Learning all I can!

By Ingrid oneal

1 min read

Hello. I am a newbie. I was diagnosed in April. I really didn’t know what was wrong with me. I knew I was taking care of my grandmother who died on March 22,2021. She was my backbone. I cried. I was hurt, angry. Then I went for my physical.

What my doctor noticed

My primary is a talker like I am. We talked and talked. I thought we were done. She said hop on the table and let me examine you. I walked to the table and still kinda lost my balance, which I didn’t want her to see. She was like what was that? I’m like what? That walk. I was like I’m ok. I wasn’t going to say anything. I had fallen and again thought I was tired. I fell again. Tired, exhausted.

Being sent to the neurologist

She sent me to a neurologist and I’m like surely he’ll say oh you’re ok. He said walk in a straight line. I couldn’t. He said we need an MRI. I’m like surely all this isn’t necessary. I went for the MRI and went to him for the results. He said does anyone in your family have MS? Only thinking about my grandmother’s side because that’s who I grew up with. I had just began to know my grandfathers side. We do a prayer call each morning and I talked about my diagnosis. One lady said her father had it, someone said this family is full of inflammatory diseases. Crohn’s disease, lupus and MS among others.

Deciding to fight

That was the day I decided to fight. I would get my medicine,Rebif, change my diet and see the specialist. With urging from my therapist, I said agreed to got the Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta to see the specialist Douglas Stewart. She said know many people with Ms and they go here and most see Doug. So I will see who my neurologist recommended, but I’m going to see Doug on August 3rd. This is my journey this far. I’ll keep you all updated.

This article represents the opinions, thoughts, and experiences of the author; none of this content has been paid for by any advertiser. The MultipleSclerosis.net team does not recommend or endorse any products or treatments discussed herein. Learn more about how we maintain editorial integrity here.

Join the conversation

Please read our rules before commenting.

Lori Foster Member
Hi Ingrid! Welcome to the community! I am so sorry about your mother. A new diagnosis can be pretty overwhelming, especially on top of such a tremendous loss. It sounds like you are in good hands. I have read lots of positive feedback about Multiple Sclerosis Center of Atlanta. Please do keep us posted if you feel comfortable doing so. Here is an article from one of our advocates that might interest you since you are new to MS: <a href='https://multiplesclerosis.net/living-with-ms/a-few-thoughts-for-the-newly-diagnosed' target='_blank'>https://multiplesclerosis.net/living-with-ms/a-few-thoughts-for-the-newly-diagnosed</a>. We have lots of other great articles here for you to explore and plenty of forum posts as well. Please know that we are here for you whenever you need support or a place to vent. Reach out whenever you need anything. Best of all wishes! - Lori (Team Member)
ddarcy1960 Member
Getting diagnosed with MS can cause grief. Keeping up with responsible MS blogs will bring hope and improve your life! Things I wished I knew, but soon learned months after receiving my diagnoses 19 years ago, this August 30th started with joining MS blogs to see what others people's symptoms were. These blogs helped me ask better questions when I visited my neurologist. One of the things I learned early on was keeping a journal regarding symptoms weird or popped up otherwise. My neurologist at the time said that people diagnosed with MS either ignore symptoms because they figure it's just MS, to the other extreme by focusing on every new symptom. By keeping a journal, you're allowing your neurologist to review an MS symptom or another symptom; we all initially did the "face-to-palm" slap after leaving our appointment, forgetting to share something we thought was important! (yes, it's not fair, but people with autoimmune diseases get sick with other things, and writing down symptoms, allows doctors to keep you healthy as can be). Another thing that helped me (I have RRMS since 2003) after suffering for several years of battling with fatigue, brain fog, and depression was getting off gluten. Doing a data dive into the best diets for MS patients would go a long way in helping you with the aforementioned MS symptoms. By changing my diet, I can do moderate aerobic exercise for about 30 minutes each day while listening to an audiobook or blog. Also, I've always suffered from Spasticity. Physical Therapy has helped me immensely. Finally, in the beginning, I was getting into trouble missing doctor's appointments (electronic calendars were in their infancy a dozen years ago). Now I use a shared electronic calendar on my smartphone. I add my preferred way of receiving notifications of upcoming appointments, usually adding a couple of alerts texts before the actual date and including my wife to receive the alerts to further "backstop" my appointments. I can't speak to those of us with more advanced forms of MS, but with RRMS, 19 years ago, my neurologist gave me somewhat encouraging news that so far has proven true in my case (since we're both taking Rebiff). He said when I asked what will my type of MS take in my lifetime (August 2003), "there have been great strides in MS research these past few years, and still more coming down the line (proved correct, even to the point of taking interferons via pill form). Just a few years ago (the mid-90s), I would predict that within 12-15 years, your type of MS would move into Primary-Progressive MS (Secondary-Progressive wasn't mentioned 19 years ago). Then another dozen years with Primary-Progressive MS, disabilities would start to develop. But now I can't say that..." and with my last MRI (I get an MRI every five years), by taking Rebiff, I've not grown new lesions in my brain or had some disappear since 2011. You're doing the right thing reaching out to an MS group like this one. Empathy is essential, but getting some ideas on how to walk with this disease is important too. Your life doesn't have to revolve around MS. MS complicates life, but it doesn't have to BE our life if we work at it!
Lori Foster Member
Hi <inline-mention username="Ingrid oneal" user-id="4150055"/>. It has been a while since we've heard from you. I recall you were planning to see a specialist in August. I just wanted to check back to see how that went and how you are doing. Thinking of you! - Lori (Team Member)

Community Poll

Did you know that you can create a status update on our site?