Hi there. I'm so glad you found this list.
One of the odd things about TM is that, for many of us, symptoms can flare up
sometimes. It may be that you went back to work a little too soon; it may be
that the cold triggered it. Sometimes a flare-up can occur when tired, under
stress, ill, lacking sleep -- or sometimes for no apparent reason at all.
Unfortunately, when symptoms do flare-up, it is often you just have to wait
and see whether they subside again or whether they increase. You are doing
the right thing by keeping in touch with your dr. and letting him know what
is going on. The steroids are usually a short term thing, though I think a
few are on them long term. Did you go off the anti-seizure medication
inbetween your initial attack and this relapse? Some are able to go off
medications after a while, but some are on them for the long haul. I would
guess if this relapse exceeds the symptoms of your first attack, the dr.
might want to do another MRI to check for additional lesions, which might
indicate MS. He might not, though, if he thinks the flare-up is originating
in the same place as before.
It would be hard to say whether the epidural had anything to do with the
onset of TM. The two prevailing theories as to the cause of TM are that it is
a virus or an auot-immune reaction (the body attacking itself for some
reason). It may be that the epidural created an opening for something to get
in there -- I don't know if it would've taken two months to manifest itself.
A lot of people get TM after a viral illness or, as in my case, get it just
out of the blue with nothing happening previously.
Keep us posted -- feel free to ask any questions and we'll do our best to
help.
Barbara H.