Hi AliBedwell. What is a FES please?
Hope you are having a good day.
Itâs an aid to help with drop foot.
Functional electrical stimulation (FES) | MS Trust
Hi CrystalâŠitâs a Functional Electronic Stimulation device to help with foot drop. Iâve had it fitted for about a month now and itâs taking some getting used to. It undoubtedly helps but it is hard getting the electrodes in just the right place. Anything that keeps me mobile is worth a try! MS will not beat me 
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Hi AliBedwell.
Thank you for your reply. Sorry to be so long in answering back.
What is footdrop?
My right foot does not stay straight and drags often when Iâm walking.
May be I will be out onto one of these.
Take care.
Foot drop is simply the inability to lift the foot well enough to clear the ground when walking. Mine is in my left foot and without the FES or a âfoot upâ strap I very easily trip. You end up hip hitching to compensate for it. My left foot is my nemesis 
Hello AliBedwell
Sorry to be so long in replying.
Thank you for your reply.
How has your day been?
How are you getting on Sofia??
Hi, My Name Is Eylem Mindikoglu. I am 30 years old, got diagnosed after 3 years of tests that last month i have relapse remitted MS. I am new to this however I was born with Cerebral Palsy.
I am finding this forum helpful as for a couple of months been quite emotional, sometimes flair ups of anger or just crying for no apparent reasoning.
Just want to get to know you all and find a local community that i can embrace with. I just found out that this is a good platform for that.
Hello to all you new people to the forum
There are so many of you on this one thread itâs almost impossible to greet you all individually, but Iâll have a go.
Lynn, 44 years with MS, and working for 40 years of that time! Wow. You must have tried so hard to keep going. I only managed about 9 years of working after diagnosis in 1997. Retirement sounds well and truly earned. Iâm glad youâve joined us here, old timers are so valuable. There are many people who need the help and guidance of people like you whoâve got all the experience they lack.
And Carly, it sounds like you are a strong woman whoâs felt her way with the diagnosis and isnât afraid to question her âexpert teamâ! I know youâre not new to the forum, but a relative newcomer regardless.
Hello to Clive, I hope you are finding your way with your recent diagnosis and will be a regular on the forum.
And to Sofia, MS is a kick in the teeth alright. It does take time to get your head round it and to start finding new MS friends. Hopefully youâll find the forum a useful and welcoming home.
Julesgazz âunusual RRMSâ? Surely we all have unusual disease? Itâs different for us all! But maybe yours presents very differently? Itâs always interesting to hear how different ways people encounter MS. Cancer too? How unlucky can one person get? I do hope youâve now started your DMD and that itâs doing a good job for you.
Hello to Amy. Being diagnosed during these Covid times is hard. I do hope Plegridy is working out well for you.
Hello to Ali too. Iâm so sorry youâve had such a difficult year - commuting into London is hard to do with MS. I worked in central London for the first few years after diagnosis so I can understand how tough it can be. Not that I had Covid and Lockdown too. I did have footdrop too (when I could walk at all) and self funded FES with Odstock too. I hope itâs going well for you. I started drawing marks on my leg to help with electrode placement, but soon it becomes second nature: sticking the pads on was easy after the first 6 months. I hope itâs getting easier for you. I thought Odstock would give me (a self funder) a better service, but it really doesnât work out that way. I always thought they were confused as to whether they were a private company or part of the NHS. I remember arguing with them about âsetting goalsâ in order for them to report to the NHS. As a private patient, I didnât see why my use of the equipment had anything to do with the NHS. But I got over it.
Hello to Crystal too. It sounds like you may have foot drop. Itâs the peroneal nerve which controls the lifting of the foot. When it doesnât work, often foot drop is the result. If you are having trouble picking up your toes on demand, that could week be foot drop. If you see a neurological physiotherapist, theyâd be able to diagnose foot drop and maybe help with living with it. If youâre fortunate, your local NHS trust (the Commissioning Care Group or CCG) will fund FES. Most CCGs do fund FES, but some do not. Coastal West Sussex CCG, where I live will not fund it.
The last new person on this thread is Eylem. OMG, how unlucky can one person be, CP plus MS. No wonder it took a long while for MS diagnosis. There are some symptoms common to both diagnoses, so Iâm unsurprised your neurologist couldnât see beyond CP for some time. Iâm not at all surprised youâve had your emotions all over the place. I do hope you find this forum to be welcoming and useful.
It seems that this new forum can make it a bit difficult to see some of the new members posts. It makes it more difficult for those of us experienced with the old forum. Lots of us habitually look at the newly diagnosed posts and like to say hello and welcome. So if any of you have so far felt this forum to be less open and friendly than youâd expect, please keep posting, maybe on âEveryday Livingâ or âSymptoms and Treatmentsâ. More of us will see your posts there and will answer as best we can.
I look forward to chatting with you again.
Sue
Hi Clive,
You will find this forum a good place for information, making friends with others who âget itâ, and the occasional venting rant that we all seem to need. This is a great place to be.
Just remember that MS is just a tiny piece of you. Please do not let it define you. You are still the same person you were before your diagnosis.
Hi There and I totally agree with what you say living with the condition since 2002 has thought me many different things including taking each day as it comes and making the most of it to the best of your ability.
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Hi there and thank you for your comment etc Iam not recently diagnosed as you think and wss in fact diagnosed in 2002. I have in fact worked with the MS Society on a number of different things over the years. I also used to do a yearly fundraising event such as a quiz sheet or some sponsored event and a street collection as well. Unfortunately however the Street collection stop after I was the victim of a disability hate crime in the town centre where Ilive. Thankfully a number of people came to my aid when it happened and it was also caught on CCTV as well unfortunately however we could not identify the man in question.
I hope all is going well with you at this point in time
Hi Clive
Iâve just seen where the confusion arose. You made a bit of a typo when you wrote diagnosed in 2002I. I thought the typo meant 2021!
Thanks for your correction.
Your attack when collecting for the Society sounds utterly vile. What a horrible thing to happen. Some people are complete *#„{;s. At least there were some decent human beings around to help.
Sue
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Hi Clive,
I did read your post as a 2021 diagnosis. Sorry about that. I think it is horrible that some people are attacking others due to disability now. Violence against people with disabilities is not new and (as a former special education educator) I know that many laws protecting people who happen to have a disability grew out of incidents of violence.
No one should ever have to experience hate crimes. Glad people stood up to help, and that it was caught on tape. Maybe if the person tries something similar he can be caught.
It certainly was nasty Linda who is now my wife had when in to the shop to get a few things we need. When she came out there was a crowd round me picking up the pens erc that we had on a table. The Police told me that he had also been seen stealing an Apple from the fruit shop and had also had assulted someone else. Thankfully however the majority of people are not like this.
Hello 
liked your post, I have returned to the forum after many years away.Nice to hear from you Lynn