Toe Story

Some MS science fiction

Just this morning someone in one of my online MS Facebook groups asked how do you know when something new in your body is MS or some other medical issue?

This is an excellent question without a definitive answer.

I have struggled with this many, many times as each new weird symptom-like thing comes up in my body.  But this question is especially relevant right now as my week as been filled with even weirder medical weirdness.  Just when I think my MS/my health/my life can’t get any weirder, it does.

Several mornings ago I woke up with major pain in my toes.  The pain seemed to be concentrated on the second and third toes of my right foot, almost as though I had stubbed them badly.

 

Now, I do get up in the middle of the night to use the bathroom, 2, 3, 10, or maybe 15 times a night, depending on how effective my bladder control medication decides it wants to be.   I’m usually awake enough to do my business and get myself safely back to bed. So if I had stubbed my toe in the night, wouldn’t I be aware of it?  Especially if it was so painful that it caused me to limp around in the morning?

Multiple sclerosis has certainly wreaked havoc on my short term memory but painful memories seem to hang around. While I’m pretty klutzy, I have no recollection of hurting my toe to this extent.  And I do mean extent, the toes hurt like a motha……, well, let’s just say they hurt a lot.

 

This was beyond frightening and perplexing.  What is going on in the middle of the night that caused me to wake up hurting so badly?   And how can just two of my toes be such a problem?

I researched this and discovered that your toes have a lot to do with your balance and thus, are very important.  Especially to someone who already has balance problems related to having MS.

As I was l limping around thinking about this I received a call from a friend who happened to have a podiatrist appointment later that day and she was dreading it.  A podiatrist is a foot doctor.  Don’t they cover toes as well?

I thought of high jacking my friend’s appointment-she certainly didn’t want it.  But I didn’t out of fear of extreme frustration.  The podiatrist would likely examine and x-ray my toes only to tell me nothing was wrong and then on top of hurting I would be irritated and worried I was going crazy, yet again.

 

So I stayed home and lamented what a beautiful day it was and how before I woke up with toe issues I was definitely, finally  going to go out for a long walk that day of all days and geez, now with the toe issue I can’t. See what I mean about how fitting in exercise is tough?

By the end of the day my toes felt much better so I chalked the whole toe thing up to a fluke and went to bed.  And in the morning, my toes hurt all over again.

This seemed like MS– a rise in severity of symptoms only to have the severity wind down and then rise up again.  It had to be- what else is going on with my feet while I sleep?

I thought I should consult a consultant.   I called another friend who had actually broken her toe during a family vacation last summer.  She claims she broke it climbing down and falling off the ladder of the bunk beds in the house her family was staying in.  I think she actually broke it tripping over a sidewalk after too much wine.  I suppose, however, if she was going to make up a broken toe story she would come up with a better one then falling out of bed- bungee jumping or paragliding maybe.

 

Anyway, with all of her broken toe experience she didn’t believe I had broken toes.  She felt I might be dealing with arthritis!   Arthritis?  In two of my toes???

Day three I woke up with renewed but slightly diminished pain only to be back to normal by the time I went to bed.   It is now day 5 and the pain upon waking is only mildly uncomfortable while my confusion increases.

These days my MS friends and I are all about asking is this latest problem MS?

Or is it another sign of aging, like arthritis?

Or is it yet another medical condition?

 

I would like to propose another possibility.

Perhaps it is neither of those things but something that can be best explained by the narration of the Twilight Zone–

“There is a fifth dimension beyond that which is known to man.  It is a dimension as vast as space and as timeless as infinity.  It is the middle ground between light and shadow, between science and superstition and it lies between the pit of man’s fears and the summit of his knowledge.  This is the dimension of the imagination.  It is an area which we call the Twilight Zone.”

 

So there you have it friends.  If the mysteries of your MS symptoms are too mysterious even for MS, then perhaps you and your painful toes have entered the Twilight Zone.

Good achy toe night to all of you…..

 

And if you have yet to pick up your copy of my latest book, then please check out Goodreads where in celebration of World MS Day, you can possibly win a copy!