Tag: foot dystonia

Posted in Archive, May 2014

Leg/foot Dystonia

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Instead of working steadily down the body for my blog posts I decided today to go straight on down to the leg/foot. This may have been influenced by todays spasms. For me, I class my leg/foot spasms as one of my most debilitating symptoms as it has resulted in me being unable to walk and having to use a wheelchair. In young adults and children Dystonia in the leg/foot area can be a sign of generalised Dystonia. Whereas for older adults (usually 30+ ) it would be more likely that it would be just in that area, this is known as focal Dystonia. I used to always walk funny, often falling over, and kicking my ankles open. I would often say “my legs just won’t do what I want”, at the time it was laughed off but now I often wonder if this was the first sign of the condition.

Dystonia is currently not a curable condition, therefore treatment is focused more on managing the current symptoms as well as possible. The most effective treatment at the moment involves regular Botox injections, where the injections are given depends on the spasm. Some people find that they need a combination of medications such as muscle relaxants as well as Botox injections . Physiotherapy is thought to be of use as well in a number in a cases, this is something I am starting to try along with Botox and muscle relaxants.

 Below are two photos of my foot/leg spasms.

Posted in Archive, February

Late Night Antics

Posted on by dystoniaandme

Yesterday my body was seemingly well-behaved. The only time it got irritated was when I went out for an hour or so, and my foot really did not want to be put in my shoe, and my eyes went blind a few times due to the lighting. However all in all, I found this to be an extremely positive and promising day.

As I was still feeling shattered after the busy week I had had, I decided it would be best to go to bed early. Meaning that when I went to bed, I would actually go to sleep and not pick up Harry Potter (I am rereading the series for what must be the 40th time) and read for hours. My little Dystonia alien, Benedict, however had other plans for me. I was just beginning to drift off to sleep when I felt the familiar tightening sensation in my leg and foot. I decided to ignore this and carried on trying to get to sleep. Benedict, unhappy that he had not managed to grab my attention, then decided to bend my foot as far back as it could possibly go. This roused me, however I tried to stay calm, and implemented my breathing exercises from my meditation CD. My leg then started doing two rather painful movements. It seemed to be trying to rotate so it was completely back to front, whilst going slightly upwards and pulling outwards, as if trying to go in the air whilst attempting to dislocate itself. This completely woke me up, with all hope of sleep gone,  I flipped myself over, so that I was lying on my stomach, to try to counteract the spasm by forcing it into the mattress.  I then started doing distraction techniques, such as making my good leg do movements, reciting lyrics in my head etc. In the end I switched on my Ipod, and just focused on my breathing. I did this to not only to keep me calm, but also to try and lull my body into a state of relaxation.

It was 3 am by the time the spasms relaxed, it only took 5 long hours, and I was finally allowed to drift off to sleep. Whilst this was an irritating experience, as I like and need my sleep, it was also a positive one. I manage to cope with it all without panicking. I kept calm, and did all the distraction techniques I knew, and tried each one for a fair amount of time, before allowing myself to give in and just let the spasm run its course.

Today has been a fairly good day. My Dystonia had not been that bad, so I am rather happy. I did not have my usual soup for dinner today as I am trying to up my protein intake, so I had mashed up fish fingers, mashed potato and beans instead. Whilst this was nice and extremely filling, it sadly set my jaw off. Recently when my jaw spasms, it has just been my lips going – thanks to the Botox treatment. However this evening my jaw also deviated to the left when it went into spasm. Thankfully the deviation was nowhere near as extreme as it has been before. I am hoping that this deviation is a fluke, as my last lot of Botox treatment was only administered about 5 weeks ago, so I still have 7 more weeks to go before I can have any more.

I am hoping for a quiet and relaxed day tomorrow. Which will be full of positivity!