> I want to thank you Dave Jones and Gunny for getting back to me so fast
> in regards to my plea for help on my mothers situation.. my mothers
> onset took about a week.. what medications are you all using.. is
> prednisone the only thing these doctors know about.?
>
> I had one doctor from Berkeley say that TM is a "wastebasket diagnosis"
> one that doctors use when they can not find the proper one..
>
> Luckily my mother is very active.. but now is so afraid of falling
> because of weakness to her legs.. Is it common for it to effect the
> upper and lower extremeties on one side?
>
> thanks again for your help..
> Breck
Breck,Not so much a wastebasket dx., but there are many other things that
can cause similar symptoms, and have to be ruled out. If you remember
multiple sclerosis, this is "single sclerosis" one lesion. It presents
differently with each of us, and the course is different with each of us.
There are general similarities, though. It's a demyalinating disease, kinda
like scraping the coating off a wire (your spinal column).Conduction
doesn't get through, or depending on the location and degree of the
demyalinization, gets through partially. So you get a variety of symptoms,
from numbness and weakness as you described to complete paralysis below the
level of the lesion. Steroids are used to decrese the inflammatiory
response and prevent further damage to the cord, and improve symptoms
caused by inflammation,usually early on. Moral support and encouragement
are very important; and there can be even complete recovery.As the area
scars and there is myelin regrowth, there may be weird conduction, causing
the variety of sensations of numbness, constant tingling, even burning
ache. Spasm may be a problem also. There are a variety of medicines for
these. If you punch in transverse myelitis on the search engine you have,
you'll find a lot :>
Best wishes to you and your mom!
Sam:>
>