Symptom or a Klutz?

[Lulu54]

Hello all,

I just took my second hard fall in the same number of days and don't know if this a symptom or I'm just a klutz.

Yesterday my daughter was here with her dogs.  I reached over the top of the huskie, Morgan, to lock our screen door.  She was startled and ran into me as I was backing up out of her way.  She is about 40 pounds and either she took my legs out from under me or I tripped myself trying to get out of her way - I'm not sure which one. I landed less than delicately on my backside but didn't appear to do much damage.  

This morning I took a fall in our entry way.  I caught my right foot on a large duffel bag strap and went down knees and elbows first. I hit hard enough to scrape the top layer of skin on my knees and elbows.  I'm icing them as I type this.  

Does this sound familiar to anyone or am I just in a really klutzy mode right now?

My best,
Laura

[Quixotic1]

Yeah, for someone not in full control of how her foot moves and off balance, mules and clogs are a dangerous choice.  I had to dispose of several hundred dollars of beautiful clogs when my right leg went.

If the clog comes part way off, then you can step on it, have it flip and end up with a badly sprained or broken ankle.

See if you can get a PT with both sports injury and neuro experience.

Quix

[Lulu54]

Quix,
I went back and reread the health page on spasticity after I described my foot symptoms to you. I find I have to read them over and over to get the point  but I think I finally understand the basics of spasticity.  

I may have given the impression this is only happening when I am tired - I meant it gets more pronounced when tired.  I am aware of it now at all times when I walk and it has certainly affected my gait.  It never goes away entirely.

This past weekend we were in SC and I took a walk in a mountain park with a friend.  The one-mile loop was uneven terrain with lots of obstacles (tree roots, rocks, angles, etc) but nothing that many families with small children we saw couldn't handle.  The temp was around 90, low humidity and completely in shade.  I made it half way before we had to turn back - by the time I got to my car it felt like I was quasimoto dragging my leg behind me ....I was literally having to concentrate on making the muscles move with each step and it felt more like I was moving my leg by swinging it with my hip. And I did report this via fax to my awol neuro (he's gone for the week!).

The shoe tip is helpful but really leaves me in a quandry since I should walk regularly for the cardio issues ... and I wear a wide shoe which isn't the easiest thing to find.   New Balance makes the best for what Ineed but those are athletic shoes.  But I do love the excuse to shop for more shoes!  I'm afraid I am going to have to give up my favorite shoe style - clogs and mules.  There's nothing nicer than being able to slip in and out of shoes quickly - I hate wearing them.

Your information and PT advice is greatly appreciated.  I will talk with the neuro about it when I see him next for my LP.

Lots to learn yet,

Laura

[Quixotic1]

Then you have "functional foot drop."  the toes can be brought up, so it isn't a peroneal nerve palsy causing a paralysis of the foot raising.  It happens when you ask the mucles to function.

When it happens as you desribe, only with fatigue, it sounds like there is some damage to the nerves that innervates the muscles in front of the shin.  When rested they work okay and can raise the toes to clear the floor as you step forward in the stride.  But, muscles affected this way fatigue easily and the nerve loses itt ability to carry the signal to the muscle.  So as you fatigue, the toe drops more and more until it is dragging or tripping you.

There may be some spasticity at work also.  I can't say.

For a clarification of all this read the HPs on Fatigue in MS and on Muscle Tone.

You need a referral to PT.  You may need some specific strengthening work, a change in your gait and/or a brace to wear when you are going to get fatigued.  In the meantime you need to be wearing shoes that have a sole that doesn't accentuate the dragging.  Athletic shoes tend to have a big drag and high friction on the floor.  

I hope this helped.

Quix May Walsh

[Lulu54]

Quix,
I wish you could see me trying to look at my toes, type AND watch the sand volleyball on the olympics at the same time - I love this laptop and being wireless!

Yes, I can pull my toes up - the ones on my right foot come up higher than on my left foot. I do not drag my foot unless I am extremely tired.  My foot drop is very pronounced when I get tired - no control in my step and the placement of my foot.  My big toe on the right foot is also the one that has spasms and pulls up and away from the other toes - that always feels real good.  

Perhaps foot drop is not the correct term? I could no longer ignore it when my 86 year old father told my 85 year old mother about it - they recognized the problem immediately.  

And yes Deb, I too thought I would spike this dx over the net and score a winner the first time out at the neuro.

Side out,
Laura

[Deb61]

Dang, girl!  You have drop foot, enhanced lesions, black holes, and other MS symptoms and are not diagnosed?  Sheeeesh.  My sister started with the same plight to find out what was wrong (and it turned out to be MS).  She's now diagnosed, but can't walk yet on her own since the fall she took.  

Deb

[Quixotic1]

I'm curious about your drop foot.  While sitting, can you pull your toes upward toward your knee?  If yes, can you pull both of them upwards equally?

Does the drop foot appear only when walking?  eg. Do you see drag marks in the carpet as you can't clear your toes off the floor when taking the stride forward?

Quix

[Lulu54]

I did add the falls to my list of symptoms and faxed it in before I changed my mind.  I keep replaying these falls over in my head trying to sort out what happened - the spasticity info makes sense.  I really had no opportunity it felt like to even adjust or catch myself... I just went down.  

These incidentally are falls # 4 & #5 since January - and I put all of them on the list. I'm just fortunate I don't seem to break bones (density level is excellent!) and the bruising is usually not in highly visible places.  

Yes, I do have dropfoot - that's what started this whole dx journey the second week of July. The numbness in my lower right leg doesn't go away - it is a constant.

I do tend to be barefoot - my bunions really dislike shoes.

And the dog thing - yeah, I know.  Watch out!

Licking my wounds,
Laura

[Quixotic1]

I think everyone has really good ideas about it above.  It's hard to sort out the usual number of klutzy things we might do without MS versus what MS's effect on us is.

I have found that I can't recover from life's little trips and falls to keep mself off the ground.  This is definitely from at least two problems.  The first is that my overall balance is shot.  I lose my balance very easily.

Second, with my spasticity, I can't make the moves necessary to keep myself from falling.  If you have read the Health Page on Spasticity, you know that the faster you try to move the spastic muscle, the more stiff and unmoving the muscle is.  So sudden attempts to save yourslef from the fall result in little ability to catch your balance and down you go.

Oh, and yeah, the dog thing.

Quix

[jensequitur]

I was tripping over stuff a lot before I realized my right leg and foot aren't as 'aware' as my left leg.  I just wasn't lifting it as high as it needed to go.  

Dogs can also cause you to be more clumsy than usual, because they're always underfoot!  I managed to step on our new puppy, not once, but twice!  I was trying to walk around the house with the dog, and he zoomed under my feet right as I was stepping down, so of course I stepped on him, then I tried to step out of the way to get out of his way, and I managed to step on him again as he ran away from me.  Poor little guy!  He survived, though.

What I do nowadays is not wear shoes.  I can feel the floor better with my bare feet, whether I'm outside or inside.  When I'm at work, I just watch where I'm going, since they won't let me go around barefooted.

[Momzilla]

Do you think it's possible that your dorsiflexor is getting weak?  Maybe you're having a problem with drop foot?  It could be that your foot is not clearing these objects and causing you to trip.

Try to lift your toes up.  Is it difficult?

Super medical detective,

Zilla*

[Wobbly]

my goodness, you are having problems with this.... I have had times when my left foot will hit something on the floor or even drag on the floor...but I have not fallen over.... lucky for me and the floor...(sorry, my bad sense of humor)...

have you called your Dr and told him/her about this..you should...if you can't see him let the Admin person at the phone take a msg and ask her/him to give it to the Dr and let them know that you are falling...OK.....

take care and slow down abit...don't walk around where it's not light...etc...

be careful
andie