Hi doctor hope you can advise me. My wife was DX with Relapsing Remitting MS about a year ago even though she had symptoms for a few years before (hindsight is great). She is also 4 months pregnant with our first child. However my wife has just had a sudden and severe relapse. Her balance is awful with weakness in legs so effectively unable to walk She has extremely slurred speech and is very difficult to understand. She is also having uncontrollable bouts of laughter? I mean she goes into hysterics for no reason! She was admitted to hospital last night and relucatantly given a dose of IV steroids. 1gram of Methylprendizone. She will continue on these for 5 x days. I think it's the poor speech that is getting her down. We can't even talk to one another as I can't understand her and she is so embarassed ( I have told her not to be). We can deal with the balance issues (sort of) but it just makes this so much harder when we can't even talk to one another. Do you think that we can expect her speech to come back when the nerve inflammation settles down with the steroids? Thank you kindly
2015-02-05 11:20:39
This must be a really tough time for you both! It is unfortunate that your wife had a ‘MS attack’ during pregnancy. Usually MS symptoms go down during pregnancy. However many women do experience the symptoms. Though MS is not known to cause any abnormality in fetus the pregnancy needs to be carefully monitored because of the MS symptoms. The problems in MS depend on the area of nervous system most affected. In your wife’s case the speech area appears to have been affected. However the good news is that the problems persist only during the relapses or when the person is extremely tired. Speech problems may include slurring long pauses between words nasal speech tremor in voice etc. You could ask the hospital to send across a speech therapist. This will help improve her speech even while the inflammation is there. Once the relapse is under control speech therapy will speed up the speech recovery. If she is feeling well enough to write and does not have shakiness or tremors in hand you both could communicate by writing. You could both work on a sign language when she is well enough so that you could use that when her speech is affected. You could also develop placards with the help of the therapist. Also both of you would benefit by speaking to a multiple sclerosis educator or counselor. This would help your wife understand that the slurring of speech is not in her control. Also it will prepare both of you regarding handling the symptoms during her pregnancy. Hope this gives you some direction regarding what can be done for your wife and how to improve her symptoms and the communication with her. Normally her symptoms should subside with steroids. Please discuss in detail with her doctor.
2015-02-05 11:21:07
