Well I should start with an introduction shouldn't I? My name is Erika, I'm 22 years old, average hight and build, and I have Multiple Sclerosis.
What is that? *pokes link* http://www.mssociety.ca/en/information/ms_what.htm They got it a lot better then I could do. Basically, it sucks. A LOT. We can live with it and it won't kill us. But it's not fun. It gets in the way of just about everything, and isn't easy to explain to people. I'll quote the MS society of Canada.
"Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an unpredictable, often disabling disease of the central nervous system which is composed of the brain and spinal cord. The disease attacks the myelin which is a protective covering wrapped around the nerves of the central nervous system."
Some of the symptoms are extreme fatigue, pain, balance loss, vision problems, tingling or numbness, and muscle weakness. Not fun huh? Well, lets add the unpredictable part. These sysmptoms come and go whenever, wherever, and without warning. Say your walking down the street la de da BAM you can't see out of the top half of your eyes. Like a curtain shade coming down. Freaky? Sure is. How about sitting in school or work, reading or something and BAM one side of your body is completely numb, you can't feel anything, but the other side feels fine. By the time you make it to the doc freaking out, there is absolutly NOTHING wrong with you any more. The doc looks at you like your faking it, you feel pretty crappy and head home and damnit if it doesn't happen as you walk in the door. Back to the doc... no symptom. What the hell is going on here? That's MS for ya. So much for planning in advance.
Ok, so that's what us MS'ers put up with. Hope you can get a feel for it. If not, come on over to my place. I'll sit on your arm until it goes numb and jiggle you around while you try to walk to let you get used to the idea. No?
But your only 22 Erika you can't have MS. You're too young! BLAH BLAH BLAH you don't know what your talking about if you think that. I want to educate you. MS strikes people very early in life. You might have one symptom at like 17 and not know what it is until your 40 when the next one happens (that's called relapsing and remitting MS because the symptoms go away and come back over and over) but one thing is for sure. IT HAPPENS TO YOUNG PEOPLE. I had my first symptom at 9, and again at 14. Scary stuff.
I want to write about my experiences and talk to people. You don't have to have MS to leave comments here and chat. I want to eductae people on this. One of the hardest things to deal with is explaining to your family and friends why you can't make it to something, your to tired for this or that etc, when they can't visably see whats wrong with you. The accusations of lazy fly, and the depression sets in.
So here's my diary of dealing with it and trying to stay upbeat (doesn't always work warning).
About Me
- Erika
- Your gonna find out a lot reading my blog. But I like history, a good discussion, and nice people.
An excellent description of a disease that most people know little about until it touches someone they love. I look forward to your future blogs! Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteThis is Erika's Mum.
ReplyDeleteI would just like to say I am very proud of Erika for the way she is handling her MS. Her father had it as well. His first episode was when he was 21 but was not diagnosed until his major episode when he was 49. I worry constantly about her every day never knowing when she is going to have a sympton occur or how severe it will be. As her mum I feel helpless. There is nothing I can do to make it go away like I did her hurts as a child. I get really frustrated when people think she is faking and trying to avoid doing stuff. I they knew how active she was as a child they know she's not faking.
Aww I love you Mum. ^_^ I wouldn't be able to get by without your support. No need to worry tho, my cats will alert someone if I've fallen down... in a few hours when their food bowls start to get dangerously close to empty.
ReplyDelete