My Weird and Downright Bizarre Symptoms of Multiple Sclerosis

Are you sure these aren't just symptoms of being a woman?  (Sorry, ignore that). 

There is a Family Guy episode where Peter gets stuck on the old song, "The Bird is the Word."  Can't stop singing it.  Goes to sleep mumbling it.  That often happens with me.  I mean, not that particular song (thank God), but one song or another. I'll just keep singing it until somebody tells me to shut up. 

Weird, very vivid dreams have been another thing that has come along with MS.  I seem to go into a deeper sort of sleep than before.  I will dream that I am doing something and be absolutely convinced that I really am, until I wake up and find I'm still lying in bed.

I do also feel happier in general, more at ease since MS--the euphoria thing, I guess.  It's not like tripping out on LSD, but just a baseline shift in perspective or mood. 

And there's more, of course.  The weirdness goes on and on.

Interesting post, Merely Me. I didn't realize MS could cause euphoria. Wish I had that problem. :)

Aside from the normal weirdness, the only unexplained weird thing that has happened has to do with extreme vertigo. I frequently have vertigo. But on a couple of rare occasions, I have been in bed and the vertigo has gotten extreme, like a rollercoaster. I usually hate rollercoasters since they make me feel sick, but on these occasions, I've gotten almost giggly and felt a little "high." I just laid back and enjoyed it. The first time it happened was the night before I had a collapse that put me in the hospital. I've wondered if there was a connection.

I'd be curious to know if anyone has had anything like that happen to them.

MS has turned you into your own entertainment center, not always a pleasant kind, but certainly interesting and surprising. I have seen variations of euphoria; a person who approaches their surroundings as if seeing each item for the first time, apparently as few others can. It is a beautiful world, much more colorful, deeper and vibrant, I'm told; it was curious to witness and left me feeling slightly empty.  I don't know if you experience that but it must be something quite different. Just not worth the price of admission.

The number thing is wild. I don't suppose you total the amounts rapidly too?

As a caregiver,  I have had a few of these symptoms described to me and wondered... is this MS or something different.  This really helps to know that these weird symptoms can indeed be associated with MS, and it really does make sense when one remembers to remember the illness is affecting the nervous system, which does run everything.  Thanks for describing these in such good detail.

Thank you for another interesting and informative post, Merely Me.  What does your neurologist say about these symptoms?  Is there any chance they are seizures, possibly MS seizures?  Have you ever had an EEG during one of these 'episodes?'  I have been having seizures for at least 12 years, which were the final factor in my having to stop working, although mine have more of a physical effect during the episode and afterward I am somewhat disoriented.  They are very different from what you describe but I wonder if there isn't something like that going on. 

As one of the other Commenters noted, the central nervous system controls all our physical actions, mental abiities, and emotional states so, while it may sadden me, it doesn't surprise me when someone with MS describes strange occurrances.  

I wish you well with these and all the other life-changing MS symptoms you live with every day.

I have experienced many of the things you mentioned.  When I first got sick I could suddenly do math and numbers finally made sense.  I have also had moments of the heightened euphoria and the depression and anxiety.  I get the nausea all too often.  My scalp and the back of my neck often get tingles of hot or cold.  I also get strange patches of numbness.  Sometimes I briefly lose feeling in my hands or feet.  It also seems like my pitch has improved.  I always could hear music but now I am pretty sure I have perfect pitch.  My IQ went up and I actually took the test to prove it to myself.  Sometimes my brain gets really foggy and I also lose thoughts or words.

These are just the stranger symptoms.  I have others but I have heard of those from the literature.

This is definitely an intersting subject, Me. I don't know where to begin after the weirdest stuff I can imagine that's been happening to me for close to 30 years, even before I knew what was going on. I'll just list as many as I can:

* phantom smells up my nose

* phantom tastes

* total numbness down the rt side of my body for 2 months (happened twice)

* feeling of my toe, foot, or leg being bitten by something while swimming in a swimming pool

* feeling of things crawling on me

* total feeling of bliss / euphoria almost all the time

* balloon-headedness

I know there are lots more, but at the moment my mind/brain doesn't want to cooperate  

Peace & Serenity,

Maris

Hi merelyme.   MS has effected me cognitively in many ways.  One of the ways it has effected me, that gets on my nerves, is I cry at anything sentimental or sometimes for no reason at all and I can't control it.   If I am watching a tv show and there is a hint of sentimental emotion I start to cry.  It has become so common that my daughter can always tell when something on tv is going to make me cry.  One thing I can no longer do is multitask.  I have to focus on one thing at time. I can't process information as well as I could before.  Etc, Etc.  The list goes on. 

Merelyme, I also have a son with a neurological condition.  He was okay until 5 years old.  When he was 5 he had to be hospitalized because of encephayltis which caused trauma to his brain and now has disabilities that he has to overcome.  It is a big challange to deal with your child's problems when you also have problems.

I enjoy reading your post.  Thank you for your insight.

So many of your symptoms I have had at some point in time and some I still get as the disease rears its ugly head. Even the sometimes inability to focus on a cinversation has hit me at times and it is confusing.

Thanks for sharing your symptoms and your feelings in this. Another fine idea that can help us all.

I too have strange ms sypmtoms. One is, I will be walking down a hallway at work and I will have to look down and make sure I have pants on, because I can't feel them. It used to shock me but now I am used to it.

Cindy

i am reading your article on numbers.  I too have similar problem. heightened awareness.  sentences from numbers also. Funny ,I always thought it was obsessive compulsive disorder. I have all sorts of problems. I have not been diagnosed. However there are times when I completely realize I am different from most of the world, that is to me anyway. diagnosed or not i have lesions on brain. It looks like a whw's who of little white mini snow pods.  up there.  Occipital lobe lesion. leg problems.Arm if holding up just goes "kerplunk".  Foggy brain.  insomnia, then complete exhaustion.  I have just about given up. Now I have severe joint pain . so bad up all night.  There are no normal sleep patterns.  I also have essential tremors. At least that is so its called.   I also suffer when I go into a large dept. store that has many electronic appliancs/tv/vcr/ lights/ etc.I also have COPD . on oxygen.  Now Lately with increased pain in joints I have a lot more muscle hurts in both upper arms.I have bk. injuries. My back is terrible. Pain most of time.  Feel like hurt hug.  also pain in triangular shape  from shoulders to small of back.. I have gotten used to dealing w/pain/ All the time.because of joints in shoulders now raising arms so much worse .  well that is my crazy world. 

the number thing you have ...well I do the same thing except I add them together also.  And the sorry thing I do that also with stuff like you said wow I thought I was the only one.  milinda

Hopefully you are still checking these postings. I found out about my MS thanks to an MRI done after a car wreck. I thank God for that wreck because I've been sick for about 20 years and they never could find out what was wrong. I am 46 now.

One of my weird things happens while sleeping (which doctors say MS symptoms subside while you are asleep...I say BULL). It's only happened about 6 times in 20 years, but it's got to be related to the MS. I will be fast asleep and then my body begins to quake and tremor like crazy. I thought my husband was making it up, until I went to the beach with my mom and grandmother and shared a bed with my grandmother. I awoke to both of them standing over me in the middle of the night trying to wake me up because the violent shaking had scared my grandmother. It had been awhile since the last episode, but it happened again over the weekend, which got me searching, and led me to your wonderful site.

Other really weird things for me are my vision changes, walking problems, and instead of numbers (which I am very good with) I had a word, one word, "MUSTARD" which appeared in my mind when I closed my eyes. I don't know what brought it on, but it lasted for about 5 years, while I also experienced vertigo spells. I would see "mustard" everywhere. Not the condiment, just the word. It was really freaky. The "mustard" and vertigo were accompanied by feelings of intense deja vu. Keep in mind, I didn't know I had MS, so I thought I was going insane. I wonder sometimes if people who think they are profits, really are just experiencing MS related brain neuropathy episodes???

These three things subsided at the same time, but were replaced with vision changes. Some mornings when I wake up it's like I am looking through milk. If you wear glasses and go from cold temperatures into hot temperatures and your glasses fog up so that you can hardly see through them, that's what it's like. Other days I walk around with blinders on. It sounds crazy, but my vision might be similar to those racehorses they put the blinders on. I can actually see a large blacked out area in my field of vision.

Other major symptoms I have is that I never feel the urge to urinate (which causes it's own problems) and sometimes my left leg forgets to go forward when I am walking a straight line, which means I end up hitting the ground hard, usually face first. Gotta love that. I also feel like things are touching me that aren't there, like sometimes I feel like I'm sitting on a thick quarter-sized disk (nothing there) or like someone is poking me with a dull stick, like the eraser end of a pencil, but nothing's there.

The worst for me has been the short-term memory loss and the gaps in time. I don't know what happens to me, but sometimes it's almost like I go away. I can look at the clock one second, and it seems like 20 minutes later, an hour has gone by. I also have days where time just seems to drag and it seems like I can do four days work in one days time...weird!!! The memory loss is the very worst. It really scares me when my husband says he's handed me something and I argue with him that he never gave it to me and then I look down and it's in my hand, or I find it in my pocket. Or when I get home from the store and can't find my purse, and after searching the car and calling the store, later I find it in the refrigerator.

Like you say, there's never a dull moment. Hardy-Har-Har

Thanks so much for all of your useful info!!!