Fiery Feet / Montel

[Guest guest]

For Montel, the defining characteristics of MS are excruciating burning in the feet, tripping, impaired equilibrium, and loss of sensation.

MONTEL WILLIAMSMy feet felt like they were on fire like 24 hours a day. And I'm not talking about just, like a little bit on fire. Sometimes even thinking back on how bad it can hurt when it hurts at its worst, it's almost as if somebody takes like a steel rod, sticks it in coals, and just shoves it right through the end of my foot, through my toes and up my shinbones. And that lasted for about 70 days at that level.And then, it started to slowly dissipate. And it slowly went away over the course of the next 2 months down to about two hours to an hour a day. Now, that was three hours a day, every day of the week, and then it went through three hours a day, two days a week or three days a week and two days a week, then one day.And now, I think, after having talked to some pain specialists and having talked to some other doctors around the world who deal with this illness, I'm not sure if the pain is really gone, or whether or not I have been able to put it in a box. And I think, that's exactly what's happened. I've been able to put it some place because, now, what I realize is that I also don't feel pain the same way that other people do. Recently, in my studio - I have a space heater in my studio, an oil space heater. We crank them up. Electric oil, it's really, really hot. These things are sometimes as hot as a stove. I got out of the shower and I must have been leaning against that thing for a good 10 to 15 seconds, put a third degree burn on my leg before I realized I was on it, snapped off and touched it again. Burned myself twice. The first burn was deep, a third degree burn. I didn't even know I was burning myself. That's how much loss of sensitivity I have in some areas in my body.I know that I'm left side challenged. There is no question I am left side challenged. I can walk down a hallway, and by five steps, I may bump into the wall on the left side. Why? Something's going on in my brain equilibrium-wise that pushes me over that way. It's just an offshoot of my illness. Back two years, I was tripping and falling down all over the place. I walked down the street and I would fall down and just trip. I tripped over a crack in the sidewalk because I wasn't lifting my feet high enough. Why? Because MS has stopped that a little bit and I wasn't feeling my feet.

Martha Murdock, DirectorNational Silicone Implant Foundation | Dallas Headquarters"Supporting Survivors of Medical Implant Devices"4416 Willow LaneDallas, TX 75244-7537