Itchy and twitchy

Another symptom of Multiple Sclerosis is a fairly constant feeling of itchiness in random parts of my body. For me, I often feel itchy on my head and face but sometimes I feel it on my hands, arms and legs and no amount of scratching or moisturizer alleviates it. They are fantom itches - not because my skin is dry or there’s something causing irritation. It’s because the signals my brain sends to the nerves throughout my body are shorting out because the protective coating (Myelin) is being stripped away by MS and my nerves are confused.

I was never that big a fan of the Simpsons cartoon but I am not going to lie and say I never watched it in my youth. My frequent itching sometimes reminds me of the cartoon within the Simpsons cartoon that the kids used to watch called “The Itchy & Scratchy Show.” 🤣

Another symptom of MS is something called muscle spasticity. There are times my muscles - especially in my legs - spasm and twitch at random. This is more annoying than anything - mostly because it makes me feel like I constantly need to change positions and can’t get comfortable. It also means I am more likely to experience muscle cramps (or Charlie Horse cramps) in my feet.

More often than not, when one of these symptoms flares up, the other accompanies it - in MY experience anyway. Not all people with MS have the same experiences I do. It seems the muscle spasticity happens more often at night which makes it really difficult to get the sleep I need to function. Thankfully, this is not a real frequent occurrence for me but there is no rhyme or reason to the timing so I can’t predict it.

Saturday night I had difficulty sleeping. My legs just kept twitching and I had to keep changing positions which isn’t as easy for me these days with my left side weakness. I try so hard not to toss and turn at night because my husband is a light sleeper and has difficulty getting back to sleep after he is awakened. But on a night like Saturday night, I can’t help it. It’s during these nights that I also feel itchy all over my body. Being in bed is miserable on these nights and sometimes I just get up and go into a different room to sit up and read to get my mind off my discomfort. But Saturday night I decided to use my awake time to pray for everyone I could think of and the struggles I was aware of. In addition, I prayed for our speaker who was a missionary to Tanzania scheduled to speak at our church the next day. I prayed for our missionary friends in Poland who would begin their journey back to Seattle on Monday to be here for their son’s wedding. Speaking of weddings, we have friends at church getting married later this month and other missionary friends are back in the area from Papua New Guinea for THEIR son’s wedding in September. Lots if weddings and new marriages to pray for! I prayed for friends trying to have a baby, for friends fighting various forms of cancer, for friends with MS, for my husband and children. And yes, I prayed my muscles would stop twitching and let me sleep.

I eventually DID fall asleep and, surprisingly, my legs felt stronger on Sunday morning than they had all week! I felt more energy and was awake and alert the entire day - no need for a nap and it wasn’t even a day that I took the medication I use on alternate days that helps with energy and focus. It was a great day! It was the LORD’s day! Sunday is my favorite day of the week and attending church is my favorite activity. I really hate when I have an experience like Saturday night because I always feel like the next day is going to be a struggle because I didn’t get the amount if sleep I needed. But prayer is more important than sleep. And sometimes I think that God allows sleepless nights because there are prayers needed during those hours. Satan doesn’t sleep and neither does God. God knows how to mobilize His army of prayer warriors to assist in the fight.