Having a flareup

Recently I have been going through what is known in the Multiple Sclerosis world as a flareup. This is when all your problems seem to get worse and sometimes you can develop some new ones. I already struggle to walk but when this occurred I barely could walk to the car. I normally would fall down at least once a week but now I was falling down almost daily. What really took my surprise was I could no longer sign my name or do much of anything with my right hand. After seeing the doctor they gave me steroids through an iv. For five days I went to the hospital and set there for two hours while they gave me steroids. This definitely made me stronger where I could walk better and sign my name again. Thankfully there are people and medicine out there that will help me.

What is MS

I was not sure for a long time. For me it was just a disease that you read about in some school textbook or a magazine discussing some new medicine. When it becomes part of your life you seem to learn more about the issue. Multiple Sclerosis is where your immune system attacks your nervous system. That is the simplest way to put it. One part of your body destroys another part of your body. Of coarse there is a longer definition but basically your brain does not get the information to your body correctly and therefore you have problems such as walking.

Knowing or not knowing

I do not know which is worse. Having Multiple Sclerosis or knowing there might be something wrong and not knowing what it is. When you do not know at least you can hope they will find something small and you can just take a pill that will fix you. Of coarse when you do not know then it is always in the back of your mind eating away at you. Having MS can be rough but I have to say there can be a lot worse diseases I could have.

I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis

You go through your life trying to make something of yourself. You think everything is going ok when you start to notice little things happening to you that you may push aside and not think much of. Maybe the bottom of your feet go numb for a short time. Perhaps you start to have a small amount of blurred vision. You could start to have a little bit of balance issues. Finally you decide you need to see a doctor. So you go and the doctor does not seem to know anything. Your eye doctor runs a bunch of test on your vision and nothing comes up wrong. So you think maybe they are right. There is nothing wrong. Before you know it any issues that you had starts to go away. Through the years there is nothing wrong. Your job is coming along well. You have a great family that supports you. Then it hits. Your balance is completely gone. Your losing your strength. You go to the doctor again. Once again the doctor does not know. Luckily you are referred to a Neurologist. Different test are run. They stick you in a small tube that makes a lot of noise and they complete an MRI. Finally they stick a needle in your back and do a lumbar puncture. They tell you that you have Multiple Sclerosis. Now what do you do?