97 My Inner Blizzard: Effect of Weather on Multiple Sclerosis Exacerbation

Abstract

Study Objective

Exacerbation of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) symptoms prior to weather change has not heretofore been described.

Methods

Case Study: A 60 year old right handed female with lifelong anxiety and four years of depression presented with a 20 year history of MS manifested by bilateral lower extremity pain and weakness and urinary incontinence. Since the onset, she observed that approaching storms or weather changes cause her symptoms to worsen. This manifests one day prior to the meteorological shifts of rain or snow. This occurs whether she is at home or on vacation and unlike the weatherman, “she is never wrong.” The aggravation of symptomatology would consist of worsening leg pain and weakness of both lower extremities so that her functional status changes from using a cane to a wheelchair. These symptoms begin one day prior to the storm and gradually worsen to the point of maximum intensity as the storm arrives. The baseline pain is usually 5/10 in severity but with the storm it increases to 8/10. The pain, which progressively worsens as the storm advances, is a vice-like numbness in her shins and spasm in her legs. The pain and weakness will persist for as long as the storm lasts. The pain diminishes and the motor symptoms improve six hours after the storm is over. She can differentiate approaching snow or rain such that snow causes more intense symptoms. She denies change in symptomatology on airplanes or when she is present at high altitude such as Las Vegas or Colorado. She also affirms that her symptoms are worse when she is in a hot tub and better in a cold-water bath. She reports that there is a family history of similar ability to predict the weather in a cousin and nephew, both who also suffer from MS.

Results

Abnormalities in Neurological Examination: BP 159/115. Pulse 100. Mental Status Examination: disheveled. Depressed mood with congruent affect. Short-term memory: 5 digits forwards, 2 digits backwards. Recent memory: able to recall none of 4 objects in 3minutes without improvement with reinforcement. Unable to interpret similarities or proverbs. Poor ability to calculate. Reflexes: 3+ bilateral lower extremities. Clock Drawing Test: 1 (abnormal).

Conclusions

Uhthoff’s phenomena (hot bath test) is well described in MS (Humm, 2004), however the worsening of symptoms prior to weather change has not been reported. Possible mechanisms include meteorological induced anxiety and depression with associated exacerbation (Ackerman, 1998). Other possible mechanisms include misattribution, selective recall, or a misreporting due to psychological needs for acceptance by examiner, similar to the Hawthorne effect (observer effect) (Adair, 1984). With the approaching storms there could be a change in internal temperature, which then preferentially affects areas of demyelination (Kudo, 2014). It is worth querying those with epoch associated neurological disorders as to linkage with meteorological events.