etc....other possible explanations of why these particular symptoms haven't reduced would be it's caused by a completely different issue eg structural spinal issues - degenerative disc disease, slipped disc, arthritic issues, sciatic nerve compression etc
If this is all part of MS for you, it's is likely the damage is not something that can be reduced or improved by IVSM now, IVSM can help shorten an MS 'relapse' and or reduce the severity but if the damage is old it's unlikely to help with preexisting established MS symptoms. IVSM shouldn't make some MS symptoms worse and others reduced, so if you haven't yet, i'd contact your neuro to let him/her know what's happening...
Hope that helps.....JJ
Thanks Supermum! I also still have some tingling in arm/hand, leg/foot, back, head and a tiny bit of numbness, although milder than before the Solumedrol. So, just to clarify my understanding of your response, it might be that these symptoms might be too old and established for the drugs to completely eliminate them?
Theoretically yes IF these particular symptoms are pre-existing or had worsened during an MS relapse....a relapse is basically symptom(s) return-worsen-new as in, the return of previously remitted symptoms and or the worsening of existing symptoms and or experiencing new symptoms...
Keep in mind IVSM isn't capable of getting an MSer totally back to being symptom free if they're not still in the early stages.....IVSM is used to 'try' to shorten the relapse time frame, shorten the length of time of the relapse and it can also reduce the severity of the relapse because the MS attack is basically being cut short.
Think more that IVSM is about trying to get an MSer back to their individual 'pre-relapse' situation were ever possible, outside of a relapse they still will have their unique pre-existing established MS symptoms and over time, with more attacks some of those returned or new symptoms will eventually become everyday if the disease it'self is left untreated.
Hope that helps........JJ