Burning and Freezing Redux

This time I cannot blame the Copaxone. I guess we're calling it parasthesia but I think torture is simpler and maybe closer to the truth. (Have you noticed my love of vocabulary? Sorry if it's annoying.) My feet have been alternatingly burning and freezing while simultaneously numb and tingly. Is it even possible for Normal People (non-MSers) to have this many differerent sensations happening in a body part at one time? This has been going on for more than a week and I have tried it ALL. I've tried warming up and cooling down. I've tried all the meds at my disposal. It seems to be worst in the morning, late at night, and whenever I'm moving around a lot. And it's spreading; north up to my knees at times.

It started right before I came down with Shiva's cold, and I told the Novartis Chick about it like, three days in. The Novartis Doc blamed it on my cold, ("Maybe you're running a fever," he says 5 minutes after the nurse had determined my temp was normal), but I was pretty sure he was wrong. So I went to my usual neuro. Usually I think of my guy as damn near sainthood, but this time he sorta looked at me in a way that made me feel completely pathetic and said, "You have MS, what the hell did you expect?" I'm euphemising of course, but that was the gist. He did NOT say that I was relapsing -I like to call it "backsliding"; I stole that from the Christians - or even having an exacerbation. He prescribed me Nortriptyline which hasn't made a lick of difference yet. In fact, it's gotten worse and I am standing on the precipice of contemplating amputation. I'm in the burning stage now and have just agreed to putting them in ice water at Shiva's suggestion. Okay, I put one foot in and he made the steam hissing sound effect, and now it just feels numb. Now it's that stupid feeling you get from IcyHot ointment. Alright, fuck this, let's just lop them off.

I called the Novartis Chick again today and she asked if I'd been having any other symptoms, like fatigue. I told her the other day that I have been pretty fatigued, but also having a hard time sleeping at night. She knows how wacked my work schedule is too, but this time I left out all the excuses I tell myself (other than MS) and everyone else for being tired all the damn time, and just admitted that the fatigue right now is baaaaad. She said she'd talk the Novartis Doc and call me back. Must've lost my number.