Mind-Body Connection

To quote sabinerose's post, I'm writing this "somewhat embarassingly", very embarrassingly in fact but I feel I have to as I need to find answers, and it may also help someone else. First off, thank you sabinerose, as you gave me the courage I needed to post this, and also apologies for what will be a long post, but I wanted to be thorough. I hope someone else recognises this, or can comment on it, because at the moment I feel completely alone with it.

I was diagnosed with MS in February, although I'd had symptoms going back several months. I started off with double vision, then after that initially going away for a short period, it appearing again with both double vision and balance problems as well as experiencing a really horrible sickish feeling. I was admitted to hospital and treated with steroids which provided pretty immediate relief. After a few weeks, I got back home and was confined to bed.

Now, the embarrassing part. How best to put this... After a few weeks of being in hospital and due to the fact that I am single, I felt the need to 'provide relief' in a manner that all men do, (that in fact everyone does from time to time, if we're honest), now here's where it gets strange, upon the point of this 'completing', I immediately felt a sensation in my head i've never felt before, it began at the front of my head and went right up and over to the back of my head. Within about an hour of doing this I experienced a feeling of sickness, followed by a very quick onset of a sensation that felt like sunburn spreading out all over my left arm, partial numbness in my face and very bad aching pain in both my legs, particularly in the ball joints and the thighs at the front.

I had no idea what was happening as I hadn't yet really had many MS symptoms, I had to call the doctor and was treated with steroids again. This lessened the pain but did not make it go away completely this time. I stayed on them for a week, but could feel it through the steroids, the sunburn like sensation/pain in my left arm stayed for weeks as did the pain in my legs, but eventually they both very slowly waned.

Considering I had only just recently been diagnosed, and given the speed at which this happened (minutes after the initial feeling of sickness) it was very frightening. The sensation in my arm would occasionally, (what I described as) 'flash' every now and then. It felt like nerves being stimulated, a very disconcerting sensation.

Suffice to say, this scared the living daylights out me, so much so that I told myself I wouldn't be doing that again anytime soon. It then occurred to me that with both of the initial symptoms I first experienced, (the double vision, then again accompanied with affected balance) these were separated by a matter of weeks. On both occasions I first experienced them upon wakening up in the morning, and on both occasions I had done this 'relieving' as the last thing before going to sleep the night previous!

So, I refrained from it completely for the next four months. I began to experience awful sensations in my head, which I am still experiencing and never waned since and only gotten worse. As well as odd neurological and sensory symptoms like sentences feeling like an effort, and horrible feelings in my hands and arms, which seem to be exacerbated by simply seeing other people moving their hands and arms around.

Everyone I confided this situation to initially felt that it couldn't be related, which I could totally understand from their point of view. I felt that the doctor I plucked up the courage to mention it to wasn't really getting the point, and just briefly told me that 'it was a perfectly natural thing to do'. Which i'm well aware of, but didn't really give me an answer as to what I was describing. What was that reaction? More importantly, why did it happen immediately after doing that?

So eventually, after some four months of going crazy, and the few people I told this to not being sure if it could mean anything, I decided it must be ok to do it. Upon acting, I noticed that during I was experiencing pinprick sensations in various parts of my body, not something I had ever experienced before, and also oddly the nasty feelings in my head seemed to temporarily disappear, the pinpricks got more widespread until it had finished. No weird sensation in my head like before, but after about a day I began to then feel aching in my legs again and what felt like inflammation in various areas around my body, not as bad as before but it was familiar enough, this has now repeated every time.

I only recently discovered the OMS program, and I'm sticking rigidly to it. What I'm worried about is that I could be sticking to the program, but doing this could cause these problems regardless. To me, in my own body, it feels like there is an immune response every time I do this, I have no idea why this would happen and I've no idea how to convey this to a doctor or a neuro. Has anyone else (male or female) experienced anything like this?

Just wanted to say, don't be embarrassed asking questions here no matter what they are.
It must be really scary having that happen to you.

Do check you vitamin D level and remember it should be high to be in the safe zone.
What a doctor might say is a normal result is not nessasarly high enough for someone with m.s
I try to stay at 200 nmol/L or 80 Ng/mL depending on what measurement yours is done in.
It is said that you are 70% less likely to have an attack if you have high levels.

I'm always a little scared of waking in the morning as all my attacks I've had seem to show themselves on awaking in the morning... Don't know why..
In saying that since OMS I've not had an attack.

Once you are on OMS and have your body in healing mode I am confident that this situation for you will not happen every time you relieve yourself.

All the best, sorry I can't be more helpful.
X

Thank you for the response and kind words Blueberry, I really appreciate it. I can't help but feel a little embarrassed given the subject, but it's the fact that it's happened again even after stopping for 4 whole months. (albeit not as quickly or severely as the first time) It makes me really wonder just what's going on inside my body to cause this kind of reaction? It seems very specific. Generally it causes my balance to get worse and gradually causes more pain in my legs over the following days. Could it perhaps be anything to do with the location of a lesion by any chance?

I'm in the process of having my vitamin D levels checked just now, I've tried to make sure I'm getting vitamin D every day. I've only been on OMS for a week or so, so I'm still getting used to it, but I'm determined to stick to it. It's good to know that things have improved for you since starting on OMS. I'm not the greatest cook, so I'm having to learn how to prepare most of the recipes (which look delicous btw) by myself. I'm not sure yet where to pick up some of the ingredients tho.

I remember the first month of OMS being hard, finding suitable foods, going to places you've never been reading all the labels on food, it takes a lot of time. But after a while it gets easier.

It took me a while to get one ( Christmas present) but I find a nutra bullet awesome!
Easy way to get your veggies in if you are in a hurry or lack energy to make a full on meal.
My favourite is carrot, beetroot, cucumber and some orange juice and water.

Find a good brown rice ( I buy organic when I can afford to do so) that plus boiled or steamed veggies with some black beans thrown in, is often a meal for me.
It's a good dish to put your flaxseed oil in once it's cooked.

I eat s lot of salmon, but try to buy wild caught ( usually in a tin) good for sandwiches once you find a suitable bread.

Always have snack food with you when your out and about so as not to be tempted.
I take a bag of nuts or a health bar which contains dates, dried fruit and not much else. Or a piece of fruit.
Heads up with dried friut btw as they often have oils in them.

I wonder with your situation if indeed a lesion is responsible? Also blood flow might be an issue?
It's hard not being a doctor, or having a doctor who can't figure it out either, all we can do is give our bodies the best chance at healing themselves.
Have you had blood tests for deficiencies? Just a thought but maybe it's contributing? I think it zinc males can lack especially for sexual activities but not 100% sure.

I get tested regularly for b12, iron, and vitamin D. But when I was first diagnosed I had everything tested.

Glad I could help even if it was just a little bit.
The embarrassment on the male orgasium topic is understandable, but to to you the truth it would be more of a concern to talk to a male who had never touched himself down there.
X

Btw, I personally see a chiropractor regularly, and immediately after I seem to have less tingling and weakness. ( mine is mouth, tounge, hands and legs) realigning my spine seems to take pressure off some leasing spots. Might not work for everyone but it could be something to look into.

Thanks for your understanding. I hope this helps someone else who might find themselves in a similar position and feels alone, or doesn't know what to think. Hmm, see the lesion that I have, or at least the first one that I know of, and it's position makes me suspicious that I initially caused it and have since been antagonising it. I read quite recently (I think Professor Jelinek posted a link about it actually) that one drop of blood in the brain is enough to trigger the immune response. So that makes me wonder if that due to it's position, perhaps i'm causing that.

I didn't have these bigger symptoms that come on rapidly during the four month period I mentioned, and I actually got to a stage where my balance was beginning to stabilise. But as soon as I tried it again, my balance went awry and more symptoms began to appear. How can I explain this to my doctor? Plus, my actual family doctor, whom I know well and feel comfortable with is a woman, what to do?

Dietwise I'm also eating lots of salmon (tinned too) and mackeral actually which is quite tasty. My first batch of fresh flaxseed oil is on the way, so I'll be using that to flavour food quite soon. Thanks for that recipe btw, that's great. Although the recipes on the site all look delicious, to start off with I'm making simple stuff. I'm a wee bit worried about eating the wrong things. How do you know what kind of bread is alright for instance?

Thanks Diggity, I've been printing out the recipes from the site and adding them into a folder that myself and my family can peruse. I've been making a list of some of the more unusual ingredients to go and pick up in one go. I do intend to make my own bread actually! I think that would be very satisfying and give me some peace of mind.

I haven't found a list of definite nos and oks, it's just been a matter of seeing what ingredients are included in the recipes that are available and noting that they're ok. Are there any handy quick lists like this to download or anything? Also, some of the recipes look like they could be quite pricey, are there any guides for people having to stick to a budget?

There used to be a downloadable reference guide with an allowed and not allowed list, this was very useful but I don't think it's available now, if it is, it's not easy to find.

BG