Thursday, March 31, 2011

Cold Feet and Legs, Warm….....….??

I have always had cold feet.  Even in the summertime, my feet will be ice cold.  The only time I can get them even close to warm is during a hot shower, which I can no longer endure.  This is another symptom of MS that many share.
The pins and needles are always present, but the coldness is to the bone.  My legs always feel cold.  If you touch them, they feel normal to you, but I feel like there are icicles inside them.  I wake up in the night and am burning up, but my right leg and feet are so ice cold that I feel shivers running up and down my leg.
Because MS is basically what I call a brain signal derailment disease, most of the pains and problems that it causes are hard or impossible to fix. Body temperature cannot always be perfect under the best of circumstances.  Any fluctuation in outside temperature is felt ten times more by a MS patient.  Our brains do not send the signals to the rest of our body to keep us warm or cool us off.
Many of the medications we take also play a major role in how our bodies regulate temperature change.  Often times medication stifles our body’s normal reaction to heat or cold and we end up not being able to adjust to the change. 
There are many slogans that are popular on the MS Facebook website.  Most of them are to boost and encourage those who suffer with this disease.  I think I will add a new one……….how about: Cold Feet and Legs = Warm Loving Person……….. :)

No comments: