Well hopefully the answer is in the positive, but finding the right medication and then the right dose is sometimes a long process. As MS has a varied bunch of tricks up its sleeve and a bewildering time frame of delivering them it’s a hard beast to figure out.
Over two weeks I had a few days of numbness and tingling in the lower right leg, this stops, then I have increased back pain (from overworked muscles on the spine according to Physio) and then it’s an uncomfortable feeling of tight restriction on my leg (like it’s in a tight plaster cast) which only lasts a few hours. Mix in a day of cognitive fog and you have a taste of my life with MS.
I have been in pain (muscles on the spine and intercostals muscles around the rib cage) for months now. I didn’t want to go back on to Gabapentin, as in the past this drug has made me
feel like I’m in a world made of thick treacle pudding. Admittedly I was having a bad relapse at the time and put on a high dose but the thought of even going on a low dose (suggested by my MS Nurse) did not appeal to me.
The pain was increasing and I was finding getting through the day and a disturbed night’s sleep harder to cope with so I did go back to my GP. After some discussion on the merits of medication available he recommended Amitripyline. The good news is that it seems to be working for me. Three weeks on this drug and I wake with only a mild reminder that the muscle problem is still there and the groggy feeling in the morning (I take a low dose at night) is lessening.
I read the posts on the MSRC Face book page and it’s clear that finding the right mix of drugs is a difficult thing when the path MS follows is so varied but I do find reading other peoples experiences can be supportive. It dose sometimes shock me to discover that others are talking about the same weird symptom that I have been experiencing but also in a way it is somehow comforting. That may sound strange but often on a daily basis you are confused by the weird and alarming sensations that MS can bring and often thinking ‘what’s going on now?’
I have never been a person to run to the medicine cupboard every time I have a pain. I have an inbuilt objection to taking drugs but now I realise living with MS I have to be more open to this solution. I am on the DMD Avonex and injecting weekly so I have changed my perspective enormously.
