Introducing myself
Since they asked me to in the newsletter, I figured I'd introduce myself.
I'm Beverly, I live in Erie, PA and I've had MS since October 1995. I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world & have 3 beautiful, now adult, children (twins - boy/girl age 18 and a girl 21).
I have no real signs of the MS, which makes it even harder for me because I tend to ignore it. When I was first diagnosed I listened to the doctors and started all the drug therapies around. Everything made me sick. Within 3 years I had decided enough was enough and took myself off everything. I've never looked back or questioned my decision, although I realize it's NOT for everyone. I've had very few relapses, none that have left any real permanent damage. Right now my "tell tale signs" tend to be balance issues, tiring, and as I call them "my itchies" - which tend to be a lot like hives or something, they appear and disappear just as quickly & not always with any real reason. Sometimes they come when I simply have contact on my skin with some other object, often plastic or a metal. Other times they appear for no reason at all, sometimes causing swelling of my hands & feet for hours but then disappearing again.
I recently read and reviewed a book by Kathy Reed called Multiple Sclerosis - The Many Faces of the Disease. The book is really a wonderful device to keep handy, especially when someone comes into your life and is clueless what MS is really about. While I personally didn't find it helpful, simply because I've had the disease for so long, I would have LOVED having it available to me at the time of my diagnosis.
Reed has some particular cases she talks about, discusses the disease itself in the most basic of ways and gives some pretty comprehensible descriptions of what MS is and how it can act. The book is small, concise and covers just about every aspect you can imagine about MS from what the disease is to what some people can do to keep the disease under control. It's honest and not at all frightening to the reader, which is a huge plus with this disease. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to explain the disease to someone in their life (children, spouse, family, new romantic partner, co-workers) that could really use some enlightenment on what MS is and how it works.
So that's me in a nutshell!
I've found the chat rooms here so helpful. Last year when I met my, now fiance', I was unsure how to approach him with the fact that I have MS. He was scared and simply put I wasn't sure how things would go. I came to the chat rooms here to talk it out and walked out feeling very good about my position. End result, I am so happily in love with a man that loves and cares about me beyond words. Never in my life have I been so happy!
I'm Beverly, I live in Erie, PA and I've had MS since October 1995. I am engaged to the most wonderful man in the world & have 3 beautiful, now adult, children (twins - boy/girl age 18 and a girl 21).
I have no real signs of the MS, which makes it even harder for me because I tend to ignore it. When I was first diagnosed I listened to the doctors and started all the drug therapies around. Everything made me sick. Within 3 years I had decided enough was enough and took myself off everything. I've never looked back or questioned my decision, although I realize it's NOT for everyone. I've had very few relapses, none that have left any real permanent damage. Right now my "tell tale signs" tend to be balance issues, tiring, and as I call them "my itchies" - which tend to be a lot like hives or something, they appear and disappear just as quickly & not always with any real reason. Sometimes they come when I simply have contact on my skin with some other object, often plastic or a metal. Other times they appear for no reason at all, sometimes causing swelling of my hands & feet for hours but then disappearing again.
I recently read and reviewed a book by Kathy Reed called Multiple Sclerosis - The Many Faces of the Disease. The book is really a wonderful device to keep handy, especially when someone comes into your life and is clueless what MS is really about. While I personally didn't find it helpful, simply because I've had the disease for so long, I would have LOVED having it available to me at the time of my diagnosis.
Reed has some particular cases she talks about, discusses the disease itself in the most basic of ways and gives some pretty comprehensible descriptions of what MS is and how it can act. The book is small, concise and covers just about every aspect you can imagine about MS from what the disease is to what some people can do to keep the disease under control. It's honest and not at all frightening to the reader, which is a huge plus with this disease. I'd highly recommend it to anyone who wants to explain the disease to someone in their life (children, spouse, family, new romantic partner, co-workers) that could really use some enlightenment on what MS is and how it works.
So that's me in a nutshell!
I've found the chat rooms here so helpful. Last year when I met my, now fiance', I was unsure how to approach him with the fact that I have MS. He was scared and simply put I wasn't sure how things would go. I came to the chat rooms here to talk it out and walked out feeling very good about my position. End result, I am so happily in love with a man that loves and cares about me beyond words. Never in my life have I been so happy!
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