My husband was diagnosed with ms yesterday in a&e. Attended with right sided leg numbness which had come on suddenly over the past couple of weeks. Assumed it was nerve impingement so totally floored with the diagnosis.
Feel so lost and don’t really know what happens next.
he’s been giving a 3 day course of 500mg methylprednisolone. How long will this take to work?
his right leg is numb and stiff still.
is he likely to be stiff like this forever now?
just all seems so sudden. I’m so scared
Hello Fudge
What a shocker. I’m not at all surprised you are lost, scared and deeply concerned about your future - both of you, MS is a diagnosis that affects you both, as well as the rest of the family.
It doesn’t have to mean the end of the world though. There is an awful lot to learn about MS. Much of which can be gained through this site (see the button at the top of the page marked ‘About MS’) or the MS Trust (type in a search term like 'New Diagnosis and MS Trust on your browser). Try to avoid random googling, you could scare yourselves silly and not get the information you need. You can ask us for our experience, just remember that we can only give you our experience, we aren’t professionals.
You/he should be allocated an MS nurse within a short while. Even if to begin with its only virtual contact. An MS nurse can help with symptoms, treatments, virtually everything you need to know. If you aren’t supplied with contact details, then try ringing the hospital, if you’ve been given the name of the neurologist who’ll be looking after your husband, then just ask for the neurology secretaries number. If you know the neurologists name, then ask for his/her secretary and ask.
One thing you should be asking quite soon is what variety of MS the professionals think he has. The majority of people (85%ish) are diagnosed with relapsing remitting MS. This means he’ll have relapses aka flare ups, or attacks or symptoms followed by remission, when symptoms will completely or partially remit (aka go away).
One way of checking if your husband has this variant is if the steroid treatment he’s been given works. If he finds within a few weeks or a couple of months that his symptoms get better then it’s most likely that he has relapsing remitting, or RRMS.
The other two types of MS are both progressive, one is where someone is initially RR and this turns into Secondary Progessive after some years. This would mean he no longer has relapses, but the disease, and most likely some degree of disability, will just progress without remission.
The other type is less common - it’s called Primary Progressive (or PPMS) and is characterised from the beginning as being progressive, without inflammatory episodes, just becoming gradually (mostly), more disabled by the MS.
You can see from this page more about the different types: https://mstrust.org.uk/about-ms/what-ms/types-ms
There will be a million questions to be answered over time. From treatments, symptoms, the future, many others. Let us know if we can help.
Sue
Hi Fudge,
It’s understandable that you’re in shock - especially as you were just told in a&e. Everything Ssssue says is absolutely right particularly the bit about avoiding Dr Google. You’ll be swamped by information, not always of the most helpful or accurate type. Has your husband been assigned an MS nurse - if not you should definitely ask about this. Over the years I’ve found these nurses can be the real heroes of the MS world.
Good luck and remember, although it can be frightening on first hearing the words Multiple Sclerosis, as Sue says, it doesn’t have to mean the end of the world.
Best wishes to you and your husband,
Janet xx