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Weird muscle movement, do others have it too?

aimossy

Senior Member
Messages
1,106
If I sit in a chair, one that enables my feet to comfortably be flat on the floor.
I bring my feet up onto tippy toes.
When I try to put my feet flat down again in a smooth motion by muscles can not let me do it smoothly they can only do it in a jerky unsmooth way.
I can bring my feet up to tip toes smoothly but going down is jerky.

I can not remember the terms used for when your muscle (say for example the calf muscle) relaxes or lengthens in a controlled way.Mine seem to have lost this normal level of function and are so tight like they cant relax or lengthen like they did before I got sick.

It is almost like clonus in MS but not as severe as what I have seen first hand in people with MS.
I am only just starting to read the muscle stuff on here and will have to catch up with everyone else.
But I am wondering about this specific movement do others have this too?:redface:
 

aimossy

Senior Member
Messages
1,106
well I am pretty sure I can not cbt my muscles out of working this way.hahahahah!
 

peggy-sue

Senior Member
Messages
2,623
Location
Scotland
I think the words you are seeking are flexor and extensor for the muscles contracting and relaxing.

(but, as with lefts and rights, I cannot remember which is which.;) )

I get the same sort of thing when walking down stairs... I'm smooth on the way (half) up,
but trying to keep a smooth and steady movement on the way down is just impossible.

It requires too much fine motor detail to be accurately controlled - the muscles are under great strain at the time.
 

aimossy

Senior Member
Messages
1,106
It could be a muscle strain in the sense of fatigue or load and lack of energy thing :) That's really plausible of course. Thanks peggy-sue.

Different muscles act in different ways for a movement to happen flexion/extension etc.There is agonist and antagonist stuff.

Im thinking of it like within muscle, how muscle works. they contract (maybe call it shortening) and relax (maybe call it lengthening)
My memory is shot like lots of us ,word finding is big issue for me.

Its like my muscles seem to be able to contract (well albeit they cant keep something up repetitive for very long before they just exhaust).
But that ability for the muscle to lengthen while still maintaining strength seems to be severely impaired.
There is a term for how muscle does this lengthening but I cant remember it.

Sometimes I think this is similar to eye vision problems...or has some bearing or relationship.
I find this really interesting because sometimes I think about signs and symptoms and wonder if this particular thing is a sign and a symptom.

My rambling is probably sounding like rubbish. I don't know if I am making sense really. I sometimes wonder if its sympathetic or para sympathetic involvement happening in the muscles.
I have such trouble explaining my thinking maybe because my thinking has become sluggish and dodgie.

It probably is quite nuts even trying to make sense of something that only researchers and docs will be able to in future.
:):rolleyes:
 

JAH

Senior Member
Messages
497
Location
Northern California
If I sit in a chair, one that enables my feet to comfortably be flat on the floor.
I bring my feet up onto tippy toes.
When I try to put my feet flat down again in a smooth motion by muscles can not let me do it smoothly they can only do it in a jerky unsmooth way.
I can bring my feet up to tip toes smoothly but going down is jerky.

I can not remember the terms used for when your muscle (say for example the calf muscle) relaxes or lengthens in a controlled way.Mine seem to have lost this normal level of function and are so tight like they cant relax or lengthen like they did before I got sick.

It is almost like clonus in MS but not as severe as what I have seen first hand in people with MS.
I am only just starting to read the muscle stuff on here and will have to catch up with everyone else.
But I am wondering about this specific movement do others have this too?:redface:

I have had this symptom recently. When I am sitting down my feet "want" to flex to tippy toes. This also happens while I am standing, along with my calf muscles flexing. I think it might have something to do with POTs, that my legs are trying to pump blood up. (Do you have POTs?) I have been having a lot of spasms lately, and neurologist thinks I may have a motion disorder. Thank you for this post, fascinating to see that someone else also has this weird problem. If you figure it out let me know!

JAH
 

peggy-sue

Senior Member
Messages
2,623
Location
Scotland
If you are sitting down, and your legs feel like they want to move....

it might just be your body telling you that it wants the assistance of the muscular pump
to help get the blood back up,
against gravity,
from your feet, back up to your heart.

If you are sitting down - always keep your feet raised if you can.

The muscular pump is just the name for the action of muscles contracting and relaxing around the blood vessels in the legs - pushing the blood up physically. It stays up because there are valves in the vessels.

Really, this tremor while trying to relax a muscle smoothly and slowly is nothing to fret about.

It's just much harder for your legs to descend in a controlled manner that to ascend.
 
Last edited:

aimossy

Senior Member
Messages
1,106
Thanks peggy-sue and JAH. I have the stairs thing peggy-sue which severity fluctuates. and have that thing where your feet feel like they are preferring to be extended. having legs up when sitting is more comfortable.I feel like I get blood pooling if I stand in the same place for very long and itch with it sometimes.

If you do that foot movement while sitting in a chair slowly though the impairment is intense and so obvious.
I have shown it to people in my family to show the difference in my muscles to theirs.

I also find if I bend down to get something off the floor I having the feeling I might topple forward my heels feel like they will not stay on the floor, muscle in the calves too tight to lengthen properly.
I just find it very interesting, no physical signs in this illness I laugh at that in a derogatory fashion lol.

I read somewhere a good analogy about feeling like having a lead suit on. my muscles feel like they have lead in them.

Id like to know if others have the same thing with the chair, legs and feet. The dysfunction is so clearly seen with that specific thing.

I probably have days it is a bit worse than others.
We are all a bit variant with a plethora of symptoms though:)
 
Messages
48
Location
UK
If I sit in a chair, one that enables my feet to comfortably be flat on the floor.
I bring my feet up onto tippy toes.
When I try to put my feet flat down again in a smooth motion by muscles can not let me do it smoothly they can only do it in a jerky unsmooth way.
I can bring my feet up to tip toes smoothly but going down is jerky.

It is almost like clonus in MS but not as severe as what I have seen first hand in people with MS.
I am only just starting to read the muscle stuff on here and will have to catch up with everyone else.
But I am wondering about this specific movement do others have this too?:redface:

I had exactly as you described in 2010 and over the next 4 years it slowly but continuously got worse and then spread upwards also to the arms, hands, etc. On the positive side whilst it got worse, also in the lower half of the body, it progressed very slowly and so even today by itself it does not stop me living my life, I just have to manage it.

In the upper part of the body it did not really start out as in the lower part of the body and then progress and seemed to just arrive over a period of about a week, and seemingly after a cold but that may have just been cooincidental. It arrived at a more advanced starting point.

I am quite convinced this is a gradual deterioration of something in the brain and caused by an immune system malfunction. I did have a two week period where everything went back to normal but then picked up a significant cold and hey presto everything returned, but with a little bit more as well.

As with all these things of course if we all had just one symptom we could manage it, but it's the fact that we often get so many and some come and go and often some get progressively worse and so we just cannot get used to anything. I was talking to a friend and said that it's rather like carrying a weight on your back and which gets heavier and heavier and is constantly moving about and which is there 24/7, it just wears you down.

If anyone is given a weight and told to carry it for say 10 days but then know it can be put down then no matter how difficult carrying that weight is we just get on with it knowing we will arrive in a position where we can put that weight down. It's rather like you break your leg, it's damn inconvenient for a while but you know the day will come when you will be back to normal.

The key thing in all of this is to carry that weight but always try to keep in mind that one day you are going to be able to put it down; because that day will come. :)

Regards.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I just scanned this and didn't see food intolerances mentioned so thought I'd add it.

Gluten is known to cause neuro symotoms. Info is in the glutenfile. There is a group of doctors trying to get the word out. They attended the gluten summit.

I've read that other foods, dairy, corn, soy, glutamates and chemicals can cause symotoms too but I'm not up on where that info is on the web.

Most if my neuro symptoms were from gluten. Including ataxia. I need to be strict about avoiding gluten. Cross contamination causes my old symptoms to flare.

Tc .. x
 
Messages
48
Location
UK
I just scanned this and didn't see food intolerances mentioned so thought I'd add it.

Gluten is known to cause neuro symotoms. Info is in the glutenfile. There is a group of doctors trying to get the word out. They attended the gluten summit.

I've read that other foods, dairy, corn, soy, glutamates and chemicals can cause symotoms too but I'm not up on where that info is on the web.

Most if my neuro symptoms were from gluten. Including ataxia. I need to be strict about avoiding gluten. Cross contamination causes my old symptoms to flare.

Tc .. x

Did you have the symptoms being discussed and then changed your diet and those symptoms went away?

Regards.
 

xchocoholic

Senior Member
Messages
2,947
Location
Florida
I had so many neurological symptoms every day that I don't know if I had this too

Things like ataxia, weak arms, right foot drag, weak legs, brain zaps, headaches, ocular ataxia, etc. I don't know what it's called when it feels like the floor your standing on is rolling under your feet.
I was a mess.

Multiple neuro symptoms can be from a single source so analyzing each one isn't necessary.

The medical profession has us thinking giving each symptom a name is important.
It's more important to look for the root cause of symptoms. The idc book would be a lot thinner if they did this.