Multiple sclerosis is not a painful disease, right? Wrong. The pain associated with MS can vary from an occasional annoyance to a constant, excruciating distraction.
For years, it was believed that MS was a painless disease. However a systemic review of the literature discussing pain in MS revealed that almost 50% of people living with MS report having pain. Of those reporting pain, 75% of patients had experienced pain within the month prior to the assessment or survey.
If my experience had been included in one of the surveys, I would have been included in the 75% reporting recent pain. The type of pain I have is called neuropathic pain which is caused by nerve damage in the brain and/or spinal cord. When the myelin (insulation for the nerve fibers) becomes damaged, the nerve signals can become distorted and ‘short circuit.’ The result is unpredictable and often painful.
My neuropathic pain began with a case of shingles which emerged shortly after my first round of solumedrol in 2005. Shingles took over the left side of my face and left me with what is called post-herpetic neuralgia (PHN). However, PHN is supposed to eventually fade away. Mine never did.
Read this post in its entirety:
Coping with the Fluctuating Face of Pain when Living with MS
A very timely post for me Lisa. I have been suffering tremendous pain for the last few weeks. Another doctor visit in the morning, to see if we can actually pinpoint the source, and hopefully ease some of this pain.
ReplyDeleteThanks for writing a very informative post.
Finally someone points this out. Amen! Love to have you guest post on my blog Ugly Like Me.
ReplyDeletehttp://MSTripper.typepad.com
May you not fall in the category of those with pain. xoxo