MY STORY

 

shortly after I was diagnosed with MS

In August 2000 my family took a trip to Florida for a family vacation. While there I "thought" I had pulled a muscle because my left side had gone numb. I also started getting really tired. So tired that I literally slept on our drive back to Arkansas. When we arrived home, I made a doctor's appointment for my pulled back muscle. My doctor did the usual test of pecking on my legs, which caused him to almost getting kicked in the head by my foot jerking up towards him. After that little incident he made me an appointment with a Neurologist.

 My appointment with the Neurologist was the last week in October 2000. He looked at my report from our family doctor and decided we needed to have an MRI done. The results ... Multiple Sclerosis. To finalize the test results, I had a lumbar puncture in November 2000. Yes indeed it was MS. He told me there was the ABC treatments for MS...Avonex - Betaseron - Copaxone. We went with Avonex.

 I stayed on Avonex for five years. Personally, I hated it. But it did stop the progression of lesions. It did not, however, stop all the flu-like symptoms 4-days out of each week. My balance got worse and the numbness did not go away. In June 2003 our family doctor told me I had a choice...What was more important - My family and health or My job (NO BRAINER THERE). So I started my disability claim and was approved the first time around.

 In 2004 I had to go to a scooter to get around. I had lost all control of my legs. To get around the house, my husband had to make our doorways wider. You would not believe just how hard it is to slow your life down (even in a scooter).

 In March 2006 we changed my treatment from Avonex to Tysabri. It started really well but it ran its course and I started going backwards again. I was on Tysabri for 10 years.

In 2016, a blood test revealed my Pituitary Glands and my Thyroid Glands were extremely abnormal. I was changed to Copaxone until we decided on a better course of treatment. 

In 2018, after Ocrevus was approved, I started Ocrevus.

I've heard "Hindsight is 20/20", well it is. I've shown MS symptoms since I was a child. Before my teen years, I remember my back completely going out on me...NO Warning! In my adult years, while working, I was walking down the hall and the next thing I know I'm running into the walls...NO Warning.

I tried looking up my MS questions for answers which lead me to different locations. So I decided I would just put all of the information I found gathered in one place to make it easier for the next MS victim. 

Visit my site at www.facebook.com/MultipleSclerosisFacts