Multiple System Atrophy is a syndrome which causes such a variety of issues that as a patient you will forget the difficulty of one serious symptom while several others have risen to the fore. I live with balance and walking/gait difficulty always, and have since this came on just over 10 years ago. Due to blood pressure being low (orthostatic hypotension) makes it hard to rise and begin to stride because of either a grey out moment or weakness in muscles. Once I going, my balance due to brain changes in the cerebellum contributes to the struggle to walk with much balance, and my pace is very slow due to parkinsonism as I attempt to go get the mail from the mailbox or take the trash to the garage. Even with a cane or walker, it is a rocky road.
These last several days, it has been worse. I am stooped over more and moving very slowly, with an exaggerated shuffling gait. I went in the grocery store with my wife and found the size suggests a wheelchair rather than a walker next time. I may get my next DBS adjustment and find that it brings improvement in this area. It is hard to say, but often the electrical stimulation that is continuously flowing to both sides of my brain, when targeted to improve a symptom can actually do something close to that! Always Hope, Dan
