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crazycrazyob

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What are the signs before foot drop occurs? Did you have cramps/ or a funny feeling prior, or can it simply just happen overnight? If strength is there on clinical exam (pushing pressure strength on dorsiflexed foot e.t.c.) and you can walk on tip toes and heels day before would it be impossible for foot to drop seemingly overnight? I say and ask this because I have twitched and what I thought was atrophy but have a funny feeling in leg and sometimes goes numb like pins and needles. I can walk on tip toes and heels today but get scared that foot will drop by morning. Is this not possible, is it more insidious and slower, with slight weakness present first?

Thank You :) .
 
It does not happen overnight. Period. Yes, it is insidious.
 
I started dragging my left foot,it was hard to move my lower leg..........i can't recall exactly how it came about.......insidious is spot on.
On my first clinical exam my neuro noted clinical weakness.........i realised then why my leg and foot was not working right.
 
Thank you for replying both :). So, from your answers I gather that I'd have some sort of clinical weakness on exam prior to this, even if its not an obvious weakness I feel myself?
 
Yes,footdrop is caused by clinical weakness.......a stroke would cause sudden weakness were as in mnd it is progressive, any weakness can be detected by a neurologist during a physical examination.
 
It's not a feeling at all, really. It isn't a sensory thing. In my case, my shoes just felt like they were getting heavier so I bought lighter shoes. I started catching my toe on steps and curbs so I just made sure I lifted my leg higher next time. It didn't really hit me that these things were due to weakening muscles until my neuro tested those muscles and explained to me that there's minor weakness there. Your strength is normal and you don't say you're tripping more often or anything, so you don't have foot drop. Trust me -- it's like nothing I've experienced before. It just crept up on me. Really strange.
 
I noticed it before my husband did. I would hear a different sound in big stores that echo (like Costco). It was sort of a plopping/slapping sound. He was oblivious other than the odd time he said he felt like there was something under the ball of his foot. Then he slowly became noticeably clumsy and started tripping over almost nothing. Tripping is getting worse slowly--he has taken more than a few splats. He would not describe his leg as being weaker than the good one. He has CIDP.
 
Mine started with toe curling and tripping. And yes, the foot didn't feel heavy, it was heavy.
 
Yes, you're right, last time I had my strength tested there was no clinical weakness in there ( although this was a couple of months ago). The only questionable weakness I have is that when I sit with my feet out in front of me one sometimes turns in more as if to point to the opposite side. However, if I conciously think and make it stay in the correct positioning it does. I'm assuming as I can conciously make it stay it is not from weakness I don't know?
 
With foot drop, I started noticing that my R clog was dragging a bit when I walked the dog. Tightening the buckle on the shoe didn't help and I had to switch to sneakers and then walked like a "drunken sailor" Because I was having to use my thigh to lift the leg higher in order to compensate.

There was no way I could do the heel/toe test. Falling was frequent for no apparent reason, tripping over grout lines in the tile? Catching my foot on flat, even, short weave carpeting in the do c's office? A blade of grass? Sometimes even when using a cane?

Thank goodness for AFOs!
 
I could find every imperfection in every step. I would be walking at the mall, take a step and turn to tell my kids to watch that. After a while they said there wasn't anything wrong with the carpet, the tile or whatever we were walking on. It was me.
 
Pins and needles is sensory, and indicates some sort of injury or neuropathy most normally.

ALS does not affect sensory nerves ( the pins and needles)
 
I have a question, if it's ok :). My reflexes were ok normal and symmetrical when checked. I know they can change to hyperreflexic, but can they change to assymentrical? Has anyone's done this to it?
 
The main thing I noticed even before I was tripping and falling was my foot felt funny in my shoe. The ball of my foot felt like something was pressing up on it, and it didn't feel right. Later on were the muscle cramps.
 
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