Function: ALS Breathing in the morning versus night

[kazzy]

Hi guys,

Do you all find a marked difference with how you function first thing in the morning compared to the end of the day. My breathing even appears better first thing.

Thanks, Kaz

 

[John1]

In the morning I am so stiff I can hardly move or get out of bed. It takes me about 2 hours to loosen up enough to function reasonably. I haven't noticed a big difference in my breathing although I think it is somewhat more laboured in the morning, I assume because I have been lying down. Do others have intense morning stiffness (spasticity)?

 

[ladave]

At this point in my disease progress I actually find I am much stronger in the evening than in the morning. Perhaps this seems paradoxical. But then I've always been a night owl; I'm rarely in bed before midnight and I've always been a slow starter in the morning. Also, there seem to be subtle psychological factors at work for me; when I wake up, I find myself tentatively testing myself to see if I've "lost" anything from the previous day. Whereas, as I go to bed, I'm finding myself saying a silent prayer of thanks for another day of reasonably good function.

So I guess, YMMV.

 

[Al]

I find I'm pretty stiff in the am as well. My hands are especially stiff as I wear splints to try to stop the curling of my fingers as the muscle wastes and the tendons shrink.

 

[MarciaA]

My sister mentioned once that when she first wakes up and she's lying in bed her whole body sort of shakes. I'm going to visit her tomorrow so I'll find out more about this, but has anyone else had that experience?

Marcia

 

[John1]

My sister mentioned once that when she first wakes up and she's lying in bed her whole body sort of shakes...
Marcia

I experience clonus in my legs first thing in the morning for perhaps 1/2 hour after getting out of bed. It normally is triggered by my heels touching the floor. If I transfer pressure to the balls of my feet it stops. I don't know if your sister is describing clonus or not. I've never experienced it outside of my legs but that is where my weakness is most pronounced.

 

[MarciaA]

John,
Help me out here...what's "clonus"? I'm still really new to all this and don't know all the fancy shmancy terms yet.
Marcia

 

[Al]

Clonus is not a diagnosis, it is the name of a symptom or sign which is found in
numerous neurological diseases.
Clonus is associated with stifness, spacticity and increased tone in
muscles and is due to damage to the nerve supply to the affected muscles,
in particular the nerve which stretches fron the brain to the spinal cord.
Damage can be due to anything from a stroke to cerebral palsy to trauma.
Clonus takes the form of severe reperetive jerking of a muscle when it
is stretched and as I indicated above it is simultaneously associated with
stiffness.

 

[Jeannie]

I'm worse in am, but as soon as I'm dressed & got my braces on, I feel a bit better. I have severe clonus in my legs/ankles, braces help a tad.

John, I have the opposite to you, my clonus goes even hyper when i put ball of foot down.

Neurologists often test for clonus in the ankle, the wrist and the kneecap (patella). A movie that demonstrates ankle clonus rather well can be found here (it's rather large and takes a long time to load): you might need to replay movie to see the action.
http://www.harkema.ucla.edu/clonusVid.html

 

[MarciaA]

Thank you both for helping me to understand 'clonus' better! I'll have to ask Kathy (my sister) tomorrow more about it. I'll let you all know how my visit goes!
Marcia

 

[ladave]

Jeannie,

Thanks for posting the vidcap, it was very helpful in my learning what "clonus" means.