Newly Diagnosed 20 years old

[BigA]

Guys,

I agree with Scooter. I'm older than you as well, but for some reason, there is so much more negative info about MS than positive. If you passed me in the street, you'd never know I had MS. If you saw me in the gym, you'd never know.

I highly reccomend the following site for information and inspiration. Your neuro will never say it, but there are diets and you should be exercising.

http://www.overcomingmultiplescleros...gram-Overview/

Good Luck.

[twisterred]

hey guys so I was just recently diagnosed with MS last week I was just wondering if anyone has any tips or stories about what they did about it. It is just a lot of stress with this new diagnosis cause you do not know what is going to happen

A tip that has helped me is to not stress as much as possible.

Getting plenty of sleep. Rest is so important.

Learning to really stop doing anything except rest when I start to feel tired (fatigued), fuzzy headed (a little bit of trouble thinking like I'm again, fatigued).

MS makes our bodies have to work harder than other people's, so it's important to learn to slow down and be OK with it.

Accepting that I do need to take meds to help me live what was for me normal has helped me. I never thought I'd need an antidepressant to just get out of bed, but I do. It's just the disease, not a personal reflection on me.

Accepting that a daily shot of Copaxone really has helped me actually took years. I'd been so sick before taking Copax that I stayed skeptical for honestly, 4-5 years.
I continued with the shots, but figured it was just luck that I was still functioning.

Accept that housecleaning can be done over 1-3 days rather than in just one day.
Maybe one day is laundry, one day is vacuuming, one day is shopping. I've learned to be OK with that.

Accepting where you are in the present is a wonderful way of thinking I have learned.

[BigA]

Ditto on the sleep thing. Especially in the beginning you need to rest, rest and rest.

Here's my best advice:

This is a chart, with guidance from one clinic about what to do when you think you're having an exacerbation.
https://www.virginiamason.org/workfi...acerbation.pdf


This is a podcast where doctors discuss the differences between an exacerbation and a pseudo-exacerbation.

http://www.everydayhealth.com/multip...nscript-1.aspx

This is a more positive website for information:
http://intelligentguidetoms.wordpress.com/

[Jamie_JO_Jalovec]

I am 20 as well (as of March 14th this year) and I was diagnosed April of last year after my dad had passed in February. My now neurologist told me that I may have had MS since 8th grade. Mind you, that is about 5+ years being untreated. I started on a treatment that was a weekly injection and ended up relapsing twice in a short span; so my neurologist took me off and took a more aggressive approach. The treatment I am now on is once an IV Infusion once a month. This past Friday was my 9th treatment of it, but I started relapsing a week before; worse than any other one. I actually just got home from having an MRI done because my symptoms were so bad.

The day I got my second opinion was like I had just been stabbed. Sounds graphic I know. But it was like someone betrayed me; I was so upset and I had no idea why I got it. I didn't ask for it, or deserve it, so why me? I see a therapist and have since before my diagnosis, and she brought the reality to me that, who would honestly "ask" for or "deserve" something like MS? I realized that what she said was obvious, but that I was so overwhelmed that this permanent thing was stuck with me, that I forgot that it wasn't a form of punishment, rather a challenge.

A ****ty (sorry for word choice) challenge, but a challenge. There are days where I just want to, and usually do, just break down. It is not a form of weakness, rather, it helps me realize, yes...this-sucks. But it's real. And I am going to do whatever I can to get through it. Even if it is taking life one day or even one minute at a time. Whatever works. Things may and for me personally have and will, happen, just stay strong!