Fighting the MS Cold

Catching a cold is no fun for anybody. But when you live with MS, it can really be disruptive. A while ago, I succumbed to the common cold that has been making the rounds. One of the first things I noticed, even before the cold really set in, was that my legs were feeling heavy and my body was all a-buzz. My legs were heavy, and about half of my skin was doing the jumping bean dance just under the surface.

Symptoms flaring up

Next to settle in was the increased spasticity. As my body temperature rose slightly, my ever-present MS symptoms grew to an unignorable level. For two days, the pain, tightness, achiness, and heaviness kept me from wanting to do much. I actually went back to bed in the middle of the day to try to shake it off.

Stuck in bed

Then one morning, I was feeling particularly whiny… and that’s when it hit me. I was experiencing what others have described as a “man cold.” No longer was I the self-sufficient, strong, determined person that I usually am, regardless of the challenge ahead. I had become a sniffling, stuffy, stay-under-the-covers, only able to breathe through maybe 1/3 of one nostril, moaning pile of flesh and bones.

All joking aside, catching a cold when you have MS can really put you down for a while. Old symptoms may return, current symptoms can get worse, and you generally feel like a pile of...well...the gunk that you keep trying to unsuccessfully blow out of your nose.

Is it a cold or an MS relapse?

This temporarily increased amount of symptoms is called a pseudoexacerbation. It may feel like a relapse, but symptoms will typically subside.¹ Probably what I hated the most about my “MS cold” was that it turned my brain into sluggish mush, too. I couldn’t quite think clearly and I lost most motivation to get things done, even simple things.

The good thing about a pseudoexacerbation is that you know it will eventually pass. You may feel like crap, but you will survive. Whenever I feel like this, I try to remember to take something to bring my body temperature down. For me, that is a common OTC medication.

Finding the cause when it's not a cold

If I begin to feel all of the above symptoms, but I definitely don’t have a cold, I start to suspect a different underlying cause. It could be something like a urinary tract infection, overexertion, or exposure to heat.

Understanding MS triggers like heat

There have been times when I seemed to lose the ability to think clearly and started to feel frustrated that I needed to figure out what was going on. Surprisingly, it often took a while before I thought to go check the thermostat in the house. When the heat had kicked on and the temps outside grew, I needed to make sure that I could keep my body cooler. More often than not, just a couple of degrees made a huge difference in how I felt and functioned.

Fighting the cold

But for those few days, I just needed to drink lots and lots of fluids, stay warm, and attempt to keep from becoming a whimpering mess while I surreptitiously fought the cold with vitamins, rest, fluids, and good food.

So the next time you come down with a virus, try not to be hard on yourself. Although it’s not as socially understandable as a man cold, an “MS cold” can literally make it hard to function, physically and mentally.