Reduced Sensation Can Have Major Consequences

Many of us living with multiple sclerosis (MS) are well aware of the experience of losing sensation. This symptom can range from feeling things less acutely, to the masking experience of pins-and-needles, all the way to numbness.

It’s possible to have a sudden shift in sensation from one day to the next, but these changes are usually subtler, and they’re considered common in the progressive stages of the disease.

Like many aspects of my experience with MS, I have found there are knock-on effects of my reduced feeling.

Effects of Foot Numbness Extend to My Shoulder

I am currently working with a team of physiotherapists to correct the knock-ons of my inability to feel (or at least feel well) on my left side. The damage done all the way up to my shoulder blades originated on the bottom of my foot, but I never felt it coming.

Like many of my age, I began experiencing the symptoms of plantar fasciitis. Well, that’s what I thought it was, so I made an appointment with the physio who fits me for orthotic inserts for my shoes every year. I knew if I was feeling pain at the level I was — on my most affected MS side — that the extent of the condition must be well evolved.

Little did I know how evolved.

The thickening and tightening of the plantar fascia, which causes symptoms of plantar fasciitis, usually exhibits itself in what is often called “first step pain,” meaning it’s worse for your first step of the day.

Well, I was getting that, as well as second, third, and twentieth step pain. But I hadn’t felt it in the early stages, when most people do.

Foot Numbness Masked Foot Pain

My low (and nearly numb) sensation on my left leg and foot masked the early (and middle) symptoms from my brain, but my body was compensating. I had begun to walk more on the side and the ball of my left foot. While I now recall this change, I probably wrote it off as a progression in my drop foot or some other MS symptom.

This change in stride and gait, of course, caused the alignment of my body to shift and that’s part of what we’re working on correcting in increasingly painful physio sessions.

As a side note, one of the reasons I can state unequivocally that my sensation loss has progressed is because it was objectively observed by one of my physios, using acupuncture needles in my treatment. She tried to evoke a pain response from my left leg and could not.

By the time I finally went in for treatment, my condition had evolved into a heel spur — a small, pointed overgrowth on the heel bone.

I am currently awaiting an MRI scan of the area to see if it has calcified (turned into bone) yet, or if it is just a thick mass of fascia and tendon. No matter the result, treatment will be the same and, even with my significantly reduced sensation, it’s a damned painful course of treatment.

You Don’t Notice Until You Notice

I once replied to a friend who asked if I was hungry, “I will be when I start eating.” What I meant was that I’d been too busy to think about it, but once I had food in front of me, I’d be ravenous.

It’s similar to the way I’ve experienced this new condition. I didn’t feel anything until I felt the level of pain I’m currently experiencing. But my body was responding even if I didn’t feel it.

Multiple sclerosis: It’s nothing if it’s not an adventure.

Wishing you and your family the best of health.

Cheers,

Trevis

My new book, Living Well With Multiple Sclerosis, is now available. Follow me on the Life With MS Facebook page, and read more on Life With Multiple Sclerosis.