It's Official and I Went to PT

It's official: I am in a relapse and will begin oral prednisone today. Not IV Solu-Medrol, hooray! I do not have to worry about hiding the darn IV for five days, hooking it up... That's for the birds. Especially when research has shown that oral steroids are as effective as IV steroids.

So.... I will do a lower dose this time, hoping to get some benefits while avoiding the rather unpleasant side effects I experienced last time. And this time I will get to taper the steroids down, which is exactly what I wanted.

I will take 500 mg daily for five days. Then I will take 60 mg for two days, 50 mg for two days, and so on, until I am at 10 mg for two days and finally nothing. I hope it works to prevent the rebound nastiness.

I took the first dose of prednisone with dinner. EW, those pills were bitter and disgusting. At least it did not make a nasty, bitter taste in my mouth afterward (knock wood).

Now, PT. I liked Jackie, the PT. She has experience working with patients with MS, which is why I went to her specifically. And I wanted someone in town, not at the MS Center hospital. I would not dream of seeing a neurologist in town (learned my lesson after seeing three bad ones), but rehab is different.

Jackie evaluated my spasticity, balance, gait, and endurance. She shared some information about fatigue, which is going to be a major focus of my therapy. Fatigue and spasticity are the priorities. Awesome.

Jackie was very positive and helped me see that I am not being optimistic about my disease. I am in the short term, but not about the more distant future. For example, I was saying that this is a degenerative disease, and she contradicted me: Not necessarily. I pointed out that something like 70% of people with relapsing-remitting MS end up having secondary progressive MS. She quickly came back with, "And 30% don't." I was stunned and realized that I need to question my thinking about this.

I will go to her 6-8 times, depending on what my insurance will approve.

Sensory:
-Pins and needles: 3
-Tingles: 0
-Dysesthetic pain: 7
-Paresthesias: 0
-Numbness: 3
-Vision: 2
-Nerve pain: 2
-Hearing: 0

Motor:
-Walking: 3
-Sore muscles: 7
-Fine motor: 3
-Weak muscles: 7
-Spasticity: 7

Cognitive:
-Processing: 3, I had difficulty following directions multiple times today, needed repetition for information
-Memory: 2, I forgot directions even when I understood them
-Attention: 0
-Confusion: 0

General:
-Fatigue: 7
-Balance: 3
-Sleep: 4
-Bladder: 1
-Proprioception: 0
-Swallowing: 1, food sticking at the back of my throat
-A: 0
-B: 7 this morning, took something for it in the afternoon

Emotions: A few rough patches. I cried a big with Dr. Andy... again.