Hi, my name is Elaine, I was finally diagnosed with MS in 1998 after many years of symptoms that were not diagnosed starting with double vision and was diagnosed with "lazy eye" and prescribed with glasses with a patch on my good eye. I was about 8 years old at that time, and I didn't want to wear them because they gave me headaches and made everything really blurry. By the way, this was in 1956 and little or nothing was about MS. By the time I was in my teens symptoms started with numbness in left leg, balance issues and slurred speech. These were so remitted, and every time my mom took me to the doctor he couldn't find anything wrong with me. Of course that was blood tests and finally had an ultrasound done on my leg which naturally didn't show anything. I got to the point that I wouldn't even mention it because I was treated as if I were imagining these symptoms. My friends in high school were always teasing me as if I was drunk. I never had an alcohol beverage until I was in my late twenties.
I was finally diagnosed with MS at fifty years old after I was in a car accident and I actually ended up with a full blown exacerbation. what is really funny is that my lawyer wanted me to see a chiropractor, and after a month of seeing her, she became concerned because I wasn't getting any better, but was, in fact, getting worse. So a few days before Christmas she sent me for an MRI of the brain, and just before New Years, she got the results...."suspicious of multiple sclerosis." How many of you got the same results? I was finally diagnosed February 20, 1998.
I had a friend in high school that was diagnosed pretty quickly with MS, but he developed a severe exacerbation after a bad case of strept throat that put him in the hospital. My symptoms were never severe enough to get a diagnosis and I never thought about MS because my only association with that disease was my friend Marty who ended up completely disabled. Fortunately, our high school was equipped with handicap capabilities at that early time, mostly due to the Polio outbreak of the 1950's. But even then Mary lost a whole year of high school due to MS. At that time there were no treatments or much understanding of the disease as this was the early 1960's. Later it would be known that Marty had PPMS, the last time I saw him was in the middle 1970's and he was practically on life support, sadly I lost touch with him after that. So it didn't take long for a diagnosis of MS after the neurologist saw the film from the MRI, and by then I was having trouble walking, talking, and my husband said I looked like I had a stroke. The whole left side of my face was numb and was sagging like a person that did have a stroke. I spent over two years in a wheelchair, couldn't work anymore, ended up on disability at fifty years old. That was hard for me as I always had a job and was with the company I was employed at for fifteen years. But in 2013 my doctor put me on the mega doses of the Vitamin D, and with continued pt and ot, I finally got out of the wheelchair, "Hoverround", now I'm walking with a cane and occasionally a walker. I'm feeling good and enjoying life, I always did enjoy life though!
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craftygranny
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Hi Jimeka, you are right about life going by so fast! I can't believe it's getting to the end of August already. I'm sorry for not getting back sooner, I have been busy getting materials and supplies ready for our first MS support group here in town besides starting on my Christmas projects which I probably should have started in January!
How do you get the "emotion characters" in the letters? I am in an MS Moment as I call it, can't even think of what the comments and replies are called.
Elaine, Welcome to the best support group around! Although I am sorry you go through what the rest of us do. We are all here for you! You will find we are fun, encouraging and a close nit group that loves to love on one another! Looking forward to getting to know you!!!!
craftygranny , it's good to meet you and hear about your experiences. You've lived with MS for a long time, but it's encouraging to hear you have rebounded and are doing better these days. Welcome!💕
craftygranny , what a story you have! Even with all the improvements in diagnosis and treatment, we can all relate to the frustration of having symptoms that went undiagnosed and untreated for long periods of times in some cases.
It's remarkable that you had such an astonishing response to the Vitamin D!! That's wonderful!
With "crafty" being in your name, I'm assuming it's because you do some crafts of some kind, rather than that you are sly. I hope you share pictures of your projects.
@craftygranny, Welcome! I love your name - craftygranny! Are you really into crafts or are you just pretty sneaky? I totally understand about not being DX.. My legs hurt so much that I had trouble going up and down the stairs, when I was only 7. I was diagnosed with Rheumatic Fever, missed a year of school due to bed rest and had my tonsils out. A cardiologist recently told me there is not sign of Rheumatic Fever! Go figure!
My granddaughter tagged me with that when she was about 8 years old, she's 27 now and still calls me that, it just stuck. I always crafted, sewed, crocheted with my kids and grandkids. So it's not being sneaky.
I wonder how many of us were misdiagnosed when we were kids simply because they just didn't know that much about MS. Did you know that the only way the doctors who knew about MS was by putting the person in cold water while they were having a "spell" as it was called way back then?
@craftygranny That's unbelievable about the cold water--are you saying that if pts, who were having a "spell," were put in cold water, and the spell resolved, that this was the basis for making an MS diagnosis?
That's usually what happened when I was younger, I'd have double vision, numbness in my face, slurred speech but by the time my mom got me to the doctor or the ER it was all gone.
Welcome and congratulations on you awesome improvement. You hope to us all with your amazing recovery. Coming out of your wheel chair is a major accomplishment.
I can't describe how excited I was the first time I let go of my husband's arm and walk on my own. My late husband was such a big help, walking with me around our apartment and up and down the halls in our building, encouraging me all the way. He would say "if it don't hurt, it won't work!
Hello Craftygranny, I hope you are well. I see that you are 123 miles away from me. I live near O'Hare Airport. Not looking for a date just another MS person neart me and saw it showed you were near
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