My Foot Problem

I'm writing about my foot. I think it's having hot flashes. Can a foot really have hot flashes? Apparently. The thing is, I'm not having hot flashes anywhere else. And I'm pretty sure menopause is about 5 years or so in the future. However, I must be getting older because, as I understand it, that's when you start bringing up problems with your body as topics of conversation.

Seriously, so far the foot thing has happened for a few days every week or two. Then it stops. This is my third round. It does not appear to be related to any particular pair of socks or shoes. It feels like there is either a very hot source of heat blowing on the side of it, or that I am laying it down on top of the stove.

I suppose it could be related to MS. I'm reluctant to go to any of the MS forums. It's hard to say "Hey, my foot is having hot flashes" when part of your audience is stuck in a wheelchair and not happy about it. I am very conscious of how incredibly fortunate I am to still be walking, 95% of the time without the aid of my cane. So I don't like to complain.

"Trish, why don't you ask your neurologist?" I stopped going to see those people. Ok, so I only go every few years. I found that I would go see them, they'd say "let's get an MRI". So I'd get another MRI of my brain. Actually, I always enjoyed MRI's. They only had the closed kind of machine at my hospital. The tech would always tell me "let me know if you are freaking out in there". And I'd say "Are you kidding? This is the most peaceful 30 minutes I've had all day!" There is one pattern of MRI noises (I don't know what you call them) that I swear sounds like the overture from "Tommy". I later met a Who fan who is a radiology tech who confirmed it. I'm not crazy. Not about that, anyway.

But then the pictures would come back and the neurologist would completely freak out and tell me my brain looked much worse than before and I need to change medications. The last time, that medication was chemotherapy. The time before, the medication caused f*cking suicide-inducing depression. The treatment was starting to become worse than the disease for me. And, I did not find that the increase of 'plaques' on my brain had a direct correlation with how I was feeling that week. There is so much not really known. I found that the neurologist freaking out would just freak me out.

I learned that my version of MS tended to flare up when I had infections. I figured, if I can try and control my infections, maybe I can manage the disease better. It worked pretty well. I'd say maybe twice year, I'll not be able to manage it. The really big deal for me was finding a supplement that is practically a miracle cure for bladder infections. I get frequent bladder infections because of the MS (nerve connections don't work well enough). If I am diligent about taking the supplement, I usually can forestall an infection. Also, Vitamin C is very helpful.


These days I can go for weeks at a time without thinking much about MS. I still have my problems a few times a year. I have my chronic bladder issues, my occasional cognitive issues, my optic nerve weirdness and the mysterious body sensations. I sometimes wonder if there was a medication I could tolerate...would it help me feel better in general, and have less of a reaction to infections?

The last medication they came out with, Tysabri, was pulled off the shelf the day before I was going in to talk to them about maybe trying it. I figured I owed it to myself to check it out. But a few people died because of complications with other drugs, so they took it back. My understanding is that it is now back out there for people with certain situations. I'll give it a few years and see how people are doing. When it came out, it was touted as a "miracle drug" for MS, and many people were excited.

I guess what I need is a supplement that will stop my foot from having hot flashes. Let me know if you hear about one.