Cue Foreboding Music

Things took a turn for the worse last night. My pins and needles increased in my legs around 8:00, and they were quite bad by 10:00, when I was trying to go to sleep. They were about a level 6 and going down the backs of both legs and onto my feet. It felt like someone was squeezing my feet. But when I did fall asleep, I only woke once during the night, which is typical for me.

This morning I had a training meeting that lasted four hours, which was nice and cool (cold, actually) and where the chairs were lightly padded. I know that I'm asking for trouble if I sit on an unpadded metal or plastic chair--I'll have sciatic nerve pain or pins and needles. Well, apparently it didn't matter today, because not only did I have pins and needles (not really pain), I lost feeling in both legs and the bottoms of my feet. I got up and walked around during breaks, but it didn't help. So I'm not sure that sitting was the problem or if it would have happened no matter what I was doing. The numbness was so uncomfortable and distracting, because it wasn't like it all went numb and stayed that way. It was in and out of numbness, almost like pulsation or waves going through my legs. That was new and anxiety provoking.

I also noticed that my fine motor was not great. My handwriting was messier than usual, and I couldn't seem to hold the pen correctly. My thumb kept ending up under my index finger.

And I am so sensitive to pain. As part of this training we had to practice defending ourselves from people who are trying to hurt us. My partner would grab me and I'd have to use the right techniques to get away or restrain her. Every time I pulled out of her grasp on my wrist it really hurt. Luckily she didn't actually grab but just laid her hands on me when we practiced getting out of a choke hold. Gosh.

The numbness did get better during the last hour of the meeting, or at least it stopped feeling like it was pulsating and going in and out of numbness. I ended up with tingly pins and needles down the backs of my legs, especially the right, and numbness and a a feeling of pressure on my feet, like someone was holding them.

Oh, I also have had numbness and some pins and needles in the tips of my fingers all morning.

Gosh, I just remembered one more thing. I had pins and needles in my back. Never had that before.

I hate it when new things happen or symptoms worsen, because I don't know what to expect--I don't know how bad it's going to get. It makes me feel anxious or scared. If this is MS, I can see why anxiety is one of the symptoms. You never know what your body is going to do next.