[greg2052]

Muscle weakness in legs only

by greg2052 on Mon Sep 28, 2015 12:33 pm

Hello,

I am unsure which way to turn next and so I thought this forum was worth a shot.

The issue is with my wife's legs. She is 45 years old and has always been in good health – smokes prolifically, but apart from that; she is OK. A few years ago (3), she complained of her legs getting tires (she is a German woman and for the past 20 years has been married to me in England and seldom complains about anything). She started walking with a stick and she has slowly deteriorated to the point that she can get around very minimally, to the downstairs toilet (25 feet from the front room) or into the kitchen (7 feet from the front room).

I have turned the living room into a bedroom as she can no longer manage the stairs. Her arms have good strength and the rest of her seems OK (or so she says), it's just no strength in her leg muscles. When she walks it is like one leg is folding underneath her, like if you try to walk with a foot that has gone to sleep.

The doctors have ran blood tests and found nothing, I really don't know what to suggest. She is stubborn and says rest will make it OK. I don't think this is the case. She is a heavy smoker, maybe that is related? But really I have not got a clue. She has an exercise bike that she can use, sort of a mini one that she can pedal from her armchair. She even can't manage that on most days.

Any help would be appreciated, Brigitte (wife) is not over-weight but she does get UTI's quite often. Again, I'm just clutching at straws. Diet seems OK, she eats the same food as I do, drinks plenty of fluids, no alcohol.

Any advice would be most welcomed.

BR

Greg

[Little Monkey]

Re: Muscle weakness in legs only

by Little Monkey on Tue Sep 29, 2015 7:32 am

If you are very worried about myeloma, speak to the doctors about having a freelite chain assay done, it is more specific for certain myeloma markers compared to a regular blood test.

http://www.thebindingsite.com/freelite

[Nancy Shamanna]

Re: Muscle weakness in legs only

by Nancy Shamanna on Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:07 am

Hi Greg,

Sorry to hear about your wife's difficulties with walking. Could you post the blood tests that your doctors have done? It is possible that there are other tests that could be done to rule out/in myeloma.

Since she is getting frequent infections, perhaps her white blood counts are low, or other markers of the immune system. I suppose that if she could cut back on the smoking, it might help her overall health too.

Hope that helps. (I am not a doctor either, so wouldn't easily be able to interpret blood tests, but others here might be able to do that.)

[Tracy J]

Re: Muscle weakness in legs only

by Tracy J on Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:12 am

Hi there,

Has your wife ever had any imaging of her spine done to look for things pressing on her lower spinal cord?

[CindyBrown]

Re: Muscle weakness in legs only

by CindyBrown on Tue Sep 29, 2015 9:23 am

Greg,

She could be suffering from circulation issues in her legs as a result of the smoking. Smoking is very hard on the veins. I'm not a doctor but know two people who suffered with this.

Cindy