Monday, August 3, 2009

MSA - Another Lesson

In the last post, I talked about symptoms of MSA. For the fun of it, I found a list of typical symptoms and put in bold the ones that Dennis is currently displaying.

Symptoms

MSA damages the nervous system, which can cause the following symptoms:

  • Changes in facial expression
    • "Mask" appearance to face
    • May be unable to close mouth
    • Reduced ability to show facial expressions
    • Staring
  • Difficulty chewing or swallowing (occasionally)
  • Disrupted sleep patterns (especially during rapid eye movement (REM) sleep late at night)
  • Dizziness or fainting when standing up or after standing still
  • Frequent falls
  • Impotence
  • Loss of control over bowels or bladder
  • Loss of fine motor skills
  • Difficulty Eating
  • Difficulty with any activity that requires small movements
  • Writing that is small and hard to read
  • Loss of sweating in any part of the body
  • Mild decline in mental function (may occur)
  • Loss of Balance
  • Shuffling
  • Gait Changes
  • Muscle aches and pains (myalgia)
  • Difficulty bending arms or legs
  • Nausea and problems with digestion
  • Posture difficulties: may be unstable, stooped, or slumped over
  • Slow movements
    • Difficulty beginning to walk or starting any voluntary movement
    • Freezing of movement when the movement is stopped, unable to start moving again
    • Small steps followed by the need to run to keep balance
  • Tremors
  • May become severe enough to interfere with activities
  • May be worse when tired, excited, or stressed
  • May occur at rest or at any time
  • May occur with any action, such as holding a cup or other eating utensils
  • Finger-thumb rubbing (pill rolling tremor)
  • Vision changes, decreased or blurred vision
  • Voice and speech changes
  • Difficulty talking
  • Monotone
  • Slow speaking
  • Voice is low volume

Quite a list, isn't it?


Until later,

Ann and Dennis

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