Hello again,
Thank you all for your descriptions. I am really trying to figure out if I am using the "right" language to describe what I feel. I see new neuro in December and want to be ready. When I say stiffness, it is always linked with soreness. My leg muscles feel like I overdid it physically...sore then stiff or stiff then sore. I don't know if one comes before the other. They are always together. I know that when I first saw doctor, I described this as feeling wore out, beat. Not what I really meant. So that is why I am working on language.
Jennifer, when you say you can lift your leg higher to get in the car...it sounds like you mean your range of motion has improved a little. And Z, you said something about toweling off-that also suggested range of motion. Would you say your stiffness is impacting your range of motion? I never thought about it that way, if that is what you are saying? I do NOT have range of motion issues except for a lot of difficulty getting into and out of jackets, but I have had that problem for years-long before any of this craziness began (I actually avoid doing that in public I look so absurd).
Sukilou, your description sounds like mine. As the day progresses, I also get "stiffer" and sorer. When this first began the stiffness and soreness showed up around 7pm or so, then around 4pm, then around 1pm, and now within a few hours of getting up (about a 9, possible 12 month progression). I see it progressing, whatever this is, to within minutes of getting up. Did it start that way for you? My balance also becomes worse as the stiffness & soreness set in. I feel like a slight nudge would send me flying as it is too difficult to compensate. Sidestepping my cats is very difficult. I swear they are trying to kill me:-D
I have heard that spasticity (if that is what you have) can help with pseudo-strength. Your legs are weak but then the spasticity can hold you up, so to speak. If you take medicine for the stiffness, suddenly you can experience too much weakness, because the stiffness isn't there to help support you (even though the weakness was always there). Olly/Caroline is very helpful at describing spasticity. I am hoping the new neuro will help me out with this. I think I am at the mild end of the spastic continuum and he is a movement disorder specialist and spasticity is something he treats.
But Sukilou, I have one difference. If I sit down or lie down to rest or after a night's sleep, when I get up I am very stiff as well. But I think it is a different sort of stiffness then what I experience worsening during the day. A stronger stiffness, if that makes sense. It causes me to walk funny (side to side troll like gait) but passes within 15 minutes or so. But it feels similar to the other stiffness I feel. I can't make sense of this.
Thanks again
Lydia