Is this true? or anyone with a diff. opinion?

[michelleric]

Hi all,

I have been in a fairly major relapse the past couple of weeks. I finished steroids yesterday. I have had a new, fairly disconcerting symptom for about a week. I am having difficulty swallowing. Things are going down, but almost feels like they will get stuck, or my throat is swollen.

I called Neuro today, got a call back from the physician asst. She said she would talk to the doc, but not to worry, it should clear up soon. I said since I am new to MS, is this a symptom of the relapse or something else. She said "probably" something else, because you really only see swallowing difficulties in people with extremely progressive MS, not RRMS, like me.

True?

Michelle

[michelleric]

Paster Dan, Thanks as always for responding to me. Who knows why anybody says anything anymore?

Ess, thanks. That is good to know, and I am not worring about it too much. Yes, it has been coming and going all week. Sometimes worse than others, even now, with just swallowing my saliva it feels all closed up. But, yet earlier it was almost normal.

Ok, just learning my way around this MS stuff, and hope this relapse ceases soon...
Michelle

[essdipity]

This just ain't true. While swallowing/esophagus stuff isn't usually the first thing seen with MS, it certainly isn't seen only in 'extremely progressive MS.' We have lots of people here with one degree or other of this problem, including me, and every one of those I can think of has RRMS.

What symptoms we get depends entirely on where lesions form, and that is often pretty much a cr@p shoot. It sounds to me as if you're still having one big relapse that hasn't begun to stabilize yet. You are probably finding that the swallowing issue doesn't occur every time, or even close, and it can come and go seemingly at random.

Take care of yourself and don't worry too much about this aspect. But do talk to your neuro about it when next you're seen.

ess

[PastorDan]

I don't have a clue, but i'm just struck by the PA's attitude.  Someone with more direct knowledge of protocol should answer this, but I think she gave you more info than she should have without talking to the doc.  Maybe she saw the exact same circumstance last week, and went from his response then.  Just the ramblings of an aging mind here, of course.