For about a couple of months before my diagnosing attack, my massage
therapist noted that I had muscle spasms in my legs. I hadn’t noticed
them, couldn’t feel them and when I looked to see what she was pointing
out, it seemed kind of funny and interesting. Little did I know, right?
Day two of that exacerbation, when I went in to see her because I
thought I had a pinched nerve causing my declining mobility, she
pointed out that the spasms had stopped. I thought that was a good
thing. Again, little did I know, right?
Noting that pinched nerve thing, I have always carried my stress in my
left trapezius muscle. There had been a knot there for a few days, and
I thought that was the likely culprit of my woe. (I’m seeing a theme
here.) Little did I know, right?
In the years since that awful April, I have learned to “‘know”‘ better.
I have become more aware of my body and my mind. I have come to notice
when things are happening that haven’t before or, more importantly to
this case, have before.
That painful knot in my left upper back came days before all six of my
subsequent relapses in the next 18 months. I started to pay attention
to that one as soon as I felt it coming! The leg thing, however, has
been a little less reliable canary in the mineshaft of my MS.
To best describe them, when they come on, these spasms are all over my
legs and near constant. I call it “popcorn leg” as it looks as if, just
under my skin, kernels of popping corn are exploding all over. Just
under the surface, muscle tissue bubbles and boils to the point I also
think of the old Ballpark Franks adverts where the sides of the cooking
container bulge with expanding hot dogs. You remember, “They plump when
you cook ‘em.”
Anyway… that symptom started to be more bellwether when my disease
started to worsen/progress. On some occasions, popcorn leg would be a
precursor of a slide in disability. Other times, it came and went
without taking anything new away with it.
For the past couple of days, maybe a week now, it’s been back.
I don’t know what it will bring or take, I don’t even know how long it
will last - we never know if something like this will just become part
of our MS portfolio. I do know that it frightens me a little and that
I’ve been on edge about it since it started.
Do you have precursors - warning signs - as you look back at your
disease progression? Much good seems to be done here when we share info
about symptoms. Let’s see if we can’t bring some ease to others by
sharing this.
Wishing you and your family the best of health.
