Hello everyone, my name is Alison and I’ve just worked up the courage for my first posting. I had a fall in June cracking my head so my doctor advised to go to A&E. They gave me a CT scan and admitted me to the stroke unit, saying it looked like I’d had several previous strokes. 2 MRIs later, the 2nd with dye, I was told I had MS. What a great 60th birthday present.
I saw my consultant in September and it looks like I’ve ben living with Relapse>remit for over 20 years. I put all the falls, dragging leg and other syptoms to the follpwing.:
1 - Menopause
2 - Generally not being fit enough
3. - Getting older.
I’ve always been the carer and the 1 who doesn’t get ill so it’s taken a while to accept.
Enough waffling ( I’m good at that). I keep losing the plot, another symptom I’ve found.
Hi Alison and welcome to the group ( and the weird world of MS). I was diagnosed some 18 years ago with RRMS and suspect I had it for years before diagnosis ( sudden unexplained problems with my right leg which faded away after 3-4 months ). Now 70 and still (relatively) active.
Losing the plot and waffling is not restricted to MS people. I have a friend who often wanders off topic and has to ask ‘oh, where was I going with this? The rest of us look on with amusement and smiles as he drifts off into some vaguely connected line of thought
Thanks for your welcome messages. I’d though that I’ve pretty much come to terms with things. Now I have to accept that this is for life, which is a whole new concept. I’ve just noticed I’ve titled this ‘New to geoup’. Who would believe I used to be a secretary, I should at least be able to spell group. I won’t tell you how many other typos I’ve made in this message.
It’s all just so confusing and - the word I use most often - overwhelming.
It’s a weird condition to have, because it can sound like anything that can go wrong will go wrong and even if it doesn’t it might. It made me quite paranoid for years! In the end I had to deal with it by putting it away in a corner of my mind and taking it out only when I knew that something was happening and if I had already called my MS nurse. I had to tell myself that if I wasn’t gonna call the nurse about it then I shouldn’t be worrying about it. It took a few years to get to that point though. I think the beauty of places like this though is that you can question anything and everything and nobody minds because we all know what it’s like so we get it. Niggly symptoms don’t cause the worries though, it’s when something like a fall happens that your mind starts going, because it suddenly makes you feel vulnerable especially if you just battled through all of your previous relapses. My mantra has always been “if this is as bad as it gets then I’m okay with it”. It puts me in the here and now.
Everything else apart, I hope you had a lovely birthday!
I’ve had better! I’m just trying to take it one day at a time. Trying to be kind to myself and noting the little things I have achieved during the day rather than the loads I haven’t
