Sensory VS function

[LATW]

I have a lot more trouble with daily functioning than sensory issues. Weakness, walking, balance, endurance....those sorts of things. Can't walk quickly. Can not run. My brain says RUN but my legs just won't.

I don't know if Optic Neuritis is sensory or not.  

I know others have more troubles with sensory issues.

Is one more common than the other? Just curious.

LA MSdx'd

[ladyi82]

Sensory affects cognitive and motor output....sensory is what your eyes, ears, smell , taste, touch plus the sensors in your joints ( propioceptors) which tell you where in space your joints are so you can have a correct motor response to achieve what you want......in the end, everything gets intaken through the sensory. Sensory integrative therapies have been very helpful, yet , it mostly dominates pediatric conversation. I have seen excellent responses in motor deficits when sensory integrative approaches have been used in adults, especially those involving acceleration/deceleration and activities that jolt your system through high adrenaline rush.......swinging, rollercoasters, paragliding, etc.
Being a therapist who just so happened to start the road of finding out if I have MS, I am so open to everything .... Nutrition, Sensory integration, yoga and reading A LOT to be very informed. I am currently seeing a neurologist and will be seeing an oncologist who has a Traditinal Chinese Medicine practice as well next week, so I will let you know.....

[LATW]

Hi,
I know I am not qualified to answer your question. I had odd symptoms off and on for years and it didn't finally come together until I had ON two years ago.  
It may be a wait and see issue for you, like it is for many.

LA

[bumblebizto]

I have been experiencing wierd leg pain for the last few months. Back in may my rear thighs burned when I sat, then it went away after a week. No weakness, dizziness, or ON (Ive done my research!) accompanied this episode. A month later, the same thigh pain returned, this time with some tingling in my toes that got pretty annoying. Again, no wobblyness, dizziness, or falling, etc. Went away after a few days. This month I had some warmth and tightness in my calves and the backs of  my knees which I couldn't explain. It went away but has come back here and there. What am I experiencing? Definitely sensory type events, but no profound weakness, vertigo, foot drop, or numbness, tingly face and chest, or any of the "heavy stuff" that I have read so much on that indicate MS. My symps are not debilitating but annoying and worrisome. I am male 33, no fam history of MS, fibryomialgia, heart disease, etc, but I have smoked for 13 years (been quit for 4 months tho) which increases the odds of developing MS.

[Karen99]

I borrowed this:
"Balance disorders and falls are frequently observed in subjects with multiple sclerosis (MS). Along with motor impairment, sensory disorders and integration deficits of sensory inputs lead to inadequate motor responses."

Hmmm "sensory disorders and integration deficits of sensory inputs lead to inadequate motor responses."  

From the MS Society:
"Sensory Deficit: Some people with MS have such severe numbness in their feet that they cannot feel the floor or know where their feet are. This is referred to as a sensory ataxia."

I guess a sensory defects often results in motor (functional) deficits as well.

[jensequitur]

I regard sensory as anything having to do with tactile sensation.  Paresthesia pretty much covers it.  

Optic neuritis is a little different from pure sensory, because it can affect how well you see as well as the colors you perceive.  When the optic nerve is damaged, it results in a slowdown in the images we perceive getting to the brain.  My right eye sees a little slower than my left, and a little darker.  When my eyes are acting up, this leads to a sense of unease and uncertainty.

Balance is not a sensory issue.  The spinal tract is responsible for our sense of balance, and once the cord is disrupted, then we lose that ability.  I can't tell which way is up with my eyes closed.  I typically lean against the shower wall when I'm washing my hair, just so I'll know I'm not falling over.

I'm doing better with the weakness and falling over, but I can definitely sympathize.  Most of my issues are either cognitive, balance, dizziness/vertigo, or leg weakness.  On bad days I have a hard time walking from the couch to the bathroom.  On good days, like today, I can run a mile before everything seizes up.

I have a lesion in the right cerebellum, which causes leg weakness, ataxia, and vertigo - so it's not surprising.  LATW, where are your lesions located?

[PastorDan]

Hmmm...  I think double or hazy vision is a sensory problem that affects motor functions, and I think there's a cognitive transaction in between.  My neuro-psych guy said that I am limited in my "visuomotor processing speed," meaning just that, I gathered.  The cognitive function that takes the sensory information from the vision (right or wrong) and translates it into directive signals to the muscles around the body as appropriate is slowed in me.  Though I am undx, he declared that it is undoubtedly a white matter problem, and consistent with the few nonspecific "T2 hyperintensities in the deep and subcortical white matter" as shown in my Jan. '09 1.5T MRI.

I think Karen99 makes a good point (and pun): balance involves both sensation and reaction.  Reactions are motor in nature.  The intermediate processing is what we would call cognitive if it rose to the level of awareness, I think, but many such processes are carried out more or less automatically.  If I sense myself leaning to the left, something makes my limbs move in a manner that will bring me back to the right.  If it works as it should, I am barely ever aware of this continuous process.  Deficits in this process can occur anywhere along the path.  The way I feel today, there might be deficits all along that path, plus the pain behind the left eye... again.

[LATW]

Ok. My ON had gone to double vision. Yeah, falling would be sensory. Especially when you can not stand with your eyes closed.....

I don't know.  I am not sure what is sensory and what are the other things. If I have to get down on the floor getting up is a real chore!! I can not climb up more than 4 steps and even then I have to have hand rails on both sides.

then there are the bathroom issues. I went on a medication to help me GO for both.

After reading what you all have said here and looking back at what I said I probably have more sensory but just did not know where to categorize them.

LA dx'd MS 2008  starting Beta this week

[sllowe]

This is a great topic.

Can we get together a list of each and categorize/group them? Something like

sensory deficits:            functional:                  congnitive:  

[Karen99]

Hi LATW.  I've always wondered what your screen name stands for........

I believe that optic neuritis is considered sensory unless it develops to double vision....then it becomes a motor deficit.  

My guess is that sensory disturbance is more common than motor problems.  Then again, where would balance fall?  (no pun intended).  Would that not be sensory?  

Endurance?  That is a good question.  Fatigue would fall into the same category, I would think because all the parts are working but a bit slower than usual.  Something to think about.  I don't know!

[PastorDan]

hmmm...  Would I put up with the pain behind my eyes if they'd only work correctly?  What about my inability to walk in a straight line without intense concentration?  I know that's not your question.  I have both, but I am undx, so who knows what that means in the grand scheme of things?  I've had pain in the past that can be debilitating, in various ways.  I'm living with the vibrating skin, here, there, and everywhere.  Having an odd feeling under a couple toes lately, too.  Not sure what that is.  Neither troubles me much, but the balance and vision issues are severely cramping my style.