For me, Lhermitte’s Sign was one of the early symptoms of multiple sclerosis which I ignored and/or explained away for years before my diagnosis. It is medically (and rather vaguely) described as: “A brief, stabbing, electric-shock-like sensation that runs from the back of the head down the spine, brought on by bending the neck forward” As this sensation can be very brief, you can see why it can be easily ignored. As it can brought on and limited to very specific and small areas in the range of neck motion, it fits perfectly into that old “It feels funny when I do this… so I won’t do that” denial. I’ll also say that it was almost more of a curiosity as it was a pain. It almost felt like stretching out a tight muscle – thought it’s more of a nerve thing and far more “electrical” than a muscle ever felt to me. So, as a way of giving back to ourselves and to the newly (or yet to be) diagnosed I once again offer you a place to define your experience with this MS symptom. For me, Lhermitte’s Sign is: The stretching of a cold, electric rubber band. It almost feels “good” in the way that rubbing a bruise or stretching a Charlie horse can be not 100% unpleasant. Like stretching a muscle, there seems to be a point of great pain – in the form of eye-blinking shock – from which my head recoils and my body jumps a bit. My mouth oddly waters when I experience the symptom, but I suspect that has to do with a correlated thing as my temporomandibular joint (jaw hinge) feels pressure at that “great pain” point. So, have you ever experienced Lhermitte’s Sign? Do you have words to describe the sensation? Do you, like me, find it as interesting as you do annoying? Wishing you and your family the best of health. Cheers Trevis Don’t forget to follow me on the Life With MS Facebook page and on Twitter, and subscribe to Life With Multiple Sclerosis.
