I will call my gp and try to see her in the next few days...but it will be more like a few weeks before I can get in.
Ghiradelli Chocolate caramels??? Sounds Scrumptious!!
jen...you have the same attitude as me with mincemeat tarts...certainly can't throw them out! That would be a sin...have to eat them until they are gone :)))
Hugs,
Rena
Ghiradelli Chocolate caramels. They are delicious. I am a bad girl. Brave, but bad.
Quix - Ooh, caramels! You're MAKING caramels? Brave girl!
I decided to make pumpkin gratin for Thanksgiving this year, so of course I had to try out the recipe, then try it again, then try it again... Before I knew it, I had three batches of pumpkin gratin, all of which had been half-eaten - so I had to eat it for lunch every day until it was gone. I think I'm all gratined out. Maybe I'll try pineapple gratin next year.
Rena, it sounds like a relapse to me too. I find that I'm just exhausted when a flare is coming on. Or maybe you've got a flu bug, or a cold or something - that will cause a pseudo-flare too.
The kind of fatigue/daytime sleepiness that you are describing is not normal! Well, anyone can have a day like that occasionally, but you are describing almost a week's worth on top of a trend.
My thoughts:
A low heart rate could cause fatigue, but not necessarily sleepiness. Has your rate changed (dropped) suddenly for the last week or so? If so, this could be an emergency. Are you lightlheaded? This would also be happening if your heart rate was too low.
A new exacerbation of MS can present with sudden worsening of fatigue. Heather and I and others have complained about this.
In general the fatigue of MS is not sleepiness. It is fatigue that sleep does not help.
However, I have been having that kind of overpowering sleepiness recently. Maybe those stormfronts that you and I have been having are bringing in some weird "vapors." lol In my case I think some of the problem is hypoglycemia triggered by too much sugar. I have been having a great time learning to make caramels. then, of course I have to eat them, so I can make another batch and correct the mistakes.
On and off fever?? Headache and sinus pressure? Neither of these is a good thing. Has your hubby noticed any sick, morning breath (monster mouth?) ? Bad sinuses often have a distinctive odor. Pneumonia without cough can happen, but there is usually something to indicate it like chest pain with deep breaths or a more rapid respiratory rate.
I do think that you need to be checked for something that is treatable. Get your lying GP to check your sinuses and listen to your chest. Get your BP and heart rate checked. If she can, get your oxygen saturation checked, if it is low you need a chest X-ray.
It can't hurt to leave a message with the pulmonologist about the increased fatigue and severe sleepiness. The worst that could happen is nothing, lol.
Finally, I can't help but remember Jule's experience of finding out that her severe sleepiness and drop attacks were from narcolepsy and cataplexy. Not saying that is happening, but I want to keep those symptoms in mind.
In reading your post, it sounded like a relapse to me. The fevers may signal an infection and infections are a leading cause of relapses.
Take care,
(did Heather call you a "plump Muffin?" I think I would be offended, tee hee)
Quix
I agree with you Heather...does anyone have an extra 3T MRI laying around somewhere that I can use?? he he Like I said, I don't have a neuro right now and my gp said that if I need to be treated with steroids that I would have to go to ER...I don't think that my symptoms are serious enough to take up the time in an ER though so I am going to have to wait it out and see if things get worse I guess eh? I will let you know if things change any though honey...thanks for the support!
Hugs,
Rena
I think you are on to something, sweetheart. I would give a million dollars if you could have an MRI RIGHT NOW on a 3T machine, to actually see what is going on in your brain. I would bet that you are in the middle of a flare up, plus they might see the lesions that have been "hiding" from them, to prove that indeed your MS does wax and wane and you deserve treatment with the DMD's.
Heather
I just read the post about the frequency of sinus infections in people with MS. I have had a sinus "problem" since New Years Eve and although I figured it was a cold I have really had no other symptoms other than an on/again/off/again fever. I am still having difficulty with a stuffed up schnozz and I can feel pressure in my sinuses on my face especially when I bend over. I wonder if this could be part and parcel of what my problem is...hmmm...Mom thinks that I could have pneumonia because it can make you really tired but I have no cough or am not any more congested. However, the point that Quix made is interesting about sinus infections and people being treated for asthma...I am on 3 different inhalers as well as Singulair and am thinking now that maybe I should see the lying gp about the possibility of a sinus infection.
Rena
Hey girl...thanks for the kind words honey and I do miss everyone here as well but life just doesn't seem to be allowing me much time on the puter...geez...seems like not long ago that the puter was all I had and all I was capable of! Go Figure eh?
This has been happening off and on for a few weeks now but today is Wednesday and I have felt this way every day since about last Friday. It is a very weak feeling as well which makes it doubly hard to function.
I am currently on anti-depressants and haven't noticed any down ward slope of my mood so I don't think that it is the depression. I think they have that under control. I don't want to bother to get dressed or put on makeup or anything...it's just too much work and too exhausting. Since I don't have a neurologist and I am still seeing the lying gp I don't really know what to do. The lying gp is still believeing the last neuro that my ms is "in-active" so she won't even dream that this is related to MS...she really believes only the last neuro and I don't think she has done any homework herself on the symptoms.
So I don't really know what to do...when I had the stress tests at the lung clinic, my heart rate didn't drop (figures, although it dropped every other day I exercised there) and I haven't heard from the pulmonologist about a holter monitor. I don't know if I should give him a call possibly...his secretary is his wife and she is not the brightest bulb on the tree I have been told. I don't know if this is the direction I should take or what to do...all I know is that I DON'T like feeling this way and I am having to get hubby to do things for me again and I hate that! I couldn't go to er because I don't believe that severe fatigue is an emergency so I am sort of stuck between a rock and a hard place. I really hope that this isn't a sign of a relapse...it would be rather complicated to deal with with no neuro and I haven't been able to contact my prospective neuro either but I will try again today as well.
Thanks again for your encouraging words Heather...you always are so good at that!
Lots of Hugs,
Rena
Hi Sweetheart,
It's always so good to see one of your posts, even though you are not feeling well. I'm sorry you are feeling like poo. What you are describing MAY be from your low heartrate so I can't say in all good conscience that your fatigue is coming from that. When your heartrate is low it DOES make you fatigued. Your heart is not keeping up with the demands of your activity, as you know.
I have had the kind of extremely severe fatigue as part of my course with MS. It seems to come out of no-where and will last for a couple weeks, then disappear - only to reoccur at some later time. It is exhausting fatigue, that actually is not relieved by more rest. You wake up as tired as when you went to bed. Within thirty minues of sleeping 10 hours, I could go right back to bed and be asleep in minutes. Our "Quizzle" has also talked about this kind of fatigue.
Some may say that it has to do with depression as well as having MS. I don't know if I really believe this. I just feel that this is our body's way of trying to re-cooperate from so many nights of being awake because of pain and discomfort. Even over fatigue from the most simplest activities can cause this type of sleepiness.
My Neuro told me yesterday that people with MS describe this kind of fatigue as NOT being relieved by sleep. But I have also heard to said among those that suffer with chronic fatigue syndrome. So I really don't know.
This is something that needs to be reported to your doctor. If it disappears as suddenly as it began, then I would say that it has to do with MS. But I caution you, this can take a couple of weeks or more. It's almost like it is an MS attack all in itself. As if the flare up only consists of the extreme fatigue.
I know it's awful to feel this way and I actually have been looked at like I am just a lazy person. When someone has never experienced this kind of crushing fatigue, there is no way they can understand what is happening.
I hope you feel better soon and do call the doctor and let them know what is going on. Maybe have your hubby take your pulse when you are fast asleep and see what it is running, so you have something to report to your doctor.
Keep hanging in precious one. We've missed you, big time.
Huggie Wuggies,
Heather