Multiple sclerosis support - Multiple Scerosis and seizuers

Author

Multiple Scerosis and seizuers

BurrrNH@yahoo.com

2005-01-31, 11:45 am

I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 14 years ago. My symptoms
physically have been relatively benign. Mentally is another story. I
started treatment with Avonex but switched to Rebif about 10 months ago
with good control. In October of this year I began having Tonic Clonic
seizures (convulsing ,flipping). My doctor says that is fairly common
for MS patients but I have never heard of it. Any info would be
greatly appreciated.

KKT

2005-01-31, 11:45 am

BurrrNH@yahoo.com wrote:

> I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 14 years ago. My symptoms
> physically have been relatively benign. Mentally is another story. I
> started treatment with Avonex but switched to Rebif about 10 months ago
> with good control. In October of this year I began having Tonic Clonic
> seizures (convulsing ,flipping). My doctor says that is fairly common
> for MS patients but I have never heard of it. Any info would be
> greatly appreciated.

http://www.nationalmssociety.org/So...ok-Seizures.asp

NMSS says this:

A seizure is a change in sensation, awareness, or behavior brought
about by brief, abnormal electrical discharges in an injured or
scarred area of the brain. Epilepsy is a neurological condition that
makes people susceptible to seizures. It can be caused by anything
that affects the brain, including lesions, tumors, or strokes.
According to the Epilepsy Foundation, the risk in the general
population of developing epilepsy is approximately 3%; the risk of
experiencing any type of seizure at some point in one's lifetime
(including, for example, a fever-related seizure) is 10%. Although
some published studies have suggested that seizures occur more
commonly in people with MS, there is still no agreement about this.
A recent population-based study conducted of Olmstead County,
Minnesota did not find seizures to be more common in people with MS
than in the general population.

There's more information here: http://tinyurl.com/6dvtm
*Late Onset Status Epilepticus as a Sign of Multiple Sclerosis*

and here: http://tinyurl.com/56rvx where it says that seizure is a
classic feature in 5% of MS patients.

Celeste

2005-01-31, 11:45 am

While seizures as such are pretty uncommon. I too had a single seizure,
gosh ... way back in 1996. It was a petite mal absence seizure. It scared
me so much that I did a bunch or research. This is what I have come up with
over the years.

I have a few statistics that could shed some light.
1% of the general population has epilepsy (a primary cause of seizures).
10% of MS patients can also have epilepsy.

If you do further research on epilepsy you will find out that it is linked
to celieacsprue (gluten intolerance). This goes way back to
a Johns Hopkins reccommendation for juvenile epileptics to eat a high fat
diet back in the 1920s. Today doctors believe that the real reason this
diet helped was because it eliminated all gluten. One of the big problems
with coeliac disease is that it has such a wide variety of symptoms that it
is very often missed and diagnosed as another problem. It can result in
stunted growth in children. They will be very short adults. It can have
terrible weight loss and also weight gain (which a lot of people dont know)
It can also result in skin and hair and tooth enamel problems. It can also
result in epilepsy.

There is a lot of controversy amoung patients and doctors with MS as to
whether or not celieac is related or not. There is anacdotal evedence that
some patients percieve a benefit from a gluten free diet. Others do not
think they have any benefit.

Good luck.,

Celeste

<BurrrNH@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1106968002.096685.170580@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 14 years ago. My symptoms
> physically have been relatively benign. Mentally is another story. I
> started treatment with Avonex but switched to Rebif about 10 months ago
> with good control. In October of this year I began having Tonic Clonic
> seizures (convulsing ,flipping). My doctor says that is fairly common
> for MS patients but I have never heard of it. Any info would be
> greatly appreciated.
>

white.lynx

2005-01-31, 11:46 am

Clonic spasms are very common, but for most people they are not painful

tonic seizures are not as common, but neither are they rare. They can be
very painful.

The following is a partial repost from a reply of mine from July 2003

Re: Can you explain gait ataxy to me ?
by "white.lynx" <white.lynx@[EMAIL PROTECTED] > Jul 5, 2003 at
07:02 AM

Clonus - as defined in Black's medical dictionary
"A succession of intermittent muscular relaxations and contractions
usually
resulting from a sustained stretching stimulus. An example is the clonus
stimulated in the calf muscle by maintaining sustained upward pressure on
the soul of the foot. The condition is often a sign of disease in the
brain
or spinal cord"

While I have a tendency to think of my knees involuntarily bouncing up and
down without the ability to stop as clonus it can affect the ankles or
even
my triceps. The doctor can hit my triceps on my left arm with a little
hammer and the triceps on my right arm may involuntarily contract and
relax
so that it appears to twitch for example three times which would be
referred
to as three beats of clonus. It is only supposed to react once.

When I am experiencing clonus in my knee, it is a rhythmic and repetitive
motion that is associated with deep tendon reflexes with my calf muscle
My
knee will only stop bouncing if I either push down my leg ,or more
successfully, lift my knee up so the sole of my foot is in the air instead
of providing the stimulus when it contacts the floor or the foot rest of
my
wheelchair. Some people confuse this with spasms.

The most common types of spasms are extensor spasms which are induced by
active or passive movement of the affected limb and flexor spasms which
are
usually nocturnal and most frequently involve the legs. Severity of
spasms
usually correlates with the degree of underlying specificity. Commonly
extensor and flexor spasms are painless while tonic spasms can be severe
and
painful. Spasm refers to an involuntary contraction of a muscle. When the
spasm is a prolonged and firm contraction it is referred to as a tonic
spasm. When the spasm consists of a series of quick alternate
contractions
and relaxations it is known as a clonic spasm.

In my case the stimuli for knee or ankle clonus usually is my feet and
the
sensitivity to trigger it varies widely over a period of time. It may not
bother me for weeks while the same stimuli will easily trigger it on a
different occasion. While this is rather interesting my main concern is
whether it hurts or is just an annoyance rather than what it is called.

Larry
rather than building character, adversity tends to reveal it
written with voice recognition software

Rather than building character, adversity tends to reveal it
written using voice recognition software
<BurrrNH@yahoo.com> wrote in message
news:1106968002.096685.170580@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
>I was first diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis 14 years ago. My symptoms
> physically have been relatively benign. Mentally is another story. I
> started treatment with Avonex but switched to Rebif about 10 months ago
> with good control. In October of this year I began having Tonic Clonic
> seizures (convulsing ,flipping). My doctor says that is fairly common
> for MS patients but I have never heard of it. Any info would be
> greatly appreciated.
>