for me an exacerbation or relapse lasts days or weeks and brings along a noticeable changes in sensation, function, and exhaustion.

I recently had an exacerbation and my neurologist got me into a MRI and confirmed it when he found a new lesion on my upper spine, which he connected to my sensation and strength issues.

a lot of what I experience isn't really a "relapse", they're just symptoms thanks to lingering damage from earlier attacks. these periods of MS-like symptoms may last hours, or maybe a couple-few days, and typically occur in areas or in forms I have experienced before and i don't experience other differences (i.e. an area may go fuzzy, but everything else is just fine).

Also, i can usually attribute these events to something like a prolonged illness, over-heating, lack of sleep, over-working and such. Cooling off, relaxing, a good night's rest usually take care of these types of things. But that's me.

and that's the beauty of MS, each one is different. we can share what we experience and 99% may be the same, it's the 1% that makes our MS individually ours. only you and your doctor can tell what is a relapse and what is not.

hope i helped

I also feel like my symptoms are the lingering results of damage from prior attacks. Mostly I deal with fatigue, some days more severe than others.

I had an exacerbation last summer (numbness from the waist down)and my neurologist didn't wait for the MRI, she started me on IV Solumedrol that day.

You need to have a neurologist you are comfortable with, and who can follow you long-term. You and he/she will have to determine if your symptoms are new. This crazy disease is too unpredictable.

the thing i've learned with lesions is that they come and go and may or may not be related to exacerbations. that's the point of the disease modifying drugs...to reduce the lesions.

i say that you try to find someone who specializes in MS...

Each time I've had a relapse, I've gained new symptoms that sometimes stay with me even after the relapse. I think that each relapse gives us permanent damage, so that even after the major symptoms of a relapse go away, some symptoms will not. For me, it is tremors. My upper body will shake uncontrollably, like Michael J. Fox, and it comes and goes. When not relapsing, they mostly show up when really nervous or stressed out. I hope things work out.

Jim Cardello
I love how you explained it like it is…
Well said