Re: Introducing myself

[Guest guest]

Hi Dawn,

It is not unusual to be going through what you are experiencing, it surely is frustrating but not unusual. Try not to be alarmed, if it is ms learn as much as you can. Ms is a very manageable circumstance and there is no reason that you will not have a happy, active and fruitful life. Ms is a problem at times but those times do pass and there is a lot that you can do to help yourself. Go to www.copingandprevailing.com If you cannot afford to pay for the book send me your mailing address and I will send it to you.

Regards,

Tom

[Guest guest]

Sharon:

My GP is the one that has been ordering the tests and the one that

said that I have MS. I had an MRI done and about 7 lesions show on

it. They are on the left side of the brain. I had started have

problems about 10yrs ago with the pins & needles, and numbness in my

hands and arms and was told it was my nerves. There were things that

would happen like that over the years. My visions started getting

worse about 1 1/2yrs ago and the prob with hand and arms started. I

also started having probs with a sort of shaking inside but not

visibly. There have been muscle spasms and twitching off and on.

About 3 mnths ago I started shaking visibly in my left had and arm

and it started getting so bad that it began to cover my entire left

side and I'd have to go lay down. I woke up in the morning twice and

wasn't able to move my arms, it happened once on each side.

Then the final kicker that sent me back to the doctor was when I lost

the ability to see colors one morning. It would sort of come and go.

That was a little over 3wks ago. The lumbar puncture came back fine

as did all the blood work. I was check for Lupus, Lime, HIV, and just

about everything else you can think of and some I'd never heard of

and all of those were fine. The neuro I went to ended up being a

neuro-psych and after a single 20min visit told me I needed to lose

weight, that I had Fibro (which I know I don't) and that my

bloodpressure was the cause of the vision probs. My bp has been

undercontrol for a long time.

As for how I feel about it. I went thru the gambit...shocked, mad,

releaved, worried about my children, then mad again because I want to

do something about it instead of sitting here waiting for it to kick

my butt. My GP wanted to wait a few months and repeat the MRI. So

with help from my GP's receptionist and the NMSS I will be going to

an MS clinic at Washington University in St. Louis. I am extremely

thankful for that. Now I just have to convince my children that I'm

not going to die. I honestly believe that is the hardest part of all

of it.

Since finding out, I think I've started adopting my 14yr old

daughters attitude, " we were given life to live it so live it to the

fullest. " She's always told me that, I finally understand. Kids sure

are amazing.

(((HUGS)))

Dawn